How to make fresh cheese

Making fresh cheese is another of those little pleasures within everyone's reach. It's just a matter of following a few steps and the satisfaction, as with everything homemade, is twofold: you enjoy the most authentic flavours and you enjoy the pleasure of having made it yourself. Don't miss the recipe for homemade fresh cheese brought to us today by Eva, author ofBake-Street !

I'm sure that on more than one occasion you've thought about making homemade fresh cheese, but for some reason you still haven't gotten around to it. Well, today will be that big day.

There is one important factor that we must take into account when making our own fresh cheese and that is the milk. We need to use fresh, good quality milk , because that is where we will get our cheese. Its flavour, texture and even quantity will depend on the quality of the milk.

I'm sure many of you have access to good quality fresh milk, but for those of you who don't, you should know which one is best for you. Don't use milk from a carton, because it has been subjected to ultra-pasteurisation (UHT); use the kind that can be found in the refrigerated section.

Trilloliva extra virgin olive oil , T&G cutting board and Pallarès carbon steel knife .

I'm sure many of you are wondering: Can I use semi-skimmed or skimmed milk to make it?

Yes, you can use it, but the cheese will not have the same flavour, texture and body since these are milks from which much of the fat has been removed.

In addition to fresh milk we will need calcium chloride and rennet, either liquid or powdered.

What is calcium chloride?

It is a calcium salt that helps the milk to curdle in order to make cheese. A lack of calcium prevents the milk from curdling properly, and therefore we would not obtain a good result.

If we use UHT or poor quality milk, calcium chloride will have no effect.

What is rennet?

Rennet is one of those ingredients that came about by chance, like many other discoveries. In ancient times, milk was stored in the stomachs of ruminants that were used as containers.

They observed that after a while, the milk had curdled, giving rise to cheese. From this they learned that the liquid found in the stomach of ruminants was what curdled the milk. This is what we now call animal rennet .

It has a substance called chymosin that produces the separation of casein from whey.

Nowadays, you can also find plant-based rennet suitable for vegans.

We can find it in two formats: powder or liquid. In my case I will show you how to use powdered rennet.

Cheesecloth

This element will make it easier for us to drain the whey from the curdled milk to make our fresh cheese. It is very practical and easy to use, as well as obtaining a perfect whey draining in a very traditional way.

Afterwards, we will only have to rinse it well, give it a light boil to remove any possible bacteria and let it dry for a new use.

Don't worry if you don't have fresh cheese moulds with a grid, you can use any other container or keep the rounded shape that the cheese cloth itself leaves after pressing the curdled milk.

It is advisable to store fresh cheese in a container with a little of its own whey, this way we will keep it hydrated and without the exterior drying out.

Ingredients (for 350-400g of fresh cheese)

• 1.5 liters of fresh whole pasteurized milk
• 1 teaspoon calcium chloride
• ½ teaspoon of rennet powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons of warm water

Elaboration

We curdle the fresh milk:

1. Pour the milk into a large pot , place it on low heat (on a ceramic hob from 1-9, set the heat to 4) and leave it until it reaches a temperature of 38ºC (the temperature can fluctuate between 37-40ºC, but not more). To do this, use a digital thermometer .
2. Dissolve the rennet in a glass with the salt and warm water. Set aside.
3. Remove the milk from the heat and add the calcium chloride, mixing well to ensure it is integrated.
4. We pour in the dissolved rennet and mix again to completely homogenize the ingredients.
5. We cover the pot with its own lid and let it rest for the milk to curdle. It will take about 40-60 minutes.
6. After this time, carefully insert a spoon to make sure that the milk has curdled. You will notice that the curdled milk is surrounded by a yellowish whey.
7. Using a sharp knife, make cuts to create a grid. Be careful not to completely crumble the curdled milk.

Kitchen Craft Acacia Wood Round Cutting Board

We proceed to drain the curdled milk:

1. We place the cheesecloth over a large bowl .
2. Using a skimmer, transfer the curdled milk to the cheesecloth. Reserve the whey from the pot.
3. We take the cheesecloth, joining the corners, lift it up and begin to apply a little force to drain the curdled milk.
4. We will press until the serum is almost completely removed.
5. We tie a knot in the cloth and let it rest on a strainer or tied to the sink for 30 minutes.
6. We pour the curdled milk into moulds to make fresh cheese. If we don't have any, we can use containers we have at home.
7. Press lightly to amalgamate the mixture. Place in an airtight container, cover and place in the refrigerator overnight, although if you can keep it for 24 hours, even better.

Gefu juicer mesh

The next day:

1. We unmold the cheeses and enjoy.

Grades

• Storage: Fresh cheeses made at home will last in perfect condition for 5-6 days.
• Don't throw away the whey left over from making cheese. You can use it to make cakes, sauces, soups, etc. You can keep it in the refrigerator for 5-6 days or freeze it to preserve it for longer.
• Fresh cheese can be flavoured with herbs or aromatic salts.

Trilloliva extra virgin olive oil , Seigaiha porcelain bowl by Tokyo Design Studio , T&G cutting board and Pallarès carbon steel knife .

You can't imagine the pleasure of enjoying a bit of cheese accompanied by cherry tomatoes, basil, white truffle salt and a good splash of olive oil... You might as well give it a try.

Enjoy it!