How to learn to make cheese at home. Anyone can learn to make cheese: business in cooking master classes

A selection for every taste: 14 cheese options!

1.Homemade mozzarella.

Ingredients:

For 2 servings:
●1 liter of milk
●125 g natural yogurt
●1.5 tsp. salt (more is possible, depending on your preference) it doesn’t turn out too salty
●1 tbsp. vinegar essence (25%)

Preparation:

Heat the milk and salt, but do not bring to a boil. Add yogurt, stir, add vinegar, mix well and remove from heat. Line a colander with clean gauze folded in about 4 layers, pour the curdled milk into it (do not pour out the whey!), and squeeze the cheese well from the whey.
We form a ball from the squeezed mass. And put it in the whey, cover with a towel and let cool.
Place the cheese in a cup with whey in the refrigerator for 24 hours, then drain the whey. Store in a closed plastic container.

2. Homemade Philadelphia cheese first recipe.

Ingredients:

●1 liter of milk
●1 teaspoon salt
●1 teaspoon sugar
●500 ml kefir
●1 egg
●a small pinch of citric acid or lemon juice

Preparation:

Boil milk, adding salt and sugar. Bring to a boil and turn off the gas. Now add kefir (warm), stir until the mass curdles.
Place the mixture in a colander on cheesecloth (it’s better to make a layer of 4) and let the whey drain - this will take about 15-20 minutes. You should not squeeze out the whey yourself, because not much of it should remain in the cheese. But you can stir a little (periodically).
In a separate bowl, beat the egg with citric acid (on the tip of a knife) until foam forms.
Now add the resulting hot curd mass to the egg mass and continue beating until smooth. Place the Philadelphia cheese in the refrigerator to cool. All!!! Homemade Philadelphia cheese is ready!

3. Homemade Philadelphia cream cheese second recipe.

Ingredients:

●900 ml fat milk
●1350 ml of heavy whipping cream without sugar (35% fat)
●50 ml buttermilk (can be replaced with kefir)
●2-3 drops of Rennet Microbial Enzyme
●1 tablespoon salt

Equipment:

Thermometer
A piece of very fine gauze
Large saucepan (galvanized or stainless)
Scoop
Large colander
Big whisk
Large capacity (bowl)
Reliable elastic band

Preparation:

Heat the milk and cream in a large saucepan until it reaches 21°C. Don't boil.
- Add buttermilk.
- Add the rennette and cover with a lid. Keep at room temperature overnight.
- The next day, sprinkle salt on top of the surface.
- Use a large whisk to separate the thickened mixture.
- Place cheesecloth in a colander and place on top of a container that will hold the whey.
- Carefully pour the contents into a colander and let drain for 30 minutes.
- Gather the corners of the gauze together and tie them together with an elastic band (to make a bag.
- Remove any whey that has collected in the container. Place the cheesecloth in the colander and the colander back into the container and place the whole thing in the refrigerator to drain overnight. The next day, Philadelphia Cream Cheese is ready!
You will get 680 grams of finished cheese.

4.Wonderful recipe for homemade cheese. Fast and hassle-free

The taste is like suluguni or delicate feta cheese. Can be made with dill, cilantro, walnuts, olives, paprika.

Ingredients:

●1 liter of milk
●1 tbsp. coarse salt
●200 ml sour cream
●3 eggs

Preparation:

Put salt in the milk and boil it all. Beat the sour cream with the eggs (just combine evenly) and pour into the boiling milk in a thin stream. Cook, stirring, for 3-4 minutes. When large flakes form, add chopped dill (I also added finely chopped half of Chinese garlic). And then the cheese must be strained through a sieve or cheesecloth. Squeeze, put the load overnight and put it in the refrigerator.

5. Homemade processed cheese made from cottage cheese.

Such products are useful, especially if you know what they're made from. This cheese tastes similar to Yantar cheese, only more delicate and without preservatives.

