Making Cheese At Home Posted By Chef Stacy Maple

How To Make Fresh Cheese at Home

Making Fresh Cheese or Queso Fresco at home is surprisingly easy.  If you can boil water, you can master this 3 ingredient recipe! One taste of this creamy, all-natural cheese and you will never want to buy supermarket versions again with all those strange chemicals and gums.  That's not my idea of fresh! Why buy it when you can make it cheaper and fresher at home?

Once you are comfortable with this recipe and the technique for making Fresh Cheese, get creative with the ingredients.  Try replacing apple cider vinegar with other acids like flavored vinegar, citrus juice like lemon or lime, white wine or even soda pops.  Try making Fresh Goat Cheese by using goats milk rather than cows milk and look for non-homogenized milk at your co-op or local dairy as it will curdle much better.

Fresh Cheese Recipe Ingredients: 2 C          Whole Milk 3-4 oz      Apple Cider Vinegar* Pinch       Salt   Equipment Needed: Sauce Pan Colander Cheese Cloth Kitchen Twine Kitchen Thermometer

Preparation:

Step 1  Heat  Milk and salt in large sauce pan over medium heat.  Stir until milk reaches 180 degrees or milk begins to froth.  Hold at 180 degrees for 4 minutes.  Remove from heat.

Step 2  Slowly stir in Vinegar.  Small curds will begin to form and milk will separate into 2 parts: curds and whey. 

Step 3  Line a colander with 2-3 layers of cheesecloth.  Place colander over bowl.  Slowly pour milk mixture through cheesecloth and colander, letting whey (clear liquid) drain into bowl.

Step 4  Once most of whey has drained off and cheese is cool enough to handle, lift the edges of the cheesecloth up and twist, wrapping the cheese securely inside the cheesecloth.   Tie “bag” closed and hang it to let the whey drain (about an hour).

Step 5  Once cheese has drained well, it is ready to be eaten or it can be “aged” for up to one week in refrigerator.  As cheese ages, it will become drier and the flavor stronger. 

*Note:  Apple Cider Vinegar can be replaced with any variety of vinegar, fresh lemon or lime juice or white wine.  However, Fresh Cheese should be drained well so that it doesn’t taste like the acid used to curdle the milk.  The longer it ages and the drier it becomes, the less it will taste like the acid used.