Say "Cheese"

I made my second batch of farmer's cheese last week. It's good, simple cheese.

DH and I both like it.

First batch had dill and a bit of cardamom in it.

This batch was simple, just salt and 1/2 cup whole milk added.

Here are the ingredients:

1. one gallon milk (used 2% this time, whole milk last time.)
2. 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (Bragg's ACV)

 That's it, two ingredients.

Pour milk into a five quart stainless steel pot. Heat on low until 180-200 degrees F.
Add the ACV all at once, and stir.(All of the milk protein precipitates out of the milk using the vinegar method, so there's no chance of making ricotta with the whey.)

Immediately the curds will separate from the whey. If they don't separate, add a dollop more of ACV.
To strain, I use a large SS bowl to catch the whey, and a berry colander lined with a flour sack towel to catch the curds.

 Once the curds and whey have been poured through the lined colander, gather up the four corners of the cloth, secure, and hang over a pot.

The remaining whey will drip out, leaving a nice ball of curd in the cloth.

I poured the whey into a gallon jar (will use it in the garden),

The curds went into the large stainless bowl. That's about a pound and a half of cheese. Then I added salt to taste, using my hands to mix.After that I poured about 1/2 cup of whole milk into the salted curds, to make the cheese a bit more creamy.


Yum!

For the next foray into cheese making, I will use rennet.