Ingredients:

●Cottage cheese 0.5 kg.,
●Butter 100 gr.,
●Egg 1 pc.,
●Salt and soda 1/2 teaspoon.

Preparation:

Beat cottage cheese, butter, egg, salt and soda in a blender until smooth. Place the curd mixture in a water bath and cook, stirring until the mixture begins to melt.
Grease a cheese mold and pour the cheese mixture into it. Place in a cool place for 8-10 hours.

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Historians and archaeologists report that the first cheese was found in the Cheops pyramid. The earlier appearance of cheese, about seven thousand years ago, dates back to the modern territory of the Middle East and it is indicated that the cheese appeared by accident when an Arab, merchant and traveler, took with him on the road a leather vessel with milk, which had turned sour under the rays of the scorching desert sun. The traveler had no choice but to eat what came out of the milk, since he had no other food. He liked the new product.

In fact, and most likely by chance, the logical discovery of cheese dates back to the times when man first domesticated mammals and tried a new product, which he then improved over thousands of years, improving cheese-making technology.

Today, cheese making is a significant part of export income in forty countries around the world. Cheese is produced in almost all countries of the world, and not only on an industrial basis. In some regions, homemade cheese on the table is a traditional food. Recipes for homemade cheeses are different. It is made from the milk of cows, sheep, goats, camels and buffalos. According to the method of preparation, there are brine, soft, hard and processed (or processed) cheeses.

How to make cheese: checking the quality of milk

Homemade cheese making is the prerogative of rural residents who have farm animals that produce milk suitable for making cheese. For residents of megacities, homemade cheese production is more of a hobby, a desire to try a natural homemade product, since real homemade cheese can only be made from natural, whole, non-skimmed milk, which, alas, is very rare in supermarkets. The only way out is to buy milk from farmers at the market to enjoy a natural homemade product.

In our latitudes you can buy cow or goat milk from farmers. You can also make homemade cheese from the latter, but the choice of farm cow's or goat's milk must be approached with skill in order to obtain cheese according to the chosen recipe and technology.

Criteria to consider when choosing milk for home cheese making:

Sanitary standards

As for the freshness of milk, cheese can also be made from curdled milk. In any case, the difference between yogurt and milk does not affect the quality of brine and whey cheeses. There is no need to say that when buying homemade milk you need to be careful and not take it where there are no sanitary control services.

But, if you buy homemade milk from an unfamiliar seller, do not hesitate to try it. Especially if the milk is goat. It may have an unpleasant odor associated with the conditions in which the animals are kept and hormonal processes. The characteristic smell is not removed even after heat treatment and you will not get good cheese.

Fat content

The quality of cheeses and the choice of recipe depend on it. For example, to prepare Parmesan, you need to use equal proportions of milk from the evening and morning milk of cow's milk, which does not have the same fat content. Higher fat milk is evening milk. The fat content of milk also depends on the breed of animal, feed, season and some other factors. Cheeses like Philadelphia require the use of the highest fat milk, while for cheeses like Ricotta, on the contrary, the fat content in the whey should be low.

The fat content of milk can be determined visually, as well as the milking time. When you come to the market in the morning, choose milk in three-liter glass bottles. In a bottle of evening milk that has already settled, there is cream on the surface, which can be easily determined by the difference in color. Heavy cream is creamy in color, while milk is whiter in color. In good homemade milk, the fat content reaches 25-30%, that is, approximately 1/3 of a three-liter bottle should be filled with cream. In fresh milk from the morning milk yield, the fat content is much lower and if the milk has not settled (3-5 hours), then the amount of fat in it is not visually determined.

The fat content of some types of cheese reaches 50% or higher. This composition is achieved by adding butter during the cooking process.

How to make homemade cheese - main technological points

Taking into account the variety of cheeses, methods of their production, as well as the proprietary secrets of cheese makers, we will dwell only on the main and most general technological stages of cheese making, which are the same for all types of product.

Pasteurization.

