Cheese Making Day, 2014

Cheese making day was a blast! I’m Robin, the social media manager at Homesteader’s Supply. My daughter Taylor and our friend Tammy joined me for a day of cheese making. Tammy brought four gallons of fresh, raw, whole milk and we put it to good use.

The first batch of cheese was Cottage. The milk got too warm too fast but the cheese turned out well anyway. It was drier than expected. Was that because of the temperature problem? We don’t know. Tammy added heavy cream at the end to improve the texture and it was perfect. The texture is much more coarse and less wet than store bought cottage cheeses we’ve had. We liked it much better.

Creamy curds

These creamy curds formed on top of the whey

Draining the whey while making cottage cheese

Draining the whey

Cottage Cheese

Cottage Cheese

Our second batch was Farmer’s Cheese. This is a lot like cottage cheese without culture.  Use a gallon of milk warmed to room temperature. Stir in 1/2 cup of white vinegar. Let the curds and whey separate. Pour off the whey, saving it for another use. Add salt to taste. Salt is a preservative but we agreed that we’d eat our cheeses long before they had a chance to spoil. Wrap the curds in fine cheese cloth and hang to drip for an hour or so.

Farmer's Cheese with Garlic & Chive seasoning

Farmer’s Cheese with Garlic & Chive seasoning

There was a lot of whey waiting to be used so we made traditional Ricotta. By heating the whey and adding vinegar we separated more solids from whey. The texture wasn’t as smooth as store bought Ricotta, and the flavor was great. We used the whey from the Cottage cheese for the first batch of traditional Ricotta. The second batch was with whey from Farmer’s Cheese, and was disappointing. There was so little left in that whey that it made about two tablespoons worth of ricotta.

Taylor seasoned the traditional Ricotta with basil pesto. It is fantastic as a side to scrambled eggs!

Traditional Ricotta with Basil Pesto

Traditional Ricotta with Basil Pesto

Bay, basil, sage, roasted bell pepper and olive oil makes a delicious marinade.

Bay, basil, sage, roasted bell pepper and olive oil makes a delicious marinade.

We wanted more Ricotta so our last batch was Whole Milk Ricotta, a lot like Farmer’s Cheese. “Rustic” describes it well. It wasn’t as smooth and creamy as we expected. Taylor roasted a red bell pepper to use in a marinade. She mixed extra virgin olive oil, fresh basil, chives and sage, bay leaves, salt and a little fresh ground black pepper and let it set while the cheese dripped. Spectacular! We will definitely make this often, especially when we’re entertaining.

We’ll be making cheese again soon. Up next – Farmhouse Cheddar!

We’ve been using the whey in sour dough bread, rice and quinoa. It’s a nice bonus from cheese making.

 

Homestead Dumps

Old farming equipment, toys and kitchen ware were often left in private homestead dumps in New England. Without weekly trash pick up and landfills, each family had to take care of its own waste. These old items were found in Maine.

An old granite ware pail left in the woods

An old granite ware pail left in the woods

Old milking pail

Do you have an old dump on your homestead? What have you found on your property from years gone by?

Cream Cheese Recipe

Homemade Cream Cheese

There’s nothing like homemade cream cheese. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by the difference, especially if you follow this homemade cream cheese recipe.

  • Place cream from milk into quart jar. If you’re using store bought cream you should use one pint.
  • Add 1/16 tsp Mesophilic culture and stir well.
  • Cover the jar and leave on the counter at room temperature for 12 to24 hrs, or until cream is thick just like sour cream, in fact when it is ready, this thicken cream IS sour cream!
  • Place cheesecloth over colander that is sitting inside large bowl or pot.
  • Remove the thick sour cream from the quart jar right into the cheesecloth. Wrap up the cheesecloth and either hang freely to drain the whey and butter milk from the sour cream.
  • The longer is drains the dryer the cheese will be. Allow approx 8 to 12 hours of drying time.
  • Remove cream cheese from the cheese cloth and add spices, herbs, natural sweeteners to your taste preference.

Farmhouse Cheddar Cheese Recipe

Farmhouse Cheddar Cheese Recipe

For convenience you may send this recipe to the printer and pick it up on your way to the kitchen. Download the recipe in a pdf file.

3 gallons whole milk

Mesophilic Culture (1/4 tsp Abiasa, 1/8 tsp Danisco, or 1/16 tsp Sacco)

2 teaspoons calcium chloride (only needed for store bought milk)
1.5 tablet rennet or 3/4 tsp liquid rennet
1/4 cup unchlorinated water
1 Tbsp salt

