Cheese Making for the New Year

I found some raw cow´s milk at a farm store. Usually you only get milk which is pasteurized and homogenized.

The moment I saw it, I knew making a batch of soft cheeses for the first days in the New Year would be great. Since there was not so much to do on New Years Eve I could spent the time in the kitchen babysitting my cheeses.

I´ve got the ingredients from the fridge and freezer from the basement and all the other equipment I needed. I started with the milk and warmed it to 35 C and added the starter and calciumcloride at 9 AM sharp. You have to follow a strict timetable when you make cheese and an early morning start makes it easier. I kept the temperature for an hour and added the rennet. Then I used a thick bath towel and covered the pot and it sat without any moving for 80 minutes.

The comes the fun part, get off the towel and stare into the pot. Is there a big solid slab of white?
If yes, you did something right. Take a big knife and cut through it a couple of times.
Let it rest for 10 minutes, use a big spoon and get rid of some of the whey. Cut again  and so on 4 times.

Use cheese containers that strain the liquid and fill them up and set them on to a rack over a large container.

After the first cut

fresh filled containers

after an hour

next morning at 6 AM I turned them

At 11 AM the next day I rubbed them with salt for the first time, and hour later for the second time.
The last salt an hour later was from Iceland and has tiny herbs and flowers in.

I packed the cheeses away in the evening and stored them in the fridge.

Today I tasted one - delicious!