Milk for making cheese must be pasteurized. In particular, this stage should not be skipped in the preparation of long-ripening cheeses. Let us immediately note: pasteurized milk purchased in a supermarket is not suitable for making cheese. Such milk will not make cheese at all, because the pasteurization temperature of such milk is higher than 60-75 degrees - this is how milk for cheese is prepared. But some cheeses are still made from fresh, unpasteurized milk (“Mozzarella”). In this regard, and if you want to make such cheese at home, you need to select raw materials more carefully.

Adding starter and forming a curd

Pasteurized milk is cooled slightly (to 30-33 degrees) and rennet, lactic acid bacteria, vinegar, citric acid or other oxidizing agents are introduced to promote the coagulation of milk protein and the separation of whey. The choice of additives depends on the specific recipe. When curdled, casein is formed. Milk coagulation depends on the properties of milk protein, its ability to convert into casein.

For example, goat's milk, despite its high biochemical parameters, which are close in composition to human milk, has insufficient coagulability for making cheese. In this regard, Feta cheese, which in Greece is traditionally made from goat’s milk, is often mixed with cow’s or sheep’s milk. If only goat's milk is used to make cheese, then during curdling, enzymes and other special additives are added to it to increase coagulability.

Forming cheese heads

After curdling, the curd is placed in a prepared container (sieve, baskets, gauze) for further separation of the whey. At this time, the future cheese is pressed. It is placed under pressure, the weight of which depends on the required consistency (density) of the cheese. If hard cheese is being prepared, then the weight of the oppression should be increased gradually.

Cheese ambassador

In addition to the fact that the taste of the cheese depends on the addition of salt, salting affects the further separation of whey and the formation of density (the salt solution dehydrates the cheese mass). Salt also plays an important role in cheese storage and ripening.

Maturation

Externally, when ripening, the cheese changes color, moisture, holes characteristic of one or another type appear in it, and a certain taste is formed. At a biochemical level invisible to the eye, further changes occur in milk proteins. Lactic acid bacteria continue to participate in this process. They, like all living organisms, need to create certain conditions.

To make hard cheeses, repeated heat treatment is used, with the addition of additional ingredients to the curd grain. For each type of cheese, the requirements for curd grains (humidity, size) are different.

Important: To make cheese in the home kitchen, of all the tools used in production, it is probably necessary to purchase thermometers to control the temperature of the cheese during cooking and for the room in which the process of further ripening will take place.

Recipe 1. How to cook Ricotta whey cheese

Compound:

Fresh whey 8 l

Fruit vinegar (6%) 100 ml

Preparation:

Heat the whey to 90 degrees, pour in the vinegar and stir in the pan until a clot forms and rises to the surface. Turn off the heat and wait until the whey cools to 30-35 degrees. Pour the contents of the pan into a sieve. After 6-8 hours, transfer the cheese to a container.

Recipe 2. How to cook homemade brine cheese “Feta”

Compound:

Milk, goat and cow 5 l

Acidophilus bacteria 20 g

Rennet 10 g

Calcium chloride (10% solution)

Preparation:

Heat the milk to 30 degrees. This temperature must be maintained for an hour. Add acidophilus, calcium chloride solution and rennet. As soon as a curd forms, transfer it to a sieve set on a tray. After 10-12 hours, cut the curd into 1.0-1.5 cm cubes and place them in the prepared brine. From the brine, the cheese must be transferred to an airtight container with a lid after 10 hours. Keep refrigerated.

For the brine: 50-60 g of salt (regular kitchen salt) per liter of boiled water.

Recipe 3. How to cook processed cheese

Products:

Fresh, pasteurized cottage cheese (18%) 0.5 kg

Butter 150 g

Egg yolk 3 pcs.

