Recipes

Feta style cheese. 

 Why feta style? Well, feta is traditionally made with sheep or goat and sheep milk. Although I keep goats, I’m assuming most of you don’t, so it’s a feta style cheese. It makes approx. 1lb of cheese. (if making double the recipe, simply double the ingredients listed below)

4L or one gallon of full-fat milk. 

1/4 tsp of liquid rennet in 60ml or 1/4 cup non-chlorinated water. 

Mesophilic culture  1/16 tsp FETA by codexing OR

                                         1/16 tsp of  Alternate feta cheese starter culture, OR

                                          60ml, 1/4 cup plain yoghurt, which is a thermophilic culture or cultured buttermilk, which is a mesophilic.

1/4 tsp or 1.3ml of calcium chloride solution, in 60ml or 1/4 cup non-chlorinated water.

(Raw milk? Leave out the calcium chloride and use half the culture listed above)

Heat the milk to 31c (88f) and add the one culture you have chosen from the list above and leave to ripen for 45 minutes. The milk will keep its temperature for this period if your house is reasonably warm but if not this is done by wrapping the pot in a towel away from heat. Add the calcium chloride to the water and stir, then mix it into the milk using an up-down motion known as the cheesemakers stir. Mix the rennet in 1/4 cup of non-chlorinated water and then mix into your milk using the cheesemakers stir, for no more than 45 seconds. Don’t prepare the rennet until just before you need it as it loses its efficacy over time. Leave the milk to set for 45 minutes or until you get a clean break. Cut your curd into 1/2” cubes and leave it to rest for ten minutes. After that, there should be a very clear difference between your curd blocks and the now yellowy-green whey. Check the temperature is still at 31c (88f) and gently stir the curd for about 20 minutes. You will see the curd retracting. Don’t worry if it doesn’t remain a perfect square, it will soften and change more into a cottage cheese style curd as you stir. Line the colander with cheesecloth, and gently transfer the curds using ladle, allow it to drain until its no longer running, but dripping then gather the four corners of the cloth and place a small plate on top or a follower if you have one and add 5lbs weight for 1-3 hours, longer for a drier crumblier curd. Once your cheese has drained you have several options to age it. I suggest you cut the cheese back into 1” cubes and put them on a plate with a lot of salt. No, more salt than that. Don’t panic you won’t be eating most of that. It helps to draw out more whey and it protects the cheese from mould growth, and it adds significantly to the flavour. Turn the cheese curds twice daily and add more salt as needed. After day two, again you have options. I like to rinse mine and taste it and rinse and taste until I’m happy with the salting and then pat dry with a paper towel then store in a jar in the fridge in a 50/50 mix of extra virgin olive oil (for flavour) and vegetable oil  (to stop the EVOO from coagulating in the fridge) I throw in some sanitized herbs like oregano and when I’m ready to use it for Greek salad I can use the oil as well as the cheese in my recipe. Just make sure all the cheese is submerged and you can store it in the fridge for up to 3 months. Alternatively, you can rinse it, pat it dry with kitchen paper and then vacuum seal it for either fridge storage up to 6 weeks or in the freezer potentially indefinitely. Frozen cheese becomes drier and crumblier but with a feta that’s ideal so it's a win-win, finally you can make a brine for your cheese instead of dry salting it. I don’t recommend this for beginners as the cheese can melt back into the brine and go slimy which is heartbreaking after all your work. You need to make sure the ph of the brine is the same as the cheese or it will leech calcium out of the feta. Brined cheese will need to be refrigerated and will keep that way for up to three months. 

   
Now the taste test. Feta style cheese is dry and crumbly, with a light taste and gentle salty flavour. If you find it too salty then soak it in some water and 2.5ml calcium chloride for 30 minutes prior to use and some of the salt will be removed. Once you have made this cheese it's time to move on to a hard cheese, which isn’t quite what you may think! In cheesemaking, we call anything that is pressed and aged a hard cheese, things like Caerphilly, gouda, cheddar, parmesan.

to make Panela you need only milk, rennet and calcium chloride (if your milk is not raw) 

First sanitize all your equipment, I use diluted starsan. 

heat the milk to 95f 35c

mix 1/4 tsp of Calcium chloride 30% solution into  60ml or 1/4 cup non chlorinated water and stir this into your milk.

there is no culture or ripening time for this mild fresh cheese so next we add 1/4 tsp single strength rennet in 60ml or 1/4 cup non chlorinated water stir this using an up down motion into the milk for no more than 45 seconds, taking care to still the milk. After 45 minutes check the pot for a clean break by slicing into the  coagulated milk and pulling gently to one side, if you have a clean break cut the curd and stir for 20 minutes off and on. Scoop off the whey to the curd line using a sieve and ladle and then mix the salt into the curds and remaining whey. I use 1.5 tablespoons or just over 25g. 

drain the cheese curds into a basket type mould with plenty of openings. We don’t press this cheese it presses under its own weight. flip the cheese at 2 hours and at 4 hours and it’s ready to go into the fridge to be eaten right away.