RECIPES OF CHEESE
HOMEMADE FRESH CHEESE
Ingredients for 1 kg:
- Fresh untreated milk
- Natural rennet (thistle stalks, flower stamens or artichoke, a piece of Lady’s Bedstraw (Galium verum) etc)
- Salt
Utensils:
- A large enameled clay or iron pot.
- Moulds of vegetables (made with wicker or other material that does not close perfectly so they can be able to drain the cheese curd).
- Rags or cloth to drain.
- A large wooden spoon.
- A wooden table.
- 4 wooden plugs or blocks. 2 more large and two a couple of inches smaller
- 4 clean rods, peeled and washed.
How to make your fresh cheese at home:
- Pour about 5 liters of fresh milk in the pot. Add the rennet (Choose from fresh stalks of thistle, the stamens of a pair of artichoke flowers, or a piece of of Lady’s Bedstraw). Let it stand for 12 hours in a place with a temperature of about 12 º C.
- Remove the cream and put it in the fridge.
- Cover the molds with muslin or cloth.
- Place a wooden board over the sink, place it on top of the wooden blocks so that the highest ones are on the opposite side of the sink. On the table, distribute the reeds parallely at equal distances along the table, forming a sort of inclined platform on which the molds can be supported. This allows water to run off the mold well towards the sink and below each mold and along the rods.
- Take the curd with the wooden spoon and fill the molds, placing each one of them above the reeds.
- Leave the molds at room temperature at 18 º C for 12 hours. The temperature can not be higher than 20 º C
- Just after 12 hours, our fresh cheese is already made. Take the cheese out of the molds, by means of turning each mould upside down. Put them on a plate.
- Add salt as desired and save it to cool in the fridge
More information on cheese.
This article was endorsed by Elisenda Carballido - Dietitian nutritionist. Postgraduate in Phytotherapy and master in Nutrition and Metabolism.