Whole milk 200 ml

Preparation:

The entire process of cooking cheese before forming the head should take place in a water bath with a water temperature of up to 70 degrees. Place a smaller container (2.5-3 liters) in a large saucepan of water. In a smaller saucepan, heat the milk, salted to taste, and add the cottage cheese, after rubbing it with softened butter through a fine metal sieve. Stir the cottage cheese in the milk with a whisk until curdling begins. Remove the pan with the resulting clot. Beat the yolks into the hot mixture, one at a time, beating with a mixer. Place the cheese in the steam bath again for 20-30 minutes, but do not stir, just turn it over. Place the hot cheese in the pan until it cools completely.

• Add whey left over from making cheese to the dough instead of water and get double the benefits.
• Fans of okroshka can use it instead of kvass: a new taste with additional beneficial benefits. Okroshka with whey can be eaten even by children.
• Popular and loved by many, Italian Ricotta cheese is made from fresh and warm whey, immediately after preparing another type of cheese.

Are the financial costs of making cheese at home justified? One liter of milk yields 50–100 g of finished product (depending on the type of cheese). Taking into account the cost of a liter of milk and a kilogram of the finished product, it turns out to be quite expensive. But whey, the main product of processing, is not waste, but a completely useful product that every housewife will find use in the kitchen.

For many, a cheese plate is simply manna from heaven and an ideal solution for any table and occasion :) What about the cheese business? It turns out that this is an excellent opportunity for a woman with a business spirit to realize her potential as a gourmet entrepreneur. The story of our today's heroine of the "" column not only inspires, but excites: a) buy the signature cheese "Koza Chka" b) give up everything and find an outlet in which to invest time, energy and brains. Weak?

At 20 years old I dreamed of being an actress:)) I thought about the answer for a long time, because at the age of 20 I was already working, and my career advancement exceeded all expectations. Everything was wonderful and this is what I dreamed about.

One day on a business trip I went to Israel and ended up with a married couple who ran a small farm. We got to them just in time for siesta: we sat on the terrace, drank homemade wine, ate homemade cheese, laughed and had a great time. And then I thought that this must be happiness. They do what they love, they are happy with their product and happy with the people who come to them. I was impressed by their rhythm of life, because at that time my rhythm of life was simply frantic.

After college, I was invited to work directly at an agricultural enterprise. I came there to work as a simple accountant and within seven years she became assistant director of this enterprise. Great job, constant international business trips, driver. Everything was great, but without butterflies in the stomach... There was no joy of self-realization, but there was an ever-growing feeling of dissatisfaction, the feeling that something needs to be changed.

In 2012, I moved to Kyiv after great love. I was sure that after a good position I would quickly find a job in Kyiv, but it didn’t work out that way and I spent a year without work. And so what prompted me to start making cheese, so this is a moment of complete despair. I didn’t understand why I needed to wake up in the morning, I didn’t want anything, nothing at all! And then one day I remembered my dream, which was born then in Israel. I went to the market, bought milk and I made my first cheese. I had never done this before. The Internet, books, memories of past trips to cheese factories helped..

You should never be afraid to take risks. You have to go headlong into the pool, but consciously. You can unexpectedly open up new horizons for yourself.

ABOUT BUSINESS

I ate the first cheese myself. Then with friends. Then friends of friends started recommending them to their friends and that’s how I got my first clients. They allowed me to experiment with the process, with recipes, returning my money through purchases. This is how I developed. The cheese factory was completely “delayed” when things started to work out, when customers called and thanked us for the work.

Photo: Andrey&Sergey Muzhchil

The most important thing in working with a client- success in the little things.

Initially (when I cooked the cheese at home) there were no there were no investments. When building a cheese factory, 10% is loan money, and 10% is money borrowed from relatives. The rest are savings + I sold my car and photographic equipment (I was a photographer, and as it turned out, this was once a good investment).

The most difficult in the first 365 days there was work with staff and the realization that there are moments that cannot be planned :) And you just need to understand this and solve these moments in the order they arise.

Break-even points We achieved this when we started working on rented facilities. And they started making money when they opened their own cheese factory.

