Making queso fresco is another one of those little pleasures available to everyone. It is only a matter of following a few steps and the satisfaction, as in everything made at home, is double: you enjoy the most authentic flavors and you enjoy the pleasure of having made it yourself. Do not miss the homemade fresh cheese recipe that Eva, author ofBake-Street, brings us today!

I am sure that on more than one occasion you have considered making homemade fresh cheese, but for some reason you have not yet finished cheering up. Well, today will be that big day.

There is an important factor that we must take into account to make our own fresh cheese and this is milk. We need to use fresh, good-quality milk , because that's where we'll get our cheese. Its flavor, texture and even quantity will depend on the quality of the milk.

Surely many of you have good quality fresh milk within your reach, but for those who do not, you should know which one is best for you. Do not use brick milk, because it has been subjected to ultra-pasteurization (UHT); Use the one we can find in the refrigerated area.

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

Surely many of you think, can I use semi-skimmed or skimmed milk to make it?

Yes, you can use it, but the cheese will not obtain the same flavor, texture, and body since they are milks from which a large part of the fat has been removed.

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

What is calcium chloride?

It is a calcium salt that favors the curdling of milk in order to make cheese. The lack of calcium prevents a correct curdling of the milk, 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 happened by chance, like many other discoveries. In the past, milk was stored in ruminant stomachs that were used as containers.

They observed that after a while, that milk had curdled giving rise to a cheese. From here it was learned that the liquid found in the stomach of ruminants was what curdled the milk. It is what today we call animal rennet .

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

Today you can also find rennet of plant origin suitable for vegans.

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

the cheesecloth

This element will facilitate the draining of the curdled milk to make our fresh cheese. It is very practical and easy to use, as well as obtaining a perfect drain in a very traditional way.

Then it will be enough to rinse it well, give it a slight boil to remove possible bacteria and let it dry for new use.

Do not worry if you do not have fresh cheese molds with a grid, you can use any other container or keep the rounded shape that the cheese cloth itself leaves us after pressing the curdled milk.

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

Ingredients (for 350-400g of fresh cheese)

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

Elaboration

We curdle fresh milk:

  1. Pour the milk into a large pot , place over low heat (in a ceramic hob from 1-9, set the heat to 4) and leave until it reaches a temperature of 38ºC (the temperature can range between 37-40ºC, but not further). For this we will help ourselves with a digital thermometer .
  2. Dissolve the rennet in a glass with the salt and warm water. We booked.
  3. Remove the milk from the heat and add the calcium chloride, mix well to make sure it is integrated.
  4. Pour the dissolved rennet and mix again to homogenize the ingredients completely.
  5. We cover the pot with the lid itself and let it rest for the milk to curdle. It will take us around 40-60 minutes.
  6. After this time, we carefully insert a teaspoon to make sure that the milk has curdled. We will observe that the curdled milk is surrounded by a yellowish whey.
  7. With the help of a sharp knife we ​​will make cuts creating a grid. We will do it carefully because we do not want to completely crumble the curdled milk.

Kitchen Craft Acacia Wood Round Board

We proceed to drain the curdled milk:

  1. Place the cheesecloth over a large bowl .
  2. With the help of a slotted spoon , we transfer the curdled milk to the cheese cloth. We reserve the whey from the pot.
  3. We take the cheese cloth joining the corners, lift it up and begin to exert a little force to drain the curdled milk.
  4. We will press until the serum is almost completely removed.
  5. We make a knot in the cloth and let it rest on a colander or tied to the sink, for 30 minutes.
  6. Transfer the curdled milk to molds to make fresh cheese. If we do not have, we can use containers that we have at home.
  7. Press lightly to amalgamate the mixture. Place in an airtight container, cover and put in the fridge overnight, although if you can keep it for 24 hours, much better.

Gefu's Squeeze Mesh

The next day:

  1. Unmold the cheeses and enjoy.

Grades

  • Preservation: Fresh cheeses made at home will keep us in perfect condition for 5-6 days.
  • Do not throw away the whey that is left over from making the cheese, you can use it to make biscuits, sauces, soups... You can keep it in the fridge for 5-6 days or freeze it to preserve it for longer.
  • Fresh cheese can be flavored with herbs or aromatic salts.


