I joined a cheese challenge. We are going to be making one cheese a month. I am excited about this as I want to perfect my cheese making. We can ask questions & get help along the way. I have already used this service & am so glad to say...I got the help I needed.
I started out my cheese making day by milking our family cows. Then I took the milk in the house & strained it though a flour sack towel. I then added butter milk to my milk & warmed this to 86 deg. We were to warm it to 80 deg, but I live at an altitude that required me to adjust my thermometer. I tested the thermometer by boiling water for 10 minutes & then testing the thermometer. It should have read 212 But it read 206. So when I make cheese I am going to be adding 6 deg to what I am checking with the thermometer. I then covered this & let it set in my oven over night. The next morning you could see the whey sat on top of the curds. I cut them just enough to get them into the cheese cloth colander. Then I drew it up & hug it over my pot for 8 hours. I wonder if I should have flipped this half way, as the cheese up towards the top of the cheese cloth was drier than the cheese at the bottom of the cheese cloth. I could not have flipped this as I was away from home that whole afternoon. I then took the cheese & undid the cheese cloth & put this all in a dish. I shaped several logs The log on the bottom has cayenne, fresh cracked black pepper corns & red pepper seeds; the middle one has fresh herbs from the garden, chives, dill & garlic; the top cheese has tarragon, marjoram, & parsley I dried from my garden.
I was a little late making last months cheese so I did that cheese the same day I did this chevre. My family love the chevre lots more. They said the texture was wonderful, it smelled & tasted delightful & makes a great cheese spread. I made homemade crackers to serve this with. I have never made chevre & I am so glad I joined this cheese challenge as it motivated me to try out this recipe!
The pictures for this are on the right towards the top of the page. It is labeled Chevre Cheese.
Lemon Ricotta
I really loved making lemon ricotta. I used 1 gallon of milk, 3 cups of heavy cream, 1 tsp salt, warmed to 86 deg(cause I tested my thermometer, I needed to add 6 deg.) You need to heat your milk to 80 deg. I squeezed 4 Tbs of lemon juice. I added the lemon juice stirring in an up & down motion for 5 seconds. I let this stand for 30 minutes. I placed the curds in a cheese cloth lined colander, sprinkled the remaining 1 tsp salt tossing curds. I hung this for 2 hours. Then I scraped this into a pretty dish. I think I got close to 2 cups of ricotta. This ricotta was so yummy!!!! I LOVED it. Loved the texture, loved the flavor of the lemon notes left in your mouth after you swallowed it. We served this over muffins.
I was not happy with how much milk was left in the whey...so I added 1 Tbs of water with 3 drops of rennet, stirred this in & let that sit all night. The next morning I scooped those curds into a cheese cloth lined colander. I hung this for 8 hours. The curds that I got from this has a slight lemon flavor. These still have that fine grain that ricotta has....but this cheese is more smooth. I am glad to save more of the cheese. I will use this as a dip adding spices to this.
I have made traditional ricotta using whey left from making cheese...I have never made lemon ricotta & I really loved the ease & how quick you can get cheese.
The pictures for this cheese are on the right towards the top of the page. It is labeled Lemon Ricotta.
I started out my cheese making day by milking our family cows. Then I took the milk in the house & strained it though a flour sack towel. I then added butter milk to my milk & warmed this to 86 deg. We were to warm it to 80 deg, but I live at an altitude that required me to adjust my thermometer. I tested the thermometer by boiling water for 10 minutes & then testing the thermometer. It should have read 212 But it read 206. So when I make cheese I am going to be adding 6 deg to what I am checking with the thermometer. I then covered this & let it set in my oven over night. The next morning you could see the whey sat on top of the curds. I cut them just enough to get them into the cheese cloth colander. Then I drew it up & hug it over my pot for 8 hours. I wonder if I should have flipped this half way, as the cheese up towards the top of the cheese cloth was drier than the cheese at the bottom of the cheese cloth. I could not have flipped this as I was away from home that whole afternoon. I then took the cheese & undid the cheese cloth & put this all in a dish. I shaped several logs The log on the bottom has cayenne, fresh cracked black pepper corns & red pepper seeds; the middle one has fresh herbs from the garden, chives, dill & garlic; the top cheese has tarragon, marjoram, & parsley I dried from my garden.
I was a little late making last months cheese so I did that cheese the same day I did this chevre. My family love the chevre lots more. They said the texture was wonderful, it smelled & tasted delightful & makes a great cheese spread. I made homemade crackers to serve this with. I have never made chevre & I am so glad I joined this cheese challenge as it motivated me to try out this recipe!
The pictures for this are on the right towards the top of the page. It is labeled Chevre Cheese.
Lemon Ricotta
I really loved making lemon ricotta. I used 1 gallon of milk, 3 cups of heavy cream, 1 tsp salt, warmed to 86 deg(cause I tested my thermometer, I needed to add 6 deg.) You need to heat your milk to 80 deg. I squeezed 4 Tbs of lemon juice. I added the lemon juice stirring in an up & down motion for 5 seconds. I let this stand for 30 minutes. I placed the curds in a cheese cloth lined colander, sprinkled the remaining 1 tsp salt tossing curds. I hung this for 2 hours. Then I scraped this into a pretty dish. I think I got close to 2 cups of ricotta. This ricotta was so yummy!!!! I LOVED it. Loved the texture, loved the flavor of the lemon notes left in your mouth after you swallowed it. We served this over muffins.
I was not happy with how much milk was left in the whey...so I added 1 Tbs of water with 3 drops of rennet, stirred this in & let that sit all night. The next morning I scooped those curds into a cheese cloth lined colander. I hung this for 8 hours. The curds that I got from this has a slight lemon flavor. These still have that fine grain that ricotta has....but this cheese is more smooth. I am glad to save more of the cheese. I will use this as a dip adding spices to this.
I have made traditional ricotta using whey left from making cheese...I have never made lemon ricotta & I really loved the ease & how quick you can get cheese.
The pictures for this cheese are on the right towards the top of the page. It is labeled Lemon Ricotta.
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