No Access to a Farm?

Well, because many don’t have access to the farm gate for the ultimate in raw milk, I have produced a video tutorial explaining what cow’s milk is easily obtainable from major supermarkets and is okay for cheese making.

When in Doubt, Add Calcium Chloride

Don’t forget that if you know the milk has been pasteurised then please remember to add the equivalent amount of Calcium Chloride as you do Rennet to the milk.  This will encourage better coagulation of the milk into curds and whey.

So just to recap for cow’s milk;

• Pasteurised/Homogenised milk with a fat content of at least 3.25% is okay.
• Pasteurised/Unhomogenised milk is much better with a fat content of at least 3.25% or higher.
• UHT or Ultra-pasteurised milk will not set a curd, and
• Skimmed milk is useless for making cheese.
• Lite milk Pasteurised/Homogenised with a fat content of about 1.5 to 2% fat is okay to augment your milk if your recipe calls for lower fat e.g. Parmesan.
• Half and Half, which is usually about 10% fat is too high for cheese making.

For cream;

• Thickened cream contains thickeners or gelatine which affects curd set
• Double cream with ~51% fat is too thick and difficult to incorporate back into the milk
• Single Pure cream that has about 45% fat and is pourable, should be perfect for cheese making if your recipe calls for additional cream.

I Can Get Access to Farm Milk!

Well, that’s fantastic.  Just make sure that you can trust the quality of the milk and that you can transport it home at 4°C/39.2°F.  Use it within 2 days from milking for the best result.  If you are not sure about the milk quality then be sure to pasteurise your own raw milk using the Low Temperature/Long Hold method which you can learn about at Dairy Technologist.

What do you think?

Let me know what you think is the best cow’s milk to use for cheese making at home.

Do you have a favourite brand or dairy that you source your milk from?

The post What is the Best Cow’s Milk to use for Cheese Making? appeared first on Little Green Cheese.

So what is the best milk for cheese making?

Milk used in the cheese making process should be of the highest quality, whether it be straight from the cow, sheep, goat, buffalo, or chicken (joking), or bought from the supermarket.  It must be hygienic and free from contamination.

You can make cheese from raw milk, as civilisations have done so for many thousands of years, however some countries have imposed food standards that mandate that the curds must be cooked at 48°C (118°F) or higher during the cheesemaking process, and the final cheese ripened at 10°C (50°F) for longer than 60 days to destroy harmful pathogens.

The pathogens are killed by the increased acidity produced during the aging process.  Hard cheeses like Parmesan and Romano fit this criteria.

For the normal home cheese making it is recommended that you either purchase pasteurized milk or pasteurize your own raw milk at home.  Pasteurisation is an important process that destroys harmful bacteria, capable of causing illness in humans.

Pasteurisation is easy and the slow method is better for milk quality when used in cheese making.  Using your stock pot, double boiler, and café thermometer you can follow these simple steps.

1. Pour the milk into the large stock pot and place it on top of the smaller pot that contains about 1 litre/quart of tap water.
2. Slowly heat the milk to 63°C (145°F) and hold the temperature there for thirty minutes.  Stir the milk gently throughout to make sure that the heat is evenly distributed.
3. Remove the milk from the heat and place it in a sink filled with iced water.  This is to bring the temperature down as quickly as possible.  When the milk has reached 4°C (40°F), it can be stored in the refrigerator for future use or used straight away for cheese making.

Alternatively, you can use raw milk, which if not treated carefully, can be harmful to your health.  For raw milk that may not have been handled at the correct temperature before you get a chance to use it, it is best to pasteurize it before making your cheese.

If you do not have access to raw milk, you can buy pasteurized non-homogenised milk at most milk outlets or supermarkets.  This type of milk is also known as cream-line milk.  It has great structure and sets a good curd when cheese making.

At a pinch you can use homogenized milk, but the fat in the milk has been passed through micro filters to break up the fat globules so they don’t float to the top as cream.  Some of the soluble calcium gets destroyed in this process and does effect curd set.  Add a small amount of Calcium Chloride to counteract the homogenization process.  Most of my recipes on this site have the option to add Calcium Chloride.  Ensure you use it, or a sloppy curd will occur and that just ends in tears!

Never, ever, use Ultra Heat Treated milk better known as UHT or for that matter Ultra-Pasteurised milk for making cheese.

Both preserving treatments damage the structure of the milk and kills all remaining bacteria, and it is the comment cause of curd set failure in home cheese making.  I know because I have been diagnosed the issue so many times from readers questions.

I also know that this milk is unusable from experience, and here is the reason why:  back in the very early days of my cheese making journey, and when I was a little less knowledgeable about the cheese making process, I attempted to use Ultra High Temperature (UHT) milk to make a semi-hard cheese.

I added the culture and then when time was up I added the rennet and waited another 45 minutes for the curds to set.

