I started making cheese this summer. Most people start with mozzarella or goat cheese. These types of cheese do not require aging and provide relatively instantaneous results. I, however, started with aged cheeses. In hindsight, learning on the easier, non-aged varieties might have been a better plan, but those cheeses are a cake walk after making the aged varieties.
Top 10 Cheese Making Tips
1. Get a kit. Having everything you need at hand makes the process easier. The kit I chose was fairly simple to follow and had a lot of recipes from which to choose.
2. Digital thermometers rock. I purchased a nice digital thermometer for cooking meats prior to my cheese making adventure. I am glad I had it. Much of cheese making requires monitoring temperatures, and the digital thermometer makes it easy.
3. A little color goes a long way. After making white cheese, I decided to go for a little yellow cheese.
Liquid annatto is used to give cheese its yellow color. What looks light when in the milk stage gets much darker in the condensed curd stage.
4. Mold and cheese are close friends. Rubbing vinegar on a the cheese with a cheesecloth takes off the mold and also reduces mold after the cheese is waxed.
5. Buy a pot for cheese wax that is only used for that purpose. It is a pain trying to clean out the wax, so just get a pot and leave it for wax only.
6. Cheesecloth is reusable. If it is yellowed from the annatto, just put it in a little bleach, and it will be snow white and ready to reuse.
7. Bricks and hand weights will work. Hard cheeses have to be pressed at various weights. For square or rectangular molds, I use bricks. For round molds, hand weights work. I hope to get a cheese press some day, but in the interim, bricks and weights will do the job.
8. Cheese molds with followers work best. A follower is an insert that presses the cheese into the mold. It helps keep the top smooth once weight is applied and provides a surface to balance weights. Without the follower, it is really hard to press cheese without a press.
9. Use more rennet than it says. I wind up using double the rennet (which makes the curds) that what the recipe requires. I don't know who writes these recipes, but none of them seem to have enough rennet listed.
And the most important lesson I've learned...
10. DOGS EAT CHEESE. My dogs have stolen several blocks of cheese that have been on the counter (allegedly out of reach) that were drying. It has been frustrating going to all the work to make cheese only to have it become a dog snack. Large quantities of cheese seem to have no ill effect on the dogs, but they have made them cheese enemy #1. This stuff is irresistible, so keep it locked high out of the way of marauding pets.
(FYI, I am not being paid to promote any products on this blog. All opinions are mine and no promotional fees have been paid for endorsements on this site.)
