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CHEESE TYPE BOARDS (for Cheese Lovers and Cheese Makers) => RENNET COAGULATED - Brine Ripened (Aegean Sea) => Topic started by: cheeseslovesu on March 23, 2012, 01:13:47 AM

Title: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: cheeseslovesu on March 23, 2012, 01:13:47 AM
Hi everyone,
I have been a commercial cheesemaker for the past 4 years in a really successful tiny cottage industry called Tweed Valley Whey Farmhouse Cheeses. I have finished my partnership as of this week and I am ready to share the secrets.
I made from 250 - 400 litres of haloumi per week and still could not keep up with our sales.

* 10 litres of cow or goat milk. This is also really successful with shop bought milk that has been pasteurised and homoginised.
* heat milk to 34C, raw milk is fine.
* if using shop milk then add 2.5ml calcium chloride to 50 ml cooled boiled unclorinated water
* add 3ml of rennet to 50ml cooled boiled unclorinated water.
* cover container with lid and let set 30 - 40 mins
* cut into 1.5cm cubes and slowly stir at first to keep curds gently moving.
* slowly bring the temperature to 40C over a 30 - 40 minute stirring constantly.
* If the curds are too big just cut them as you stir, this is very calming and time will pass quickly. The curd should be shrinking and looking more like scrambled egg. You can tell when the curd is ready to hoop because it bounces back to the touch, not sloppy. Bigger curds will be obvious so cut them and keep stirring.
* Once you have reached 40C if your curd isn't quite ready just stir for another 5 - 10 minutes
* Using a slotted spoon or small ricotta basket scoop out curd into 2 containers of equal size. I use two square hoops that fit inside each other.
* Place hoops one on top of each other to press curd gently, no need to add extra pressure, swap every 15 minutes over an hour. It should be smoothing out but still porous.
* Now use the whey still in the pan to make Divine ricotta out of. Add a litre of decent milk. I used a bought unhomoginised (organic is all that is available here and that cost me $3.70 which is quite cheap for a beautiful 400gm ricotta)
* Over a direct flame, heat the whey to 85C, no hotter or your ricotta will taste scalded.
* slowly add a good white vinegar, approx 100ml ( a little at a time but this will differ every time, you need to watch and be patient. SLOWLY move the whey around with your slotted spoon until flocculation occurs (love that word) If the whey is still a bit milky then add a tiny bit more keeping the temp at around 85C. If you add too much vinegar then the ricotta sinks and may not work.
* Turn off heat and put the lid on the pot to keep warm for about 10 mins. Using a little sieve, scoop the ricotta into another sieve to drain, get to the bottom of the pan as some will sink. You should get about 400gm. Leave to cool before you package and refrigerate. Use by date in a covered container is 10 - 14 days. I never use salt.
* reheat the whey to 85C and cut the haloumi curd into 2cm slices and put into the hot whey, cover and leave for 1 hour. Do not reheat once haloumi is in the whey you don't want to cook it.
* drain each slice on a rack until cool. Add a 15% salt brine (approx 15gm salt to 100ml cooled boiled water) to the container and store in fridge. use by date if curd is covered by brine is 3 months.

Good luck with this recipe but you dint need luck, you cant kill haloumi with a stick! Shop milk and Calcium chloride still works but the curd breaks up a fair bit, the end result is still great.

I love haloumi cut into cubes in a soup, casserole, curry sauce, pasta sauce. You can throw it in and let it bubble for ages.  puffs up and my family fight over it.
Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: DeejayDebi on March 23, 2012, 01:37:02 AM
Thanks CLU! That's about the same as I make it too. I guess it's just plain rennet cheese anyway you slice it! Good stuff though. Never had it with goats milk though - to pricey!
Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: cheeseslovesu on March 23, 2012, 01:50:27 AM
It is a very basic recipe and it has been very good to me. I started off with a starter culture but liked the basic curd better. Not boiling the whey and haloumi is the key, that will make it quite tough. The whey temp will reduce quite a bit over the hour but that is not a problem.

As a beginner 'threader' are my instructions easy to follow?

I will try and put as many recipes on the post as possible. My Chaource was amazing!
Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: DeejayDebi on March 23, 2012, 02:02:43 AM
Very clear! One thing I never did was use a culture - I wondered if it would be better with one as some cheeses are. Also never made riccotta from Haloumi whey. I also use my mozarella and provalone whey but not the haloumi. Didn't even think of it.

