Cheese - Reasonable cheese 2

Continued from yesterday, we saw the curd set enough to get a relatively clean break.

The next step is to cut the curds into dice sized cubes. This doesn't need to be too fussy as far as size goes as the object is just to allow as much whey to escape the curd as possible. Some people use a whisk to gently cut their curds. I used a long knife. Either way, just try to not leave any large pieces.

I then raised the temperature gradually over 15 minutes until it was around 39 deg C, and held it there for an hour stirring gently every few minutes to prevent the curds from clumping.

Some of the cheeses I've read about included a step in their manufacture that involved replacing the whey with clean water for the final cooking. For no better reason other than it seemed like a good idea at the time, I did that. I drained the whey (pictured), then added hot water until the temperature read 43 deg C and held it at that temperature for about 15 minutes stirring gently.

After the 15 minutes the whey got smaller, tighter, and more dense. It sunk to the bottom as soon as it was let off the spoon.

It was time to deploy the "120 things in 20 years whey cool cheese press".

So I did.

I poured off the water, and tipped the curd into a cotton cloth lined strainer.

I then placed the wrapped curd into the press and clamped it down without going crazy on the pressure.

After 10 minutes I changed the cloth, flipped it over and clamped it down again for around 15 minutes.

Not a lot of whey came out this time. I covered it in yet another cotton cloth, flipped it over again, and clamped it down hard this time.

I left it overnight, and on opening it looks a lot like it did last night. But that's kind of ok, because last night it looked like a cheese.

It looks like a cheese but smells faintly of babies. Nice smelling, healthy, happy babies, but babies just the same.

I'm not sure that a cheese should smell like a baby.

Maybe babies smell like cheese.



My cheese smells like babies.

Cheese - Cheese press

After making fresh cheese, you need some kind of cheese press to to remove all the excess whey.

I got hold of some PVC storm water pipe and an end cap from stuff I bought to finish the bigger aquaponics project, a plastic lid from a coffee jar, and a clamp.

The idea was to attach the end cap and drill holes all over the place, so that when the coffee jar lid is pressed into it like a plunger, It should squish out as much or as little whey as desired. The coffee jar lid, like many things it turns out, is of a standard size and thus fits snuggly in the role of plunger.

The "120 things in 20 years whey cool cheese press" doesn't look particularly sterile, but it looks kind of cool. It should be capable of applying pressure ranging from a tiny bit, to WHEY too much.

I'll attempt some kind of sterilization on the entire apparatus. And perhaps some kind of pun removal procedure on myself.

This also means I'll be attempting to make some kind of cheese. I've been thinking that I might follow some directions this time. Or not. We shall see.





UPDATE:

According to an independent nose, my cheese's current bouquet is

• cheesy
• a little sweet
• vaguely salty
• a little bit like vinegar