Confusion between pasteurised milk and unhomogenised milk

[Shalloy]

Hello, I recently made some camembert which seems to be ageing nicely.  The recipe said this...

Preparing the Milk. Warm the milk and cream combination to 32°C (if using homogenised milk and no cream, add the Calcium Chloride solution at this time). Add the prepared starter and mix well. Leave covered for 75 minutes to ripen.

I was using unhomogenised milk so didn't add any calcium chloride.  Since then Ive seen other recipes that say if using pasteurised milk you need to add calcium chloride.  Is this recipe worded incorrectly as from what I can see the milk can be unhomogenised but still pasteurised and I probably should have used calcium chloride.

What will the lack of calcium chloride do to the cheese?

Going forward I don't have any liquid calcium chloride but do have it in granular form as I used it in beer brewing.  I can't really go to the nearest supply shop as we are in stage 3 lock down here in Melbourne so essential travel only, work, food etc. Dont want to cop a $1600 fine just to buy Calcium Chloride.

So can I used the dry version and how much should I dissolve in distilled water before adding?

Thanks guys.

[mikekchar]

Many people are confused.  Pasteurisation is the heating of the milk to kill unwanted bacteria.  Homogenisation is the forcing of the milk through a filter to break up the fat.  Both things make it difficult to set a good curd with rennet.  However, only one is related to calcium.  When you heat milk, calcium comes out of solution just like when you boil hard water (when you get hard water stains, and scale on your taps).  Rennet requires dissolved calcium to set a curd (I don't have time to explain why right now, unfortunately).

If your cheese set a curd properly, then you were lucky and didn't need the calcium chloride.  It happens from time to time.  But you should get some for your next cheese.  You can mail order it and get it delivered.  If you haven't made the cheese yet, you might want to pivot and make something with an acid set curd (like paneer) until you can get some calcium chloride as the milk likely won't set without it.

Edit: I missed that you had it in granular form.  You just need at 30% w/v solution of it.  Add 30 grams of dry calcium chloride in 100 ml of water.  Mix until dissolved.  You are done.  By far the best way to go -- the liquid form is ridiculously expensive.

[Shalloy]

Thanks Mike. I'll mix some CC up using my dried stuff. I want to make some blue cheese tomorrow as Im off work for a week.