My journey into cheese making

[TailPipe]

My journey into cheese making started just over four months ago. I took the month of February off for parental leave, and following a wonderful two-week vacation with extended family in The Bahamas I had two weeks to go. Spending time with the kids and the family was amazing, but I found myself looking for something new to do in any quiet time I had (which wasn't all that much but enough to get to thinking).

It all started with a desire to make homemade yogurt. We purchased an instant pot last fall and had only used it a handful of times for things like pulled pork and chili. The pot had the yogurt function and I was eager to give it a go. The first try and the yogurt was amazing – albeit a little runny. I simply scalded, cultured, and ripened the yogurt over night, using an online recipe and some active yogurt from the grocery store as starter, and was amazed at the fresh flavor of the final product. I searched out some guar gum at a local bulk store to use as a thickener. After a little more research and trials I was able to get a much thicker yogurt without any additives. Holding the scalding temperature (180F) for about 5 minutes seemed to do the trick. For the next couple months we were making over a litre of yogurt every week – and all of us loved it. The only thing we added was a bit of vanilla. I was impressed at the cost savings.

So onto the cheese. I knew nothing about cheese making. I actually thought I could maybe use the instant pot to make cheese (of course you could, but it doesn't really add anything that a stove cannot accomplish). I looked up a recipe for cottage cheese and the first time turned out great – just using lemon juice as the coagulant. The kids also loved this. I quickly moved on to some fresh goat cheese also using the lemon juice – and was impressed. This immediately got me thinking about other cheeses.

I went online and did a bit of research and bought a couple books right away from amazon – Mary Karlin's book "Artisan Cheese Making at Home"and Elena Santogade's "The Beginners Guide to Cheesemaking". I bought two kits from an online supplier for both mozzarella and cheddar and then things kind of snow balled from there.

It took a little research to scope out some reasonable milk for good cheese making. I finally found a source for un-homogenized whole milk – although only through organic stores which makes it a bit pricey, but everything else I have tried so far has set weak curds so I have stuck with this milk. Regular store bought milk has worked ok for mozzarella and cream cheese but that is about it.

My first quick mozzarella attempt was a success (they subsequently have not all been). My wife and I enjoyed some very fresh and impressive (to us) caprese that night and were really astounded that we created this in our home. I think after that first mozzarella I can say that I had the bug.

I went a little nuts for the next couple months. I had quite a few online orders for molds (both kinds), cultures, wax, cheesecloth, a press, and a few more books, and everything else needed to make cheese.

I have made about 15 cheeses to date – mostly successes, a few failures, lots of learning, nothing unedible as of yet!. Roughly in order of what I made dating back to mid march: a couple Cheddars, Camembert, Raclette, Gouda, Brie, Goat's Milk Manchego, Sheep/Goat Greek Feta, Water Buffalo Mozzarella, Gruyere, Jarlsburg – and then a few repeats – just did my second Gouda – the first 12 L gouda didn't last long!

All of the cheddars (3 in total so far) are still aging, so at this point I don't know if I'm any good at cheddaring or not! But I think they'll be ok. The Same goes for the Manchego, Grueyere, and Jarlsburg. They all need a little more aging in the cave for another month or two before tasting.

The raclette was a learning experience as well. I wouldn't say it was the raclette I was expecting, but it is still a nice stinky edible cheese. It melted well on potatoes. A bit softer than I wanted, but I have a few things I will try differently next time.

The first cheese I tried after the mozzarella was camembert  –  those turned out amazing. The second attempt at this type of cheese I tried a Brie, using the bigger mold, which more or less failed – we still used it in baking, but the PC didn't take hold properly. I currently have 4 cams in the cave right now and they look great. I think fridge moisture was a problem with the Brie.

Oh yeah – I went from fitting a couple cheeses in a wine fridge (used for wine) and then jumped to a full size wine fridge (purchased for cheese ☺ ). I'm committed now...

So far the best resources I have found have been Mary Karlin's book, 200 Easy Homemade Cheese Recipes by Debra Amrein-Boyes, a couple of Gianaclis Caldwell's book on cheese making, Gavin Webber's videos on YouTube have also been a great resource, and last but not least all of the experience and commentary found on this board. Lot's of historical postings to read through and a lot of experienced folk's will to share and provide guidance. This is really a great forum for this and I am thankful.

My background is in chemistry and biology so I have also taken an active interested in the science behind cheese making. I have also found some great resources online for this side of things. In particular the University of Guelph's Cheese Making Technology e-book: https://www.uoguelph.ca/foodscience/book-page/cheese-making-technology-ebook

I have also taken an interest in other fermented foods and have made of sour kraut and lacto-fermented full sour pickles and hope to keep learning and refining things on that end of things as well. It's been so fun to try these things, learn, observe, apply new knowledge and try again. We have also been making sour dough bread from a starter from scratch and have been making a couple loafs a week - that started around easter and the starter is still going strong. We've made a few batches of cultured butter as well - the flavour is amazing.

The adventure continues and there's a long list of things to try and I'm excited for what the future brings. I've even got my wife on board and she's starting to take an interest. Maybe the kids too when they are a bit older – I was weeding the lawn the other day any my 3 year old son was taking all the weeds and clippings and putting them in a bin for me and the whole time he was saying he was making cheese! What have I done!

Keep up all the amazing cheese making and sharing your experiences!

Cheers

[River Bottom Farm]

Keep up the good work TailPipe. It's frustrating sourcing milk in a govenrnment regulated system isn't it? We started into cheese from the other end by buying a cow and not being able to keep up to the milk. AC4U and all your efforts.

[TailPipe]

Thanks River! Yes definitely a challenge to find good cheese-making quality milk here in Ontario. The organic stuff works great - i wrote the company and asked about their pasteurization process and was impressed - they use the minimum treatment and the milk sets a great curd. The only downside is it is about 2.5x the cost. Having said that it is worth it for the quality of the end product.

We have cousins that run a dairy farm and even they have been reluctant to provide any raw milk due to the regulations.

In any case we are doing ok with the milk we found.