Milk's bid for immortality; Cheese making

So, you got a twofer deal on milk at the store and that second
gallon has been languishing in the back of the fridge. You pull
it out and it expires in two days. There is no way the kids will
drink it all before it goes off. What do you do.

CHEESE PLEEZ....

We've been making cheese for a year now. Nothing fancy, just
buying milk at the store and playing with the art and science.

By far the easiest cheese to make is Panir or queso blanco.

Grab your kettle that you used to make the yogurt and heat your
almost expired milk to 180 degrees. Now pour in a glug of white vinegar and start stirring. Pour in another glug and keep stirring like a madman. Repeat. You will notice that the milk thickens as it curdles from the acidic vinegar. Continue until you notice patches of green whey among islands of curd. Put the vinegar away.

Now kill the fire and leave the kettle. Go to the sink and line a colander with cheese cloth. Pour the kettle into the colander. You may catch the whey for other uses. I have never bothered. It is risky with the hot kettle and takes some planning. You lose points for burning yourself or any innocent bystanders (collateral damage)

With the curds safely in the colander set the kettle aside and hang the cheese ball over the sink to drain. Leave till dry.
Once it is dry you will have a ball that looks like a calliflower or a brain. It won't melt. It slices beautifully, and it will have a neutral taste. It is great for things like lasagna or a sprinkling of protein on salad. You may flavor it to be anything you want and it has a very nice texture. The texture is controlled by the amount of vinegar that you add. Too much and it will be rubbery like pencil erasers. Once I made some that was hard as a softball and about as edible....

It will keep virtually forever. One of my mentors at Fias Co farm
makes large batches for the freezer

Total time investment; perhaps an hour of activity.

http://biology.clc.uc.edu/Fankhauser/Cheese/cheese.html
http://fiascofarm.com/dairy/quesoblanco.htm

[Mike_Jetson]

And if you have an electric kettle that uses an element dont use this for heating milk as it will ruin any cups of tea you make after and will take some serious scrubbing of the element.

my mom makes it when milk spoils.. the cheese itself can not melt.. but yea great fer slicing on to lasagna n such

[MMe M]

Its really good stuff! We fry it in a pan with butter and its heaven. Tastes like solidified cream when you fry it in a lil real butter. Truly decadant. I cannot make it too often as my butt is big enough already!

Thanks for sharing.

I hope at least some of you will try this, its so good.

[Realview]

On the other hand...

Milk and Cheese are major sources of cholesterol. There is as much cholesterol in a glass of whole milk as there is in 4-5 strips of bacon. I suggest you consider milk to be an animal product. The body manufactures all the cholesterol it needs. The only source of dietary Cholesterol is animal products. A plan based diet will reverse the cholesterol clogging of your arteries. Cholesterol is the source of strokes, Alzheimer, high blood pressure, heart disease, etc...

[MMe M]

Originally Posted by Realview

On the other hand...

Milk and Cheese are major sources of cholesterol. There is as much cholesterol in a glass of whole milk as there is in 4-5 strips of bacon. I suggest you consider milk to be an animal product. The body manufactures all the cholesterol it needs. The only source of dietary Cholesterol is animal products. A plan based diet will reverse the cholesterol clogging of your arteries. Cholesterol is the source of strokes, Alzheimer, high blood pressure, heart disease, etc...

Realview,
If that truly were the case, many of the older ones would have keeled over years ago. The simple fact is that we need fat. My grandmother ate fats all her life. When she became elderly and Drs managed her diet, she sickened and died at 90. Were it not for the Drs she may have made 100. Fat is essential and our bodies tell us what we need. Salt has also taken a bad rap it didnt deserve.

The chemicals in our every day existance are far more harmful than any bit of cheese. A cow does not have to die, but willingly gives us this so it is not an animal product. No one must die for me to eat it, therefore it is essentially a stress free and abundantly good food.

[carliec]

Originally Posted by Realview

On the other hand...

Milk and Cheese are major sources of cholesterol. There is as much cholesterol in a glass of whole milk as there is in 4-5 strips of bacon. I suggest you consider milk to be an animal product. The body manufactures all the cholesterol it needs. The only source of dietary Cholesterol is animal products. A plan based diet will reverse the cholesterol clogging of your arteries. Cholesterol is the source of strokes, Alzheimer, high blood pressure, heart disease, etc...

yeah ok funny my grandmother and her 8 sibilings grew up on a farm eating all those bad things, diary meat etc, not one of them ever had a disease and the youngest age of death was 84 years...yeah milk is a real killer.

[VinnieCooper]

I totally over looked the value of cheese (and yogert) as a way to store protein, so thanks for that, whats really great is that I've just started making my own vineger. So I'm going to have to try it out.

Anybody got any Thoughts on:-
Raw Milk? or
Whey products?

Anyway Cheers B

Originally Posted by VinnieCooper

I totally over looked the value of cheese (and yogert) as a way to store protein, so thanks for that, whats really great is that I've just started making my own vineger. So I'm going to have to try it out.

Anybody got any Thoughts on:-
Raw Milk? or
Whey products?

Anyway Cheers B

Please talk about your vinegar making....