I was really scared to make cheese. I tried some store bought goat cheese and was disgusted. It had this awful, tangy, nastiness to it that made me gag. So I decided when I made it,I would spice the heck out of it. Last night I made a simple cheese.

I am pretty ecstatic about it. I got the 1/2 gallon of milk almost to boiling ( I didn't have a thermometer,) added 1/4 cup white vinegar, and sturred. I knew it was supposed to happen, but I was amazed to see it turned into curds in way in about 5 seconds! So I turned off the heat, lined my colander with a non-fuzzy, very clean dish towel (I didn't have cheese clothe) and let it strain. When it was strained, I added some garlic powder, onion powder, and some pepper, pulled the corners together, and squeezed it into a ball. I squeezed and squeezed and squeezed until all the whey was out, and removed the ball. Here is where I was daring. I pulled off a little chunk, that had very little spice in it, and I tasted it... It was tasty! A little rubbery, but I can slice it! I think I am going to crumble it up on top of my leftover tortellini I brought for lunch today.

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All by itself or with a bit of butter would have been ricotta cheese.
Good for you.

if you want a milder cheese less acidic use lemon juice or lime juice they are both acids and do the same thing and salt it with kosher salt to your taste you can also press this cheese over night and make a harder cheese called paneer
Good luck have fun making cheese
Stan

i cant find any stores that sell cultures, or even rennet around here. any other cheese recipes you know of that dont require cultures? i gotta use up some milk.

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How about yogurt.
Heat milk to 180 and KEEP it there for 15-20 mins, This is the trick.
Cool to 115-120 and 1 Tbs of plain yogurt to quart of milk. I put the cooled milk into quart containers at this point and add plain yogurt to each quart.
Keep at 115-120 for 6-8 hours. Place in fridge for another 12 hours. Be careful not to shake or jostle the milk once you have added the plain yogurt. That's why I put into containers first.

You should get the cultures and rennet . You will be making more cheese.

Here's a link to a recipe that I used for my first batch,of cheese: http://biology.clc.uc.edu/Fankhauser...ers_Cheese.htm

Here's a link to an online source for culture and rennet, which work better:
http://www.dairyconnection.com/

Bobg

What kind of milk?

Goat milk.

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If you want a cheese that isn't as "rubbery" then you would heat the milk to a lower temperature... this would require you getting a thermometer to gauge acurately. The higher the temp, the more the curd is cooked... agitation also affects the texture of the curd. My recipe for ricotta says not to stir anymore after the curds first appear, versus gouda, which you continue to agitate.

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all the cheese info you will ever need and then some.