Archive for March, 2014

We’ve been getting wonderful local fresh, organic milk. I’ve been making a lot of yogurt and kefir but also have started making cheese. If you put salt in with the herbs, this makes a hard style herb/garlic cheese, wonderful for slicing and serving to company – if it lasts that long!

INGREDIENTS:

1 gallon whole milk, preferably fresh and organic

¼ to ½  cup Organic White Vinegar

FOR SEASONING:

1 Tablespoon Celtic Sea Salt

2 tablespoons fresh basil, sliced thinly

1-2 tablespoons minced garlic

DIRECTIONS:

Pour the milk into a large pot, and stir. Bring milk to 190 degrees (best to use a thermometer) over medium heat, stirring occasionally to prevent the milk from scorching on the bottom of the pot.

When the milk comes to temperature (small bubbles will first appear at the edges), turn off the heat. Stir vinegar into the milk, and the milk will curdle. You may need to wait 5 or 10 minutes.

Line a sieve or colander with a cheesecloth, and pour the milk through the cloth to catch the curds. What is left in the cheesecloth is the Farmer’s Cheese. The liquid is the whey.  If you want herb cheese, add the salt, basil and garlic now (or anything else you’d like to try).

Gather the cloth around the cheese, and squeeze out as much of the whey as you can. Wrap in plastic, or place in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

You can keep the whey and drink it, and I also soak oats in the whey for my chickens

NOTE: Make sure you don’t use Ultra High Pastured Milk – it won’t work to make cheese with.

Store in the refrigerator and enjoy!

Save