The name of my creative gastro workshop “Koza Chka” was born long before I started my own business. Once upon a time, my biker friend Ashot and I, back in 2012 (when I didn’t even imagine that I would make cheese, but only dreamed), sat and drank coffee, thinking about what we would call our brand. Back then there weren’t even any prerequisites... so dream boldly! Dreams must be unattainable for you to achieve what you want. The further you look, the further you will jump.

Entering the commercial level happened after participating in a Street Food festival. This became obvious after I cooked cheeses for about two weeks, and then we exhibited and sold everything we had in 3 hours. And when people asked if we would come next time, I understood that under the same conditions I “wouldn’t give out more cheese.” So I came to the point that I needed to reach a new level.

For the purchase of serious equipment and there were no funds to open a cheese factory at that time. I got on the Internet and went through small cheese factories near Kyiv (at that time there were only 3 of them). I wrote letters to them with an offer to rent their facilities and make cheese from them. Within an hour, they answered me from one of the cheese factories - today it is my friend and colleague Sasha Babin (“Babini Kozy”). He showed me a lot, told me, and so I worked for him for a year.

It was very scary to open your own cheese factory: It’s scary to be responsible for people, for equipment, for milk, for the people from whom you take milk... But on March 12 we started and I opened my long-awaited cheese factory.

Now I'm starting a little switch from the process, specifically cheese making, to the market in general. I want to probe it deeper. When I was faced with the issue of equipment for my cheese factory (pasteurizer, shelving, molds, etc.), I realized that the Ukrainian market cannot fully provide everything necessary for the work of a small producer, specifically the dairy industry. This is how I found local “Kulibins” in Poltava, who work miracles from food-grade steel. I set them tasks, and they did what (almost “that”) I needed. Now my colleagues are already placing orders for equipment for me. It turns out I’m not the only one who has encountered this (laughs).

Before the launch of the workshop, there were difficulties with raw materials. Also, as an “experienced farmer,” I decided to start a cheese factory in early spring, when there is little milk (smiles). But the goal was set - the launch of the cheese factory in March! At first, I literally went around to people asking for milk. Now several farms donate milk to me.

Now mine The cheese factory also plays a social role in the village- people can make money on milk that no one bought from them before. At first three people brought us milk, but now it’s almost half the village. Soon we will set tasks with the village council on how to ensure that the population increases the number of cattle (laughs).

ABOUT CHEESE

In my industry I look up to to his cheese making teacher - Lithuanian cheese maker Valdas Kavaliauskas.

Photo: Andrey&Sergey Muzhchil

My ideal cheese- Stilton. It has blue mold, is wet, “definitely fragrant” (laughs). I'm trying to make cheese that's close to it.

What cheese sells best?
- he is not here yet, — Tatyana answers ambitiously, — I'm working on it.

The Ukrainian buyer is a gourmet, but the geographical location and genetic factors influence the fact that the tastes of some varieties remain incomprehensible. Some write: “You probably didn’t get the cheese this time” (laughs). Therefore, I am now working on an assortment of cheeses: we include cheeses with a less pronounced taste and save a couple of types exclusively for gourmets.

We are inventing proper names for our cheeses. For example, we have “Korolek”, “St. Nicholas", "12". All names have their own stories. Sometimes a name is born in one moment, sometimes it takes months to discuss. .

Why is cheese delicious in Europe? But because there, for centuries, cheese has been made in small cheese factories, where cheese makers live their business and experiment with recipes. I think we are on the right track!

ABOUT THE EMPLOYEES

There has always been, is and will be a problem with people who cannot do their job, even according to job descriptions. I was faced with the total reluctance of people to break out to some level higher the level they are at now - they are satisfied with everything and they don’t want more. I think this is a problem on a national scale - until we “push aside” the swamp into which we are constantly being sucked, nothing will happen.