I checked the milk and expected to see a nicely set curd, but it was not to be. It was still plain milk!  That was very disappointing, so I added another lot of rennet and waited another 45 minutes.  To my surprise, it was still runny milk!  No curds had set.

Due to the very high temperatures used in manufacturing this shelf-stable product, all of the bacteria has been destroyed and the soluble calcium is transformed into insoluble.  It will not set a curd with rennet or acid.  So my advice is to double-check your milk before you purchase it to avoid ultra-heat treated milk.

I highly recommend cream-line milk as it is perfect for the home cheese maker and forms a very good curd.  For the uninitiated, this is unhomogenized milk.

My final piece of advice for the home cheese making is to choose the freshest milk you can buy.

You and your cheese will thank you for it.

The post Choosing the Best Milk for Cheese Making appeared first on Little Green Cheese.

Marianne asks;

Hi Gavin,
Did you realize the youtube video is different to your recipe. I have tried it both ways and the video is the best using light milk, I am though having a problem with the rennet after 45 min it’s still not set, any suggestions?

Well, interesting observation and question.  I watched the youtube video with the recipe in hand, and noticed that yes the milk quantities were different in the video, however the resulting milk fat content is the same.  When making Parmesan style cheese, you are looking for a fat content of around 2 to 2.5%.

I have experienced this problem of no curd set before with poor quality milk. Sometimes milk is
ultra heat treated which affects the structure of the caesin which even with the addition of calcium chloride will still not set. Find a really good source of non-homogenised milk and the 2.5ml of rennet should work better.

Additionally, I have just changed the recipe in each version of the ebook to reflect 1/2 teaspoon so the US measurement dosage is slightly higher. Those people who were using 2.5 ml will be fine.  This is to allow for dubious quality some commercially produced milk.   I am sorry if this has caused angst during anyones cheese making session.  Just remember though, try and source the best quality milk possible that has not been heat treated other than normal pasteurization.

If anyone with an older PDF version would like a newer version, please send me an email with proof of purchase and I will gladly send a coupon code so you can download a replacement free of charge via my shopping cart.  If you purchased via Smashwords, you will be able to download the updated version right now without additional cost.

Sincerely,

Gavin

The post Reader Question – Parmesan Recipe appeared first on Little Green Cheese.

Want proof?  Well over the weekend I doubled my Caerphilly recipe and made twice as much in the same amount of time.  You can find my Caerphilly recipe here.

I used my 15 litre stock pot and filled it with 14.5 litres of full cream milk.  Heating the milk can take a little while longer, but it doesn’t extend the cheese making process too much.

Cutting the curd was no different, I just needed a longer knife and curd cutter.

Cheddaring was just as easy.  The slabs were just longer.  Milling was a cinch in the larger pot.  The only difference as was that I had to use two moulds, two cheese cloths, and two cheese presses.  If I had a larger mould, I could have fit all the curds into just one.

You may need a little more space during pressing, but my kitchen sink was sufficient.

And here are the two wheels of Caerphilly, air drying before I put them into the cheese fridge.  Each day I will wipe them over with a brine solution to help form the rind and to inhibit any mould development.

I am looking forward to when they mature in three weeks time.  This cheese is so moreish!  Did I ever mention that it’s one of my favourite cheeses to make at home?

So there you have it.  Doubling your batches at home is easy as buying a little more equipment.  The time taken is the same.

Who else makes larger batches in this manner?

The post Making Larger Batches of Cheese appeared first on Little Green Cheese.

Standard 4.2.4 – Primary Production and Processing Standard for Dairy Products

16           Processing of dairy
products to make cheese and cheese products

Milk or dairy products used to make cheese or
cheese products must be processed –

(a)          in accordance with subclause
15(1); or

(b)          by being held at a temperature
of no less than 62°C for a period of no less than 15 seconds, and the cheese or
cheese product stored at a temperature of no less than 2°C for a period of 90
days from the date of processing; or

(c)          such that –

(i)            the curd is heated to a
temperature of no less than 48°C; and

 

(ii)           the cheese or cheese
product has a moisture content of less than 36%, after being stored at a
temperature of no less than 10°C for a period of no less than 6 months from the
date of processing; or

(d)          in accordance with clause 1 of
Standard 4.2.4A.

So I have two choices.  Pasteurize the milk, as per the instructions in (b) and then make cheese with it, or follow clause (c).

So that means that I can make Romano, Parmesan, and Gruyère with raw milk as long as I follow these rules.  Luckily all these cheese recipes comply or can be adapted to follow the rules.  With the cheese being at a lower temperature of 10°C vice the normal 13°C it will take a bit longer to mature anyway and loose a fair bit of moisture.  So will the rest of the cheese in the cheese fridge, but just for the taste it is a sacrifice that I am willing to take!

Here is to more raw milk cheese making!

The post Raw Milk Food Standards Australia appeared first on Little Green Cheese.