Chronicles of a Hobby Farmer: Feeling Cheesy

Feeling Cheesy

This past week I finally started getting enough milk from my goats to make cheese again. It takes at least a gallon of milk to make a brick of hard, pressed cheese. Any less than that isn't worth the time and effort required. For several years, I only made fresh "farm cheese" that only required a double boiler, at least 1/2 gallon of milk, and either vinegar or lemon juice to set the curd. I played around with that, using various herbs and spices. Hard pressed cheeses intimidated me and the initial cost of a cheese press kept me from jumping in for a long time. Special recipes and cheese cultures, cheese salt, and a large double boiler were also required.

So last year, I finally did enough research to feel ready for the hard cheese world. It's a learning curve for certain. But I do enjoy the challenge and will continue experimenting until I get it down pat. The cheddar cheese I made last Saturday took 6 1/2 hours from start to finish, with several long breathers in between where I could leave the kitchen for 45 minutes to 2 hours at a time. Warming the milk, add the culture and wait. Check the temperature a million times, add rennet, stir, and wait. Cut the curd and wait. Strain the curd and wait. Add the salt, stir the curd, and wait. Fill the cheese press, crank it to 10 pounds of pressure, and wait...I think you get the idea.

After several rounds of turning the cheese over and increasing the pressure, a lovely block of naked cheddar was created and left to dry on the counter for a day or two before waxing. Here's a few photos of the process...

I ordered that large double boiler through a local restaurant supply store.

It is important to calculate just how many hours it is going to take to get through the cheese recipe or you could find yourself pulling an all-nighter! I make notes in my recipe book of how long it takes and what is the latest time of day to start a particular cheese so I don't go past my farmer 9 p.m. bedtime.