  • Combine milk, (calcium chloride) in 16 qt stock pot (double boiler to prevent scorching)
  • Slowly heat mixture to 86 degrees. Turn off heat and stir in lactic cheese culture. (Different types of culture create different flavors of cheese)  Stir gently throughout. Cover mixture and allow to rest undisturbed at 86 degrees for 45 minutes.
  • Dissolve rennet tablet or liquid rennet in 1/4 cup  water.
  • Keep the milk at 86 degrees.  Stir the rennet mixture into milk slowly but thoroughly. Allow milk to set undisturbed for 30 – 45 minutes or until curd shows a clean break.
  • Using long knife, cut the curds into 1/2 inch squares, then stir gently just to break the strips of curds into chunks. Let it sit to rest for 5 minutes.
  • Slowly heat the curds and whey to 102 degrees, raising the temperature 2 degrees every 5 minutes. Stir curd gently to prevent matting and reduce their size to half peanut size. A large whisk works well by placing it to bottom of pot and putting up right so curds break as they fall through the wisk. Hold curds for additional 30 minutes at this temperature
  • Place pre-warmed with hot water colander over a pot and pour the curds into it.
  • Reserve 1/3 of the whey and pour back into the cheese pot. Set colander of curds onto the cheese pot. Cover top with cheese cloth and lid to keep in warmth. Allow curds to drain for 45 to 60 minutes. This is called the cheddaring process.
  • Cut slab into pieces and press through french fry cutter or cut by hand.
  • Add 1 tablespoon course salt. Using your hands, gently mix the salt into curds. You can eat these curds now, or press into a wheel.
  • Place the curds into cheese press and follow the directions for dressing with cheese cloth for the next 12 hours.
  • Remove cheese from press, unwrap the cloth, place cheese on drying mat to air dry for 12 hours, creating a nice skin over the whole cheese.  Cheese is ready to slice and eat or you can wax and age for stronger cheddar flavor.
  • Mix 1 tablespoon of salt with 1/2 cup of water. Use a corner of the cheese cloth to lightly apply a saltwater wash to the cheese.

Cottage Cheese Recipe

Cottage Cheese Recipe

1 Gallon Cow, Goat or Sheep Milk
Mesophilic Cheese Culture
Rennet
salt

  • Gently warm the milk to 70 degrees F in a warm water bath.
  • Add: 3/8 tsp Abiasa culture, or
  • 1/8 tsp Danisco Culture, or 1/16 tsp Sacco Italian Culture
  • Let the culture dissolve on the milk surface for 2-4 minutes before stirring. Work well into the milk using the 20 top/bottom strokes.
  • Add: 1/4 tsp liquid rennet diluted in 1/4 cup of cool water, or
  • 1/2 tab vegetarian rennet diluted in 1/4 cup cool water for 20 minutes prior to use

Mix thoroughly.

When a firm curd forms from sitting at room temperature, cut the curd mass with a knife into 1/2 inch cubes and stir gently for 2-5 minutes.

Cook the curds and whey slowly to 102 degrees F in a double boiler pot system while stirring frequently to break up the curds. Using a large wire wisk makes this process so easy… just place wish into the pot and pull up through the curds. Try to raise the temperature 5 degrees F every five minutes taking 45-60 minutes to reach your final cook temperature.

Once the curds appear firm and springy and are approximately the size of a shelled peanut, drain through a clean cheese cloth.

Rinse the curds in very cold water, allow them to drain completely then add salt to taste. Remember that salt is also a preservative, helping to prevent mold formation and prolong the shelf life of your cheese. You may enrich the curds with heavy cream or pack as dry curd into storage tubs and refrigerate.

The products will have approximately 10-14 days of shelf life.

Wonder Junior Deluxe Manual Grain Mill

The Wonder Junior Deluxe manual grain mill is diverse. It grinds grains, peanut butter, almonds and coffee beans! The Wonder Junior Deluxe is the only hand mill on the market that can truly grind nut butters. Nut butters are growing in popularity as we learn more about how our food is grown and processed, and they’re expensive. This hand mill will save you money, as will buying grain in bulk. Easily grind your grains into a fine flour or choose a heavier grind cereals – the choice is yours.

grain mill, wondermillComplete with stones, Burr heads (use these for coffee beans) and the clamp. And until the end of the year, a free drill bit adapter worth $29.95 is also included.

Like with many of our products, shipping is free in the lower 48 states.

Wonder Junior Deluxe manual grain mill features:

  • Beautiful Scratch and Chip Resistant Powder Coat Finish
  • Large Lifetime Lubricated Bearings
  • Heavy Duty Uni-Body Construction With Set Back For Easy Flour Collection
  • Clamps or Bolts To Surfaces Up To 2 inch Thick.
  • Large Hopper Holds Over 1 Quart.
  • Simple Texture Adjustment From Super Fine Flour To Cracked Grains.
  • Long 10 inch Easy Turn Arm.
  • Ergonomic Handle Grip.
  • World’s Only Patented Super Grip Dual Clamp. Will Not Slip Like Other Hand Mills.
  • Includes The Flour Guide, Cleaning Brush and an attractive storage box.

A redesign of the auger has made grinding flour much faster. It increased the output of flour per minute to 65% over the closest competitor, The Country Living Grain Mill. With this new auger the Wonder Junior Deluxe will produce over 1 1/4 cups of bread flour in 1 minute (80 turns). The Country Living will produce 3/4 cups of bread flour in 1 minute (80 turns). You’ll save time with each batch of grain you grind.

You can learn more about the Wonder Junior Deluxe manual grain mill by watching this video.