is cheesemaking hard?

pfal6 · January 2011

I asked for a rec. for a yogurt maker and someone recommend a yogotherm 2 quart one that can also make cheese. The company is fairly local...maybe an hour away so I feel good ordering from them. But I had a hard time making yogurt (hence needing to buy a machine) so I am cautious to take on cheese if it's hard.

Here is the link to the site if you want it:

http://www.cheesemaking.com/store/p/100-Yogotherm-Yogurt-Maker-2-QT.html

WendyGR · January 2011

what was your difficulty with the yogurt?

I've found the fromage blanc and mozzarella fairly easy, but hard cheese I don't have the patience or equipment for. Well I did but my cheese refrigerator was lost in a lightning storm :-(

WendyGR · January 2011

I should also mention that I use raw milk, so it's easier to get the separation/curds going.

sillygoosegirl · January 2011

My experience is that making cheese is impossible with almost any milk from the grocery store because it is pasteurized at too high of a temperature. I am able to get raw goat's milk from a friend of my mom's, and it's not that hard to make if you aren't real picky about the results (most of it is good, but so far no consistency: we've gotten things kind of like feta, things kind of like cottage cheese, and things kind of like mozzarella). Unless you can find a source of raw or low temperature pasteurized milk, I wouldn't bother trying to make cheese.

pfal6 · January 2011

WendyGR:
what was your difficulty with the yogurt?
I've found the fromage blanc and mozzarella fairly easy, but hard cheese I don't have the patience or equipment for. Well I did but my cheese refrigerator was lost in a lightning storm :-(

I would put the yogurt in a cooler with a warm water bath and at it's best, came out like smoothy consistency. Sometimes it would remain yogurt tasting milk. My oven light doesn't work so I really have no idea how to keep the proper temperature for incubation.

Sounds like I should stay away from cheese then...oh well!

heliocentric · January 2011

Ricotta and paneer are easy. The quick mozzarella (microwave recipe) is decent, but not quite like the real stuff. I haven't tried anything else yet, though I'd like to try a hard cheese like cheddar.

It is hard to find good milk. We have a diary near us that sells pasturized (as opposed to ultra) and it seems to work for the cheese I mentioned above. They don't use hormones, but it's not organic and I'm not entirely sure how the animals are treated, so I am hesistant to go there very often.

If you get a yogurt machine you shouldn't have a hard time with yogurt. It's super easy since the machine takes out all the temperature regulation variables and that's really the only hard part.

elviebird · January 2011

I've only made mozzerella and it's super easy, and very tasty! Everyone says you can't used pastureized milk from the grocery store, but I've done it twice and it worked just fine. The 2nd time I added a little more rennet and some calcium carbonate and it worked even better than the first. DH gets free milk from work that would otherwise be thrown out, which is why I don't bother with trying to get raw milk. I don't know that it would work for other types of cheese, though.

Lisa78 · January 2011

I love the starter starter kit from that company - Barbara Kingsolver recommended The Cheese Queen in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle!

I've done mozzarella a few times, I used grocery store milk and it worked fine. It's not totally cost efficient (because I used organic milk, and you need a lot to make a little cheese) but it was fun!

is cheesemaking hard?

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