Home-made Cheese is easy/fun/awesome

[alc4evermom]

I almost always have this available in my fridge at home.  My stomach doesn't take to dairy very well, but for some reason my home made queso fresco doesn't bother me as much----as long as I don't binge on it with my friends like I did last week lol

There are a couple of different ways of making it.  Anyone out there who is unfamiliar to what cheese is;  you are separating the fat from the protein (whey).  You need an acid to do this.  Lime juice is great, and it will give the cheese a great flavor.  I've tried all kinds of vinegar and have found that rice vinegar works the best.  You will find by experimenting with different acids, that you will get all kinds of textures and consistencies. 

Get whole milk---it doesn't matter how much, but use at least a quart.  Bring to a slow boil, CONSTANTLY stirring or it will burn.  You can add all of the salt that you want, but it always seems to separate into the whey and not in the fat for some reason.  Once you bring it to a rolling boil, remove from heat and add a couple tablespoons of vinegar or lime juice.  Watch it curdle and let it set for at least five minutes, and then dump it into a cheesecloth lined strainer.  Cool, and then chill in the fridge. 

I am really bad at giving directions, which is why I don't normally post recipes, but google "Home made queso fresco"  if you are confused.  This is totally worth trying!!!

A couple of side notes;  adding high fat butter milk will give you a ricotta texture.  Non-homogenized milk will give you a fresh mozzerella texture. 

[erikays]

Thanks for posting! I always wanted to give it a try.

[reneawesley]

Thanks for sharing

[amonkeymom]

Cool!  Thanks for the tips!

[mcginnisc]

I make all types of cheese... I haven't made this one yet.. I've made mozzarella, cheddar, jack, and ricotta.. I need to make some cheese, but I haven't had time to do it lately...

[MamaMandee]

Thanks!! 

[Bmat]

Wow! Thank you for the directions. It sounds so easy!

[alc4evermom]

Quoting mcginnisc:

I make all types of cheese... I haven't made this one yet.. I've made mozzarella, cheddar, jack, and ricotta.. I need to make some cheese, but I haven't had time to do it lately...

how do you make chedder?  do you age it?

[mcginnisc]

Quoting alc4evermom:

Quoting mcginnisc:

I make all types of cheese... I haven't made this one yet.. I've made mozzarella, cheddar, jack, and ricotta.. I need to make some cheese, but I haven't had time to do it lately...

how do you make chedder?  do you age it?

It is an aged cheese. It has about 20 steps as it has to have several things added to it, then it has to be pressed a couple of times and then aged for 6 months. It is time consuming to say the least... most cheeses are time consuming. The easiest one I make is mozzarella and it takes an hour...the others take 12 hours with pressing, 3 days of drying and then months of aging..

[e-doolittle]

Sounds interesting.  I had just seen on Pinterest how to make mozarella

[cleanaturalady]

I would love to try this sometime but the smell of boiled/boiling milk makes me gag.  I think it's leftover childhood trama of visiting a dairy when I was a kid and losing my lunch because of the smell.