The cheese derives from the coagulation of milk (cow, goat, or sheep) using rennet.
The rennet
The rennet is the product of maceration of the calf stomach parts, lamb or goat in an appropriate liquid. There are various types of rennet on the market. It is best to buy a good quality one with an indication of its coagulating strength. The most common is 1: 10,000, i.e. about 1.5 ml of rennet coagulation 10 liters of milk with normal acidity at 35 ° C in forty minutes. It should be noted that milk also coagulates by itself after about 12-18 hours which is kept at a temperature of 30 ° C, under the action of the lactic acid that is formed.
The rennet is added to the milk warmed at a temperature of 36 ° -39 ° C According to the type of cheese. If there are curdling problems, you can try raising the temperature before trying to add more rennet. Before being added to the milk, the rennet should be diluted in a little water.
Rennet fears light and heat :
Therefore keep it in the refrigerator in a dark glass bottle. A valuable piece of advice is not to stir the milk once the coagulation has started nor to move the containers that contain it because curdling is a very delicate process. After the coagulation of the milk, there is the so-called phase of breaking the curd and purging. For home processing you can break the curd with your hands, crumbling it very slowly. The breaking of the curd favors the purging.
The purge
The purge consists of the subsequent separation of the curd from the whey (the solid part from the liquid). However, before taking the whey with a ladle to carry out the separation (or with another system), the curd must be left to rest after breaking for a few minutes so that it can settle well on the bottom. For some types of cheese (the so-called cooked cheeses), the curd, once crushed, is cooked at a temperature commonly between 44 and 56 ° C, according to the type of cheese to be obtained.
Spinning
Spinning is another operation sometimes operated in order to achieve certain qualities of cheese. The curd is left for a few hours in the hot acidic whey. In this way we obtain the solubilization of the calcium salts and the demineralization of the paste which becomes plastic. The paste can then be processed and reduced into filaments from which the desired shapes of stretched curd cheeses are obtained. After the purging takes place the salting which can be of your types: dry or in brine.
The salting
The salting also increases bleeding, protects from the development of microorganisms or harmful mold, increases the taste of cheese, determines the formation of the crust, and solubilizes proteins. Maturing, the last phase of the dairy process is the maturation process of cheeses. It is a fundamental aspect of all processing and serves to give the cheese its due texture and appearance.
Seasoning
The seasoning highlights flavors and aromas through a complicated chemical-enzymatic process. It is implemented in environments that change according to the type of cheese, but generally have temperature conditions around 3-8 ° C and humidity of 85-90%.
If you can use cow’s milk from some farm in the vicinity it would be wonderful and the result certainly more corresponds to expectations. Otherwise, at least use fresh whole milk because the long-life milk has undergone such treatments that any other transformation is impossible. The tools that can be used to make good homemade cheese are few and simple. Apart from a good steel pot, you will certainly need a special thermometer for cheeses with which to measure the temperature in the various stages of processing and the molds (in steel or plastic), a sort of perforated mold in which to put the curd to drain and take shape. And then some gauze, a colander, and some plastic tubs if you want to produce aged cheese in brine.
Method:
Take 10 liters of milk, put them in a steel pot, and cool on the fire to 27-28 ° C. Then turn off and add 1.5 ml of rennet (strength 1: 10,000) mixing well. Finally, cover. The curd time varies according to the ambient temperature. The curd is still ready when, by inserting a toothpick in the center of the same, it remains straight.
At that point, break the curd with your hands, or with a ladle, acting very slowly and thoroughly. A clear green or transparent white whey is a sign of the excellent success of the curd. The latter, after having been crushed, must be left to settle on the bottom for some time until the liquid part on the surface has clearly separated from the solid part. Then remove the whey (the liquid part) over the curd with a ladle. The whey is then set aside because with it you can make ricotta (see below).
Now: to obtain a mature cheese that can be preserved for a long time, put the pan with the curd on the stove and bring everything to 37 ° C, making sure that it does not stick to the bottom. Then turn it off. If, on the other hand, you want to prepare a fresh cheese, you do not need to further heat the curd and proceed directly with the subsequent phases. With the curd separated from the whey, heated or not according to the type of cheese, proceed as follows: with a colander, draw the curd inside the pot and place it in the molds previously covered with gauze. Mash the cheese with your fingers so that the remaining whey can come out.
Bottom Line
Then cover with the flap of the gauze every form of cheese that must be pressed again on the top. Turn the molds upside down, take out the cheeses, and remove the gauze wrapping them. Then put them back in the molds for 24 hours, covering them with a cotton cloth. After this time, if it is fresh cheese it can be put in the refrigerator or eaten immediately. While if it is to prepare the seasoned one you have to move on to the brine phase. Which consists of boiling water with an addition of 150 grams of salt. up to each liter of the same. Then let it cool and put the salted water in a plastic tray.
The cheeses are then taken and immersed in the brine where they are left for 24 hours. Turning them upside down once a day (the cheeses must float).
After this time, remove the cheese wheels and place them on cotton sheets. Turning them upside down for the first two or three days so that they dry. To let them mature, then put the forms on untreated wooden boards. (Poplar wood is the most suitable) in a cool place.
Also read: how to make sticky rice
