Cottage Cheese was the first cheese I started making. I was using regular Meso starter and it was OK.
Then I purchased this
Fresh Start Culture.It contains 4 bacteria and makes for a really complex flavor. So here is the batch from yesterday.
1 -Thursday evening- Get pint of starter out of freezer. If you forget this step, you'll be late for work the next morning.
2 -Friday morning- Warmed up 3 Gal raw, skimmed Jersey milk to 72F. I love this cheese because I get to use the older, skimmed milk. Poured in one pint Fresh Start culture, stirred, cover, and walk away. Whole thing took 30 minutes, and off to work.
3 -Saturday morning- It's been about 24 hours and the curd is set. Cut into 1/4 inch pieces.
4 -Start raising temp slowly to 112F. This took 40 minutes. Held at 112F for another hour while I milked the cow.
5 -Drained the curd into colander. I let this batch sit for about ten minutes, with a couple of gentle stirs to break up the matting. You can make as moist or dry as you want.
6 - Put into bowl and added heaping Tbsp sea salt. Milled gently with hands.
7 - This batch weighed in at 5.75 lbs. Another reason I love this culture and this cheese is the great yield I get. Divided up into containers and put in fridge to chill. Done. Total time spent working on cheese was less than 2 hours.
Notes: On my last batch I decided to try pressing the curd. I let it drain for 30 minutes. Put into press at 20 lbs for 10 minutes. The curd was still crumbly at this point and turning it was difficult. The next time I will press at 30 lbs for 20 minutes first. Turned over and pressed at 50 lbs until there was no visible whey draining off. This took a couple of hours. It made a very nice 3.25 lb block of pure white cheese. It will slice if you are careful, but we just crumbled it off and used it in everything you would use Feta in. It was great on greens, in scrambled eggs, and on salad. You can be eating this cheese the same day you make it.