From a creamy Camembert to a tangy, homemade goat's milk cheddar, there is nothing like a favorite homemade cheese to make any meal special. If you find that your favorite dishes always seem to include this special ingredient anyway, homemade cheese making will be just for you.
You need not be a world traveler in order to experience some of the finest cheese dining possible. Homemade cheese is a little science and some milk with a hint of daredevil attitude.
An Exact Science
The science behind cheesemaking is exact. There are simple but important steps to making any cheese and even a small mistake can turn a fine food product into am inedible bacterial playground. There are, however, many cheeses that are, in effect, culinary mistakes, but still turn out tasty!
The more comfortable you become making a basic cheese, the better your later efforts and experiments will become. Cheesemaking is well worth it! and the willingness to experiment is the reason you'll need that daredevil attitude.
One of the first types of cheese I recommend making requires only a gallon of milk, some acid (i.e. vinegar or lemon juice) and something to strain it in. From there, you can create endless tastes, textures and varieties by adding the flavoring of your choosing.
Start With The Basics
Let's start with the basic cheese.
Queso Blanco, or White Cheese, is a basic recipe that can become either a dessert or a main course, depending on how you continue the recipe once you create the plain cheese. To make your first batch of queso blanco:
Once you make this easy cheese, you have a world of choices for using it. Some of my favorite ideas are:
Once you get the cheesemaking bug, you will want to expand your talents and try other simple cheeses.
Buying Cheesemaking Supplies
There are many places that sell cheese making supplies to home cheesemakers, but when buying your cheese supplies, read the listings carefully.
Many times, cheese equipment is designed for dairies and you will never use the perishable items up fast enough to make ordering in large quantities worth your while. By making sure that your order comes from a HOME cheesemaking supplier, you can find any of the big dairy items cut down to quantities that are manageable for home cheesemakers.
You're not saving any money to have to store huge quantities of cheesemaking cultures in your freezer, just to save a few dollars!