Essentials You Need For Homemade Cheese

People who have tried really good cheese know that the best cheese will be made by an artisan or a smaller company, as there tends to be more attention to detail and better quality ingredients involved. One of the best ways to not only get high quality cheese, but ensure it is fresh and exactly what you want is to make it yourself at home. To get started making homemade cheese, you will need to buy some essentials.

Ingredients

The most important ingredient for homemade cheese is milk. This can be any type of milk you want, including cow’s, sheep’s, or goat’s milk. Decide if you want to use raw or pasteurized milk and you will be set. You will then need to get cheese cultures. Typically, you will use mesophilic cultures for the majority of hard or soft cheeses. Some other cheeses, such as Italian ones or cooked curd cheeses (mozzarella and cottage) use thermophilic cultures. Either type of culture is affordable and will last in the freezer. You also need to get rennet, but keep in mind that vegetable rennet requires half the amount of animal rennet. Finally, you will need to buy some sort of salt. Most experts suggest cheese salt, but others say sea salt is another great option.

Supplies

Luckily, even if you just decided to make homemade cheese for the first time, you probably have most of the supplies on hand. You will need a large pot, ensuring that the metal is non-reactive and that the pot can hold eight quarts at least. You will also need some sort of thermometer to track the temperature, a measuring cup, wooden spoons to stir the cheese, a colander (for draining the curds), some good cheesecloth (high quality is best and reusable), and a cheese press (if making hard cheese). To make life easier, you should also get a notebook to record notes, cheese wax for wrapping your cheese, cheese boards, cheese mats, and a curd knife.

Storage

While you are only active during the cheesemaking phases involving the above ingredients and supplies, most of the cheesemaking is spent waiting for it to age. During this process, you will need to have the right environment for the cheese. Whatever environment you create for your cheese to age in, make sure it has around 70% humidity and a temperature between 55 and 65 Fahrenheit. If you are lucky, you may be able to make a cheese cave or you can convert a wine refrigerator. To keep the right humidity levels, keep a glass or bowl of cool water in the fridge. If you don’t have another option, you can also age cheese in your refrigerator’s crisper drawer, but this take a bit more preparation.