Hard and Soft Cheese Making Kit

Recipes on the sheet in the kit:

Basic Recipe for Cheddar Cheese

Ingredients:

• 5L Cows Milk
• Culture
• Rennet
• 1 table spoon pure salt (no added ingredients)

Cheese wax or plastic coat or cloth + lard or vacuum bag

1. Warm the milk to 32 ºC. Add the culture (100 ml of the prepared mother culture, instructions in the envelope). Stir and cover and allow the milk to ripen for 30-45 minutes.
2. Add the diluted rennet (instructions on the tube/bottle) and stir well for up to 1 minute. Ensure the temperature is still 32 ºC and cover and do not touch for +/- 45 minutes. Test the curd with a knife to check it has properly set and breaks clean.
3. Cut the curd in cubes of 1cm
4. Warm the contents slowly (over apx. 30 minutes) to 38 ºC while stirring so the curd does not stick together. The curds will shrink and the whey quantity will increase.
5. Put a lid on the container and let it rest for 5 minutes. Pour the curds in a cheese cloth and hang it to drain for 60 minutes in a quiet location where the bag does not cools too much.
6. Put the drained curds in a bowl and break it up with your fingers in walnut size chunks and mix in the salt
7. Put the curds into a cheese cloth lined mould and press it with apx. 1-2 kg for 10 minutes.
8. Remove the cheese from the cloth, turn it around and put it back in the cloth and press it again with apx. 1-2 kg pressure for 10 minutes.

9. Do this again and press for 12 hours with 1-2 kg.
10. Take the cheese from the mould and take it gently out the cloth. Leave it to dry at room temperature on a wooden plate over 2-4 days, so a rind can develop. During this time, turn the cheese a couple of times daily.
11. You can line the cheese with cheesecloth and apply lard, wax, plastic coat or vacuum pack
12. Mature the cheese for at least 30 days

Basic Recipe for Soft Cheese

Ingredients:

5L Cow Milk

Culture

Rennet

pure salt (no added ingredients)

1. Warm the milk to 30 ºC. Add the culture (100 ml of the prepared mother culture, instructions in the envelope). Stir and cover and allow the milk to ripen for 45-60 minutes.
2. Add the diluted rennet (instructions on the tube/bottle) and stir well for up to 1 minute. Ensure the temperature is still 32 ºC and cover and do not touch for +/- 45 minutes. Test the curd with a knife to check it has properly set and breaks clean.
3. Cut the curd in cubes of 1 cm and stir gently. Cut larger pieces smaller.
4. Let the curd rest for 10-15 minutes, but stir sometimes so the curd does not stick together. The curds will shrink and the whey quantity will increase.
5. Pour off the whey through the mould, collect the whey for later.
6. Leave the curds in the mould, turning it occasionally over the next 2-4 hours, till whey stops dripping. This step can be done in a quiet spot in the kitchen or in the refrigerator.
7. Prepare brine using acidified whey. Do this by leaving the whey, covered, at room temperature for 12-24 hours. Add 125 gr. salt to 1 litre whey. You can also acidify the whey using lemon juice.

• Cut the cheese into cubes (apx 2 cm) and put them in a jar and cover it by the acid brine and put it in the fridge. It will be ready to eat in a couple of days.

9. Remove excess salt by rinsing the cheese before consumption.