For example, he comes to me fireman for interview. I tell him where we have firewood, where to throw it, about the boiler. And then he, such a closet guy, asks in surprise: “ Why else should I chop wood?" I was shocked: no, we’ll hang a “Stoker” sign on you, sit you in the corner in my chair and be glad that we have such a stoker (laughs loudly).

Now I have found my people, I brought many of them from the Poltava region. The issue with the employees was very acute, because I worked non-stop for two months and understood that a little more and I wouldn’t want anything.

By the way, don't be shy voice your problems to friends and family. I told everyone that there were not enough workers, and thus I found friends of friends who became my team.

Photo: Andrey&Sergey Muzhchil

Learning to delegate my authority to other people. It's very hard (laughs). It always seems like you can do it better and no one else will do it. But when you wake up in the morning and realize that you don’t have to just fly out of the house, and you can drink cold coffee, you realize that delegating responsibilities is not so bad. It is important to find a middle ground - to give the person authority, but also to outline your presence in the process.

ABOUT ME

« Delusions of grandeur, inappropriate thinking and unattainable goals“- this is what an acquaintance said about me and commented on my status on Facebook. And what I want to say is that he is almost 100% right on everything. Of course, I don’t quite agree with delusions of grandeur, since I’m rarely satisfied with the result. It always seems like we could have done better...

Inadequate thinking necessary to make your product unusual and always interesting.

I always set unrealistic goals for myself And. For example, I dream of winning the Nobel Prize and I’m not embarrassed to talk about it. I don’t know what topic yet, but I dream of devoting my life to science too.

My motto: “If something is difficult, then this means that you are on the right path!”

My s advice for difficult periods in life and business- switch for a couple of days. Do this kind of refreshing for yourself.

The job you love- this is when you rush around with her like a child. You mentally stroke, talk to her and about her constantly, and so on. If I’m leaving somewhere, I immediately call my employees with questions: “how are my cheeses, what’s their humidity, what’s their temperature, and turn them over and see what they’re like underneath.” It is important to find the strength to fuel this love.

Photo: Andrey&Sergey Muzhchil

In moments of despair I am stylishly stimulated by faith. I am Orthodox, and communication with God and prayer help me! And I also have this “Ambulance”, when everything is gone and I feel soooo sorry for myself - I watch the movie “Forrest Gump” for the 101st time. I don’t know why, but it’s getting easier.

I am very I believe in signs-incidents. I had such a situation that the boiler caught fire, the “engine” in the car began to boil - everything around began to boil, because we took a crazy start, slept 4 hours a day and, of course, everything was already screaming at us that we needed to stop and rest .

Women's business is different from men's because we project all our emotions onto business. There are emotions that have a positive effect: when we love, we are more enthusiastic about our product and during such periods we make big breakthroughs in business. And there are emotions that stop us and do not allow us to move on.

For example, I’m going through such a period now - I’m taking a break for a week to rest. My business is at this stage now, that you need to create every day, bring in new ideas and do something that the buyer needs.

I'm inspired my future children! But as mentor and first teacher- my first boss Antonets Semyon.

To relieve stress, I reboot: silence, only family nearby, long conversations about nothing, sweet tea. And since last fall, I’ve also been hiking in the mountains.

My day begins with coffee + re-reading the news and standing in the plank for 2 minutes. Over the past 6 months, I have developed the following regime: at 02:00 - lights out, and at 06:00 - wake up. But you can stay in this mode for no more than 2 weeks, otherwise there is a risk of “burning out.” Then some 8 hours sleep. And again 4 hours of sleep.

Smoking has won, it seems :) Imbalanced diet and forgetting to take my vitamins in the morning - I’m still fighting with this :)

Time for family? This is all bad. My relatives are not happy, I am unsatisfied :). Our meetings are always short, but very sincere and filled with joy and love. I am working to ensure that the situation changes for my family over time.

Now in business I am reaching the level of work where I will already enjoy it. This may be wrong from a business point of view, but that’s how it is for me now. I want to switch to family planning and harmonization of life in general.

