freemotion
Self Sufficient Queen
You can go higher than 185. I don't use a thermometer for this all the time, just don't boil it. It will not make curds in the classic sense of a solid block of curd that needs cutting as with rennet, but it will curdle into curd crumbs...best way to explain it.
No, the yeild is not much, maybe 15%? Just a guess.
I use a skimmer to get most of the curds into the cheese cloth, then strain the rest through a plastic collender (I have a mental block about spelling that word!) and give the whey to the pigs. The whey has no probiotics so it doesn't excite me as much as with the cooler mesophillic cheeses, under 110 for the hottest stage. My hens are sick of whey so before pigs, this hot process whey went down the drain.
The whey will be yellow or slightly greenish and mostly clear. Your milk probably wasn't quite hot enough.
For something different and yummy, make a mold and press with a couple of plastic containers, like two quart size yogurt or sour cream containers that nest nicely. Drill holes with a very small drill bit in a diamond pattern and a few in the bottom, too. Or use a heated small finishing nail that you heat in a flame to poke small holes in a pattern.
Spoon the curds into the mold and sprinkle salt between the layers. Set the undrilled container on top of the curds and set a jar or bottle of warm water in that container to add some weight to it. I use a quart bottle to add two pounds of weight. Put it on a plate to catch the whey and raise it off the plate with a folded cloth or paper towels and check it occasionally so it is not sitting in a puddle of whey. Keep it at room temp for at least 24 hours.
When no more whey is coming out, unmold it onto a mat (I use needlepoint plastic from the craft store, cut to size) and put it in a container to age in the fridge for a while. Take the whey out of the container before it hits the bottom of the cheese. Give it a sniff each time and eat it when it smells really good to you, maybe two weeks or so, maybe more, maybe less, no rules!
You can also leave it at room temp longer for faster ripening. Turn it and salt all sides every day. Keep flies off it or it will get....yuk...maggots if it is fly season. It will form a dry rind this way and will be a firmer cheese.
No matter what you do with it, it will be....cheese!
No, the yeild is not much, maybe 15%? Just a guess.
I use a skimmer to get most of the curds into the cheese cloth, then strain the rest through a plastic collender (I have a mental block about spelling that word!) and give the whey to the pigs. The whey has no probiotics so it doesn't excite me as much as with the cooler mesophillic cheeses, under 110 for the hottest stage. My hens are sick of whey so before pigs, this hot process whey went down the drain.
The whey will be yellow or slightly greenish and mostly clear. Your milk probably wasn't quite hot enough.
For something different and yummy, make a mold and press with a couple of plastic containers, like two quart size yogurt or sour cream containers that nest nicely. Drill holes with a very small drill bit in a diamond pattern and a few in the bottom, too. Or use a heated small finishing nail that you heat in a flame to poke small holes in a pattern.
Spoon the curds into the mold and sprinkle salt between the layers. Set the undrilled container on top of the curds and set a jar or bottle of warm water in that container to add some weight to it. I use a quart bottle to add two pounds of weight. Put it on a plate to catch the whey and raise it off the plate with a folded cloth or paper towels and check it occasionally so it is not sitting in a puddle of whey. Keep it at room temp for at least 24 hours.
When no more whey is coming out, unmold it onto a mat (I use needlepoint plastic from the craft store, cut to size) and put it in a container to age in the fridge for a while. Take the whey out of the container before it hits the bottom of the cheese. Give it a sniff each time and eat it when it smells really good to you, maybe two weeks or so, maybe more, maybe less, no rules!
You can also leave it at room temp longer for faster ripening. Turn it and salt all sides every day. Keep flies off it or it will get....yuk...maggots if it is fly season. It will form a dry rind this way and will be a firmer cheese.
No matter what you do with it, it will be....cheese!
....
..... my son decided that No Way would he Ever drink goats milk. He thought that we were buying store milk for over a month ... when actually we were simply adding more goats milk to it. Once he found out... he could not complain about it, since he had been drinking it with No Problem. I did, however, assign him the job of "Quality Control" which he took very seriously.
