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Hi everyone,

this is my first post . . and the reasion for my being "here"

I so much appreciate your generous descriptions about various cheese subjects.

The reason I need to write separately is that my situations is – as so often – different.

We are lucky to get real warm and fully fat cow's milk from a neighbor's cow. It's more like half and half actually. So what I did - forever flying by the seat of my pants – is that I separated the cream, let it separate into whey and some kind of curds without much of anything, sometimes I added yoghurt, but it never came to anything, and I am beginning to understand why.

HOWEVER  . . . I ended up with nearly a gallon of miscellaneous curdy stuff in various jars in the fridge, and it all seems quite alive and well even after as much as two (2) years. Smells like old old parmesan or some of the green Swiss crumble cheese. Strong stuff, 90% fat, but no cheese.

What do I do?

I bought some Rennet tablets, we have vinegar, we have yoghurt,  . .  (the yoghurt making works like a charm) a thermometer, various stainless steel pots and bowls. I can also make a cheese press of 3' or 4' pipe and a lid. Other than that, my budget is extremely "budget".

What do I do?

thanks

Wolfgang

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and here a pic of our "Jack" for your entertainment

Hi Wolfgang, welcome!

OK so it sounds like you skimmed cream off of raw cow's milk, then let the skimmed milk naturally clabber, which you stored in fridge for up to two years. You say it is 90% fat so you must have separated the whey to condense it.

What to do . . . I would junk it, too many chances of unwanted microorganisms like listeria. If you want you can Search this forum on key words like Skimming, Clabber, & Listeria.

On you second what to do with your current ingredients & equipment to make cheese I recommend reading the Wiki Articles and the forum sections on type of cheese you want to make. Sounds like you have two starter culture choices, natural clabber of your raw milk and yogurt.

You have more to start with than I did three years ago!  For starters, you have this forum and its members to help you out.  This place has been invaluable to me and I hope we can help you out, too.

What kind of cheese do you like?  That's always a good starting point for looking at the types of cheese you want to make.  I recommend starting with a fresh cheese so you can taste the results of your efforts right away.  American Neufchatel is fairly easy to make and can be flavored with herbs if you don't like it plain.  (Basically,, it is low-fat cream cheese).

If you want to delve into a hard cheese that doesn't have to age too long to get good results, try Lancashire.  I've recently just started making it and will be making lots more.  In four weeks, we have a mild cheddar-type cheese that has a nice creamy texture.

Like John, I'd recommend discarding your "science experiments" as my DH refers to anything old in the fridge.  Just too many variables going on there.

Welcome to the forum!