Essentially, this cheese is milk fermented with rennet. Over the course of a day, it thickens, salts, and then you can safely eat it. Such cheeses exist in many countries around the world. For example, feta cheese, Imeretian cheese, Mexican cheese Queso. These cheeses can be stored for no more than a month. In addition, any of these cheeses, ripened in the refrigerator for another 2-3 days, can become the basis for Suluguni or Mozzarella cheeses.

So, we have 5 liters of fresh cow's milk. To be more precise - fresh milk. As it turned out later, it is better not to use fresh milk; it should stand in the refrigerator for several hours. Many sources claim that steamed cheese will never be made, but beginners are in luck! Our cheese turned out great!

We calculate the required amount of dry enzyme, dilute it in water at room temperature and set it aside.

Heat the milk to a temperature of 38-40 degrees, constantly stir from top to bottom so that the milk warms up evenly and measure with a thermometer. Any manipulations when preparing cheese are very closely related to the temperature of the milk. Enzymes and ripening bacteria are introduced at certain temperatures. This condition is not difficult, but mandatory. So, the required temperature has been obtained.

We introduce the enzyme and a couple of drops of calcium chloride, it will help the formation of a cheese curd. Close the pan with a lid and forget about it for 30-60 minutes. If the cheese curd does not appear, you need to wait a little longer. We got a dense clot almost 2 hours later.

Now carefully mix the curd and put it with a slotted spoon into special cheese molds [cheese molds]. The curd must be laid out to the very top of the mold; it will become very compact and decrease in size, releasing the whey.

When all the cheese is laid out in molds, you must remember to periodically turn it over to give the head of cheese a more even and beautiful shape.

After 4 hours, the cheese has finally thickened; it must be well salted on both sides and put in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, our cheese is completely ready and you can eat it.

So, this is what we have in the end - from 5 liters of milk we got 870 grams of cheese. This is a very good result!

After making the cheese, we have as much as 4 liters of whey left. Of course, you can bake pancakes for a couple of large families, put dough on pies, make okroshka with whey, but we will continue to make cheese! Let's make Ricotta.

Ricotta recipe

What you need for preparation:

• Whey after cooking homemade cheese - approximately 4 liters;
• Milk - 500 ml;
• Vinegar 6 or 9%;

Ricotta is a traditional Italian cheese product. Ricotta translates to "re-cooked". Indeed, this type of cheese is made from the whey from the preparation of certain types of cheeses. The best way to make ricotta is the whey obtained after making cheese from fresh milk using rennet. This is exactly our case! But there is one caveat. Our milk gave almost everything to homemade cheese, the whey is completely clear, not cloudy or pale white. But there is a way out - you just need to add a little milk to the whey. Since we used all of our homemade milk, we will add regular store-bought milk. For 4 liters of completely transparent whey, add approximately 500 ml of milk. If your whey is white and not transparent, then we cook only from it. No need to add milk.

Preparing ricotta is very simple. The serum is heated to 90 degrees and a little vinegar or citric acid is poured into it. Then everything is mixed well and left under the lid. We left until the mass cooled completely. During this time, the flakes will settle to the bottom and it will be very easy to get them out. Place the mixture into a special form again and let the excess whey drip off. You can add spices, salt, herbs, garlic according to your own taste.

From 4 liters of whey we got two molds of 200 grams each. At breakfast, the whole family can eat fresh Ricotta with bread or toast for a couple of days.

Suluguni recipe

To prepare Suluguni, we specially left one head of homemade cheese; it had to lie in the refrigerator and ripen for two or three days.

Cut the cheese into cubes of about one and a half centimeters.

Heat a pan of water to 90 degrees, pour hot water into a cup and pour cubes of homemade cheese into it. It is required to melt the cheese and form it into one common mass.

We change the water several times so that it is constantly hot. We mix the mass with wooden spoons in a special way - first we flatten the mass, then we roll it up and make a flat cake again. This is how we form the cheese layers.

