[Sca-cooks] Cheese, a progress report

[Rikke D. Giles]

On 09/04/2007 10:40:07 AM, Michael Gunter wrote:

> The milk and cream were mixed and sat out to around room temperature
> then boiling water was added and this sat until it again reached room
> temp. After this the rennet was added and here is where the problem
> started. Nothing happened.  I waited and there was a bit of 
> thickening but nowhere near the proper congealing. I added more 
> rennet and waited. Nothing. More. Nothing. I finally did an old 
> Farmer's Cheese trick and added about a tablespoon of distilled white 
> vinegar. 


If you are using store bought milk and cream, then they are either 
pasteurized (the milk) or ultra-pasteurized (the cream and maybe the 
milk), which means there's no lactobacilli in them to start the souring
of the milk which is needed before the rennet can work.   Letting them 
sit out can start that souring process, but it's also possible that the 
milk will get contaminated with bad stuff (since there is no good 
bacteria in it to out-compete the bad bacteria) and go off.  Hence the 
general rule that pasteurized milk rots, raw milk turns into 
buttermilk/sour cream/pot cheese, etc etc.

I've been toying with the idea of doing the slip coat, mostly because I 
want to see if I can make one that actually does slip its coat.  When 
I do, I'll probably add a generic thermophilic starter to avoid having 
the problem you had or I'll use raw milk.  Adding the vinegar was a 
great way to get it sour, by the way.  You can also add lemon juice, or 
use a starter like cultured buttermilk.  

Aelianora de Wintringham,  sometimes cheese-wench
Barony of Dragon's Laire, An Tir
mka Rikke Giles, FoxDog Farm, Kingston WA