I am always interested in new recipes to try. I have been collecting them although mostly Italian cheese for 30+ years and with the internet now they are everywhere in all kinds of laguages! SO exciting! I have been alone in this hobby since 1978 with no one to share or learn with until I found this place and all these wonderful people.
Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: FRANCOIS on March 23, 2012, 10:48:37 AM
You were allowed to make this cheese commercially with raw milk?  Wow.

If you add culture or acid directly to bring the pH down you'll get a much better yield.  Haloumi doesn't melt because the pH is kept quite high, above 6.0.  That is why you cook it at 85C, to pasteurise the cheese and ensure there is no lactic acid producing bacteria or pathogens,

I would recommend boiling the whey/brine you store it in as well.  This is a very easy cheese for pathogens to grow on and in. 
Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: cheeseslovesu on March 23, 2012, 11:18:52 AM
Hi Francois,

We always used a data logger record at the point where the curd went into the hot whey until it was removed to satisfy NSW Food Safety requirements. That stage is not considered a critical control point in our Safe Food Plan.  We also tested our cheese every 20 batches for salmonella, E. Coli, etc

my recipe clearly states: Add a 15% salt brine (approx 15gm salt to 100ml cooled boiled water).

Even when cheesemaking at home before the factory started we always followed safe food regulations. I wondered why the neighbours looked twice when I would appear at the door with a hair net on.
Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: DeejayDebi on March 23, 2012, 03:10:10 PM
I haven't made haloumi in a very long time and for some reason it popped into my head the other day and I have been craving fried Haloumi with garlic, onions and greens. Often wondered if is was better using a culture rather than plain rennet but I guess not. Some cheeses are.

Was going to make this today but I have 117 pounds of pork bellies in so it's bacon makin' time!
Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: cheeseslovesu on March 23, 2012, 08:04:01 PM
Debi you are living the dream!

I think bacon and haloumi are a match made in heaven. Your fry up sounds good but try making a curry and adding the haloumi.

I make an oxtail stew recipe by NZ chef Annabel Langbein with star anise and add chopped haloumi in the last cooking hour.

Must get some oxtail...
Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: DeejayDebi on March 23, 2012, 11:37:42 PM
Would you believe I have never eatten bacon and halloumi at the same time?  don't think I have ever eattem meat and Halloumi at the same time. Probably because the person who made it for me for the first several times was a woman from India and she didn't eat meat ever! Not in her whole life! She's the one that got me hooked on spinach or greens with it.

I don't think I have ever eatten curry either. Any place I have ever been that served it had shrimps in it and I am alergic to shell fish.

Care to share your curry recipe? I have a nice Indian grocery store nearby! Maybe I will try it I always though it had to have shellfish!
Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: FRANCOIS on March 24, 2012, 04:51:36 AM
Have you read any of al browns recipe books?  He has some great slow roast soups and stews.  He's another NZ chef.  Annabelle has a tv show on here and I'd kill for her house in Otago.
Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: cheeseslovesu on March 24, 2012, 07:07:32 AM
No, haven't heard of Al Brown. Annabel had a TV show here for a while so I became addicted. I have a few of her books but just love that oxtail recipe.

I dont have any curry recipe from scratch Debi,  I buy a great local curry sauce and add tinned tomatoes, coconut milk, browned meat, vegetables and then the haloumi.

I will go into the recipe thread soon and put the oxtail recipe on there. And the Chaource...
Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: DeejayDebi on March 24, 2012, 03:37:29 PM
I just googled Al Brown. Seen him someplace before. Maybe one of the Sunday afternoon cooking shows.. I would have like to seen ore info on his olive oils but most of what they had posted did really interest me. Some nice lamb recipes but I would have to sell my car here to buy lamb. Sometimes they have lamb shanks not to ridiculas and they are very nice.
Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: cheeseslovesu on March 24, 2012, 10:25:23 PM
Wow, Australians are big lamb producers and eaters.
My husband and I have a small beef herd, about 45 breeders with one bull. I would prefer lamb and chicken meat to beef.
There are only a few hobby farmers here with a few sheep because we are a sub tropical climate.
I went to a sheep dairy/cheesemaking factory a few months ago not far from here but I wasn't keen on the small quantities of milk given and the taste of the cheese was quite intense.
Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: DeejayDebi on March 24, 2012, 11:40:42 PM
Much of the lamb we see here is frm Austrailia now I know why.
Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: DeejayDebi on March 25, 2012, 09:42:51 PM
okay CLU I got my haloumi and spinach fix today! Man it was good but the rest of the household was not pleased! I just love greens and just gotta have it sometimes but these guys are tough - they do not like greens at all. Even with haloumi can you believe it?