The cheese should become soft and pliable, like yeast dough. Now we place it in a cheese mold, leave it to compact and drain excess liquid. As soon as the head of cheese has formed, place it in a saline solution (200 grams of salt per liter of water) for 24 hours.

Suluguni is ready!

P.S.: If you want to try your hand at homemade cheese making yourself, keep in mind that we have everything you need to make all types of cheeses - from soft to hard. All products and materials for cheese production are sent cash on delivery to any location in Russia.

You can become a farmer for one day - learn how to make cheese or milk a goat, understand the intricacies of making cheesecake and taste unusual varieties of cheese and vegetables from the garden - in the village of Moshnitsy, Solnechnogorsk district, Moscow region. American Jay Close has been teaching “lessons” in farm life here for several years now. Correspondents of the portal "In the Moscow Region" went to his farm and found out what Jay teaches, how to make cheese at home, and how much the training costs.

What do they teach on the farm?

Jay Close's farm near Moscow, where you can not only buy, but also learn how to make cheese yourself according to Dutch recipes, is a start for many students in their own production. Here you can meet not only Moscow summer residents and village residents of the Moscow region, but also students from St. Petersburg, Lipetsk, as well as expats who come to the American farm as volunteers.

Learning happens by doing. Jay doesn't so much reveal the secrets of Dutch recipes as show production technology.

As the farmer notes, the process of creating cheese is not easy - milk needs to be processed fresh, so sometimes you have to cook the cheese at night or wake up at four in the morning to get it out of the brine, turn it over, etc. Therefore, you only have to sleep two or three hours a day, Jay notes.

Such difficulties are associated with the large volume of production - Jay makes about 20 kilograms of cheese per day. At home everything is much simpler. You can use raw materials from your own cows, or find a farmer who will supply small volumes of milk.

Using this technology, you can make cheese from store-bought milk, but the taste and quality of the cheese will not be the same, the farmer notes. According to Jay, some people understand the essence of production in 10 minutes, but there are also students for whom six weeks is not enough.

As a rule, those who have extensive experience in the kitchen learn quickly, but if a person does not know how to read a thermometer, and there are such people, then it’s difficult, notes Jay.

According to him, one of the students, who came from St. Petersburg, after a week of training began giving master classes herself.

How cheese is made

In order to make cheese, you need to take fresh milk, rennet, vinegar, citric acid and additives depending on the type of cheese, the farmer says. A clean pasteurizer and the freshness of the milk are important, Jay adds.

Jay himself studied cheese making in Holland and France. Its production is based on various recipes, which the farmer refines to get something original.

The process of making cheese is quite monotonous. Milk is poured into a pasteurizer with a capacity of about 300 liters and heated to a certain temperature depending on the type of cheese. At home, this device can be replaced with a water bath.

But the technology is simple in appearance - the more you heat it, the harder the cheese, the farmer explains.

After adding rennet, citric acid and other ingredients (depending on the type of cheese), the resulting mass must be poured into molds, placed under a press, the necessary ingredients (mold, herbs, nuts, etc.) added, and then kept in storage at a certain temperature and humidity. The temperature should be no higher than 16 degrees, and the humidity should be 70%, says Jay’s student Natalya.

Some types of cheese, such as mozzarella, can be eaten within two days from the moment of preparation, and Parmesan can be tasted only two years after preparation, the farmer clarifies.

One of the processes of cheese ripening in storage is aging in a salt solution for several days, depending on the volume of the piece of cheese. Only then is it wrapped in latex to prevent mold from penetrating, and left to “ripen” in storage.

Production waste is not thrown away here. Jay will teach you how to make ricotta or cheesecake from the whey that is not used for hard cheeses.

How to get there

The farm is located in the Solnechnogorsk region, in the village of Moshnitsy. You can get there by train from Leningradsky station to Golovkovo station. The farmer can meet you in his car near the station. You can contact him through the "Lavka.Lavka" project, or arrange an appointment on the page