Saturday, February 11, 2012

Columella's Cheese - Redaction II

  1. Added 1/4 tsp LH100 (Choozit brand) and 1/4 tsp of Thermo C (Abasia brand) culture to 3 gallons of whole milk at 95 degrees F. Hold at temp for 30 minutes.
  2. Added 1.5 tsp of veal rennet diluted in 1/4 c water to the cheese milk and held at temperature for 45 minutes.
  3. When the curd is set, scoop into moulds and wait for the whey to drain out. Not all the curd will fit into the moulds immediately. I filled them and waited 15 minutes for them to drain and kept scooping more in on top.
  4. After draining for 15 minutes, the curd drops about an inch. I give it a stir with the knife, pulling it away from the sides of the baskets so that more whey can escape through the unplugged holes.
  5. After about 2 hours of draining and adding more curd, all the curd is finally in the baskets.
  6. As soon as the last of the curd is added to the baskets, the baskets are flipped onto a reed mat to drain for another 2 hours.