Here's my haloumi made with  rennet expired by a over a year (took 2 tablespoons!) and crummy WalMart mart milk. The walmart milk only works with Haloumi but just barely. Anything else is hard to make curds.

(http://www.deejayssmokepit.net/Q-View/DrainHaloumi.jpg)

I just leave it in the cloth in a bowl overnight to harden. It was a bit dry but good.

(http://www.deejayssmokepit.net/Q-View/HaloumiSliced.jpg)

And here's my dinner I have been craving all week!

(http://www.deejayssmokepit.net/Q-View/DoneSpinHaloumi.jpg)

diced bacon, onion, garlic, peppers, spinach and haloumi!

Yum!
Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: cheeseslovesu on March 26, 2012, 08:59:38 PM
Debi, that looks fabulous and I might do that tonight with the left over chicken I have in the fridge.

When I was doing the farmers market we had this amazing guy called AJ Duck man. We would swap cheese for poultry and his ducks were amazing. He gave me a chicken that was the size of a turkey. I roasted in on Sunday and it was beautiful.

Our factory closed down officially last week and today is the first day in 4 years I dont have farmers markets to do. It feels like saturday!
Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: DeejayDebi on March 26, 2012, 11:06:17 PM
Thanks CLU. This is why Haloumi was invented! Love it this way. Why is your factory closed down?
Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: cheeseslovesu on March 26, 2012, 11:18:46 PM
My business partner (dairy farmers wife) is reopening another factory on their farm with a big tourist, onfarm outlet and cafe/restaurant. They really wanted me to be a part of it but it was too big of a jump for me.

I was totally happy with the small factory, working 5 days a week, making some cheese, doing some farmers markets, networking, attending the occassional food festival... life was perfect.
In two weeks time I start my new business - cheesemaking classes and I already have April booked out. Life will be good again!

Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: DeejayDebi on March 26, 2012, 11:20:15 PM
Ah ok I misunderstood  thought you were out of business!
Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: elkato on April 03, 2012, 08:56:41 PM
Thank you very much for sharing your secrets!! I think this is the spirit of this forum!!
Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: cheeseslovesu on April 04, 2012, 11:42:58 AM
I made chaource out of shop milk last week and a soft lactic acid feta. The feta is fabulous but a runny curd to start with. The Chaource is starting to mould up in the wine fridge. I posted that recipe a week ago so check it out.

I will be trying out a shop milk brie soon so stay posted with that recipe and photos.

Sharing is caring!
Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: MrsKK on April 06, 2012, 07:05:15 AM
CLU - best wishes with those cheesemaking classes!  I've been teaching home cheesemaking for about a year and a half now, averaging four classes per semester and I've learned so much through teaching.  Also have met some amazing people.

Debi, I'm thinking of buying a butcher lamb this year...if you would have occasion to visit Wisconsin, maybe we could meet halfway if you'd like a portion of it, as I'm not sure if we'd want to use all of it.  PM me if you'd be interested.
Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: cheeseslovesu on April 06, 2012, 12:10:06 PM
Thanks so much for the support MrsKK.
My first class starts in 2 weeks and I cant wait. I am doing a cheese sensory class in Sydney on Wednesday & Thursday so I can now learn more myself.

Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: DeejayDebi on April 07, 2012, 02:26:14 AM
[quote author=MrsKK link=topic=9364.msg68360#msg68360 date=1333695915
Debi, I'm thinking of buying a butcher lamb this year...if you would have occasion to visit Wisconsin, maybe we could meet halfway if you'd like a portion of it, as I'm not sure if we'd want to use all of it.  PM me if you'd be interested.
[/quote]

Thank you Karen you are a sweetheart but I will have to pass! I won't be heading out anywhere this year. Planning on retiring in December so I am saving up my vacation to sell back at the end of the year. Do hope to visit Wisconsin sometime in 2013 though depending on when my full pension starts coming in (there's a 6 to 8 month delay). We will have to meet up one day though. It would be my pleasure to be sure!
Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: cheeseslovesu on May 15, 2012, 10:39:20 AM
Just adding an amendment to my original recipe.