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


As you can see, making fresh cheese at home is very easy. In little more than a day we will be able to enjoy our own fresh cheese.

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... It's almost better that you cheer up with it.

What did you enjoy it!

Claudia Ferrer

Comments

alicia said:

gracias por explicacion y receta, donde se compran los elementos necesarios?

alicia said:

gracias por explicacion y receta, donde se compran los elementos necesarios?

Yolanda said:

Buenos días, por favor podría dar receta de bizcocho para aprovechar el suero. Gracias

Alicia said:

Hola, primero muchas gracias por colgar esta receta.

Hoy he podido hacerme con cuajo en pastilla y ácido cítrico, aunque veo que en tu receta utilizas cloruro de calcio.

Sabes si hay algún problema en utilizar el ácido cítrico en vez del cloruro de calcio? Quiero hacerlo para mañana y ya no me da tiempo a comprarlo.

Gracias!

Alicia said:

Hola, primero muchas gracias por colgar esta receta.

Hoy he podido hacerme con cuajo en pastilla y ácido cítrico, aunque veo que en tu receta utilizas cloruro de calcio.

Sabes si hay algún problema en utilizar el ácido cítrico en vez del cloruro de calcio? Quiero hacerlo para mañana y ya no me da tiempo a comprarlo.

Gracias!

Eva {Bake-Street} said:

¡Muchas gracias Leonor!

Nos alegra mucho que te hay gustado :D

Ya solo queda ponerse manos a la obra ;)

¡Un abrazo!

Eva {Bake-Street} said:

¡Hola Victoria!

Sí, se podría hacer sin mayor problema.
Pero no te puedo garantizar cómo será el resultado final puesto que este tipo de leches sí han sufrido una ultrapasteurización, no podemos disponer de ellas en formato fresco. De modo que puede que la calidad de la leche varíe y afecte al resultado final de nuestro queso.

¡Muchas gracias a ti! :D

Eva {Bake-Street} said:

¡Hola Elena!

Pues si elaboras el queso con una leche vegetal el proceso será completamente diferente puesto que esta leche no tiene las mismas características.

Te recomiendo que utilices leche de coco pero la envasada en lata que es más densa (necesitamos la parte sólida solo), no la de brick. Para “cuajar” la leche, deberás utilizar pastillas de probióticos tal y como se hace con los quesos vegetales de frutos secos.

La cantidad de probiótico varia dependiendo de la cantidad de cepas que contenga y la cantidad de leche de coco que utilices.

Tras mezclar ambos ingredientes, junto con un poco de sal si lo deseas, habría que dejar drenar esa leche en una tela de quesero y reposar de 24-36 horas. Después refrigerar y listo!

Graicas a ti! Un abrazo!!

Leonor said:

Súper interesante la receta del queso fresco, siempre sentí curiosidad y mira por dónde es facilona, mil gracias

M.José Lucio said:

Un error muy común en España en los últimos años es llamar paellera al utensilio que se utiliza para hacer paella. La receta que conocemos como paella toma su nombre del recipiente que se utiliza para su elaboración tal y como ocurre con el pote gallego, la cassoulet y tantas otras recetas. Una paellera es una mujer que cocina paellas.

victoria capel carrión said:

hola, me encanta vuestro blog.
Se podria hacer que son leche sin lactosa ??
Muchas gracias.

Elena said:

Muy interesante, muchas gracias.
Se podría hacer con una leche más ligera, tipo, leche de coco.
Mil gracias

Claudia said:

Hola chicas, tanto el cuajo como el cloruro de calcio lo podréis encontrar en vuestra farmacia habitual. Si no lo tienen en estoc en ese momento, es algo que sin problema pueden pedir (al menos habitualmente). Suerte, y a por ese queso casero! :)

asuncion gullon said:

DONDE SE COMPRA EL CLORURO DE CALCIO? Y DONDE SE COMPRA LA TELA DE QUESERO? ES UNA TELA DE ALGODON NORMAL, COMO LA TELA DE LAS SABANAS?

Julia said:

Hola .Dónde se compra el cuajo y el cloruro de calcio ??? . Gracias

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