New Cheese Maker from the Gulf Coast

[Gulf Coast]

Hi everyone!

I am retired and live near the beautiful beaches of the north Gulf of Mexico. I have lived and worked in many countries. I always enjoyed the cheeses wines, and cultures of my host countries.
I recently found the forum and have read many informative posts. I had to join and dig deeper into the craft.

I had always passed over cheese making because I thought that it was too involved. Three weeks ago I surfed upon a recipe for Lemon Cheese. It was so simple and I had all of the ingredients so I tried it. Mind you, I did change the recipe a bit. The results were beyond what I had expected. I enjoyed it so much that I started reading more.

I bought some citric acid, lipase, and liquid rennet from New England Cheese Supply. I made a batch of "30 Minute" Mozzarella. It was so easy and so good!  Dinner at my home is getting cheezyer.

I am open to suggestions for easy cheeses to make and learn from before making the hard aged cheeses.

Help! I went to two stores today and all of thier creams were UP.

I am looking forward to inter acting with you all!

[DeejayDebi]

Other than finding a farm I could buy raw milk from I can  not find cream here either that is not UHT.  Whole Foods Market had one brand for a while but they stopped carrying it for some reason. No idea what you might find down there.

[Gulf Coast]

Other than finding a farm I could buy raw milk from I can  not find cream here either that is not UHT.  Whole Foods Market had one brand for a while but they stopped carrying it for some reason. No idea what you might find down there.

Thank you Debi!
I appreciate your quick response. I will take your advise and search for a local raw source. There must be a small or hobby farmer in the area with milk. It is unfortunate that the local dairies are gone.

[MarkShelton]

I use Dean's cream, but only the one in the purple quart container. It is the only one I have ever found to be simply pasteurized (even their other sizes say ultra-pasteurized). And while raw milk would be ideal, I have found that store-bought pasteurized/homogenized works just as well as long as:

• it is as fresh as you can find. 14 days seems to be the limit of shelf life, so if you find some that has a sell-by date close to 2 weeks, it will work well, and
• you use calcium chloride to restore the proper balance of Ca+ ions. Just follow the manufacturer's or retailer's recommendations.

Another simple cheese that I have made is paneer. It is much like lemon cheese, but a weight is put on it for a few hours to firm it up a little more. I didn't have any lemons, so I used grapefruit instead, and it came out great. Here is the thread.

Welcome to the forum!

[Gulf Coast]

I use Dean's cream, but only the one in the purple quart container. It is the only one I have ever found to be simply pasteurized (even their other sizes say ultra-pasteurized). And while raw milk would be ideal, I have found that store-bought pasteurized/homogenized works just as well as long as:

• it is as fresh as you can find. 14 days seems to be the limit of shelf life, so if you find some that has a sell-by date close to 2 weeks, it will work well, and
• you use calcium chloride to restore the proper balance of Ca+ ions. Just follow the manufacturer's or retailer's recommendations.

Another simple cheese that I have made is paneer. It is much like lemon cheese, but a weight is put on it for a few hours to firm it up a little more. I didn't have any lemons, so I used grapefruit instead, and it came out great. Here is the thread.

Welcome to the forum!
[
Hi Mark!

Thank you for your kind response.  I also want to make wine (cab) for my consumption but first cheese.

I am not familiar with Dean's cream but will search for it. I am looking for usable cream to make sour cream , etc. I have found milk that will work well for cheese making.

I need to try making paneer and other soft cheeses to hone my skills and taste a variety. I appreciate your input.

[MarkShelton]

Oh, I thought Dean's was a national brand. Maybe not down there by you Anyways, it's the name brand that the store brands imitate. Not the really expensive organic stuff (which lots of people have mixed opinions on also), but trusted better than the Kroger or Jewel or GreatValue (wal-mart) stuff.

[FarmerJd]

Welcome to the forum gulfcoast. What part of the gulf are you near? Al, FL, MS? This is a great forum and a great place to learn. Very addictive. Good Luck.

[Gulf Coast]

Oh, I thought Dean's was a national brand. Maybe not down there by you Anyways, it's the name brand that the store brands imitate. Not the really expensive organic stuff (which lots of people have mixed opinions on also), but trusted better than the Kroger or Jewel or GreatValue (wal-mart) stuff.

Hi Mark!

Thank you for the response. I did a quick visit today at three stores and found a Dean's product in one of them. Unfortunatley it was not cream. I refueled at a convience store and found Kroger half and half that was not UP.

I have a couple of leads for farm fresh milk which I will persue.
 
I have read more today and am surprised at the variety of soft cheeses that are easily made.

[Gulf Coast]

Welcome to the forum gulfcoast. What part of the gulf are you near? Al, FL, MS? This is a great forum and a great place to learn. Very addictive. Good Luck.

Hi Farmer!

I am near Destin, Florida. Within a short drive there are many places to buy imported wines and cheeses but no specialized supplies to make your own.

I have learned a lot from the forum in a short time. I realize that there is much to learn. I appreciate your welcome to the forum.

[DeejayDebi]

You can find a list of raw milk sellers in Florida here

[MarkShelton]

Yes, it's a pretty specialized market for cheesemaking equipment and supplies. Probably your best bet locally would be a homebrew shop, but even then it's doubtful that they would have an adequate selection of products.

I buy all my stuff online from merchants like cheesemaking.com and thecheesemaker.com, but there are plenty of other retailers here.

[FarmerJd]

I am about 2 hours north of you. We come to Destin about once a year. What are the laws about selling raw milk in FL? Anybody know?

[Cheese Head]

Welcome "Gulf Coast", nice hat! Destin Florida, tough location !

Most members without access to raw milk including myself quite happily use store bought cow's milk for making cheese. Another idea for you is to make Light Cream Cheese, sold in stores in US as American style Neufchatel. It takes two days to make and is a lactic acid coagulated cheese that sometimes uses just a little rennet. If you are using store bought pasteurized milk then you need a low temp (mesophilic) starter culture to goose the milk as it is largely biologically dead. I see from your OP that you didn't buy any in which case you can use store bought buttermilk, but be sure to age it first before adding to milk to up it's microorganism count.

On cow's cream, I'm same as you, can only find highly biologically dead UP cream in stores, thus I don't make much Cream Cheese or double or triple cream cheeses, that said, full fat/whole cow's milk makes a high enough fat content cheese for me anyway .

Have fun!

[MarkShelton]

What are the laws about selling raw milk in FL? Anybody know?

Raw milk sales are illegal in FL according to the reference section in Tim Smith's book. You might be able to find a farmer willing to bend the law for the right price, but it's doubtful. If I were a farmer, I wouldn't risk it.

[Gulf Coast]

You can find a list of raw milk sellers in Florida here

Hi Debi!

Thank you! Your link has a long list of sources for farm fresh milk. Three of the Florida sources are a short drive. The legal key to selling fresh milk in Florida is to include the statment that it is for animal consumption.

My dog is hungry!