Cleanliness and sanitization go hand in hand before you start your cheese making session.  But how do you ensure that you sanitize without using harmful ingredients?  In this post, I am going to show you a greener way to sanitize your cheese making equipment.

Make sure that you clean every item in hot soapy water first, then rinse off with clean tap water.  Make sure there isn’t any oils or cheese stone on the surfaces of your equipment.

Once all your cheese making equipment is clean, then it is on to the sanitizing stage.  For that, all you need is boiling water and white vinegar!  Check out the YouTube video for full details.

Pretty simple and all without the use of bleach or iodophor.  For all your plastic molds and baskets, just spray with white vinegar and allow to dry.  That will take care of most bacteria or yeasts.

All it takes is a bit of common sense.  If or when you are unsure whether a piece of equipment is not clean enough, then go through the process again to make sure it’s okay to use.

I’ve been using this method for years, with no issues, or contaminated cheese.  I have also not had any cross contamination when using different starter cultures and moulds between cheese making sessions.

There’s just one caveat.  If you intend on selling your cheese, then to ensure compliance with any regulations, you will need to take your cleaning and sanitization to the next level.  There are different rules and regulations in each country or state, so make sure you contact the relevant regulatory body for more information if you want to take the next step towards the commercialisation of your cheese making operations.

However, for the home cheese maker, my simple process to sanitize your cheese making equipment is fine for home consumption.

For more tips about cleanliness and sanitization check out this post titled 4 Sanitization Secrets Every Home Cheesemaker Should Know.