When making ricotta out of the haloumi whey, heat the whey to 90C.

I was having a real hit and miss issue with my classes so I read all the information available and took the temperture up a bit. Success and I was in whey ricotta heaven again.

Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: Tomer1 on May 12, 2013, 06:54:41 PM
Working great, I think this will be the first time I got my mom to do most of the make for me, its so easy.
And as a reward she got about 400-500 gr of sweet riccota which she loves.
Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: bbracken677 on May 12, 2013, 07:10:24 PM
What's haloumi taste like? From the look of the make it should be a very mild cheese with a touch of liapase type flavor. Is it similar to a feta, just milder?
Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: Tomer1 on May 12, 2013, 08:06:49 PM
I wouldnt call it a cheese really.  Its a dairy product.
It has a milky flavor, lipase wont get you far as the cheese is usually eaten very fresh. (it also freezes well though) and its very sweet as the milk is not acidified at all which is part of its magic.  It browns very well, has a chuwey squicky texture and its tasty in salads.
Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: Schnecken Slayer on May 13, 2013, 07:48:44 AM
What's haloumi taste like? From the look of the make it should be a very mild cheese with a touch of liapase type flavor. Is it similar to a feta, just milder?

I would thoroughly recommend trying it, although some brands are fairly salty (to preserve it in the warmer climates)
You fry it up till it is golden and is delicious with mushrooms on toast!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloumi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloumi)
Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: cheeseslovesu on May 16, 2013, 06:36:43 AM
It's great to see comments back on this post.
When I first made cheese over 8 years ago I tried making Haloumi and have never had a failure. It is a cheese you cant kill with a stick, it's very forgiving.
I make and teach haloumi almost weekly and I would describe haloumi as a bland curd that has been pressed and cooked at 90C. Once you add it to salt brine it becomes an ingredient you can add to anything. My favourite recipe is an oxtail casserole that has cubes of haloumi added in the last hour of cooking. Add it to spaghetti sauces, curry (Oh, stop it!) or just as delicious when you make egg and bacon and haloumi for breakfast.

The haloumi takes on the flavours of whatever you are cooking. Try goat milk haloumi then add an extra litre of goat milk to the whey and get delicious goat ricotta - YUM.
Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: Tomer1 on May 16, 2013, 01:40:51 PM
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/945515_450876845005068_617719317_n.jpg)

My lunch.  green lentil curry (tomatos, turmaric,garlic, cumin, 1 dry aromatic mushrooms, alot of basil, a touch of thini in the end to thicken) , chocolate cherry tomatos (very high in sugar) and pan fried in olive oil Haloumi.  A bit more basil for decore  ^-^
Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: Spellogue on May 20, 2013, 06:14:43 AM
Mmmmm. That looks delicious. I love halloumi.

I make a goat milk halloumi with fresh mint leaves folded into the curd before pressing, slicing, and brining.  I do make it quite salty, about the saltiness of green olives. It keeps well for a very long time in the fridge.  We like to fry it and serve it on a meze plate along with dolmades, baba ganouj, tabbouleh, and pita.  It is also great topping a fatoosh salad.
Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: Tan on April 23, 2018, 06:58:18 AM
Hi,
What was the yield, Halloumi wise,  that you got from the 10 litres of cow milk ?
Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: paul pennell on April 23, 2018, 07:22:16 AM
Hi everyone,
I have been a commercial cheesemaker for the past 4 years in a really successful tiny cottage industry called Tweed Valley Whey Farmhouse Cheeses. I have finished my partnership as of this week and I am ready to share the secrets.

Hi and thanks - why are you leaving, i have heard some amazing things about you and your cheeses ....?
Title: Re: Haloumi recipe I have used commercially for 4 yrs
Post by: Cameron1997 on May 06, 2022, 04:39:00 AM
Hi

I have been making halloumi for a few months now with good success. In the recipe it says to boil the Haloumi in water instead of the whey which still gets the desired result in texture etc, but I was wondering if anyone else has tried this and noticed any impacts to the flavour compared with boiling in the whey? I am yet to try this method as the other one worked straight away. I have ben using sheep's milk and 2-3% salt which gives a nice creamy, milky flavour which can be easily flavoured.

Thanks in advance.