Having received a cheesemaking kit quite a while ago, I finally got around to using it with 2 months to go to its expiry date. That isn't as drastic as it sounds as only the rennet tablets might be out of date by then.
It is a kit for making Scottish Crowdie cheese. Herewith the photographs for a half batch using 4 pints of whole milk. It has had its initial heating to 90F and the citric acid has been added before leaving it to sit for 30 minutes:
Then the rennet was added and the temperature raised to 105F - very fiddly - for 3 minutes. The recipe didn't say whether to keep stirring or not so after I felt the rennet was stirred through, I stopped:
Straining through a 4 fold cheese cloth:
Whey left after straining:
2 dessertspoons of double cream and some black pepper added to one half:
2 dessertspoons of double cream and diced chilli to the other half:
Verdict - yummy!The whey has been frozen in 4 batches for use later on.
This looks yummy and very interesting. What do you use the Whey for please?
ReplyDeleteThe cheese element is around 10% so there is a lot of whey. It can be reheated to make a small amount of ricotta, or used fresh or defrosted as the liquid part of bread, scones, cakes, ice cream etc. Loads of recipes on the internet.
DeleteMmmmmm cheese....
ReplyDeleteThat looks impressive, I love the idea of making my own cheese. Is it cost effective?
ReplyDeleteMaybe not for cream cheese although I did get the equivalent of two tubs worth, but you can't buy whey here so that is cost effective.
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