I’ve had homemade cheeses before and loved how they tasted, but I never got around to making cheese myself. So one day recently, I mustered up the courage and began the process of learning how to make a simple cheese.

Making cheese is a lot simpler than one might think - at least when it comes to making a simple cheese. You can make it just by heating milk and adding vinegar, which is fairly similar to the way I improvise on a recipe requiring buttermilk. When I make imitation buttermilk, all I do is add lemon to the milk until it curdles, the only difference is that when it comes to making cheese, you harvest the curdled part. The solid substance is called the curd, the leftover liquid is called whey - the same curds and whey Miss Muffet enjoyed.

This seemed a little too easy and this type of cheese is fairly soft, with an almost cottage cheese-like consistency. I researched a little further to find a way to make a firmer cheese?

The answer came… Rennet! Rennet is traditionally made from the stomach of a calf, it is salted after the beast is slaughtered. You can buy rennet easily through various cheese-making supply websites. I was too impatient to wait to get the real stuff, but I found out that there were other forms of rennet that would give the same results. After looking for what seemed like an eternity, I found a recipe for vegetarian rennet. I took about a pound of nettle leaves, a couple of ounces of hops, and some yarrow flowers, put then in a pot and covered it with just enough water to immerse the plants. I brought it to a simmer and then let it sit for a while to steep. I then drained it and added about a cup of salt.

Another thing that helps in cheese-making is conditioning the milk. Through my research I found that I had to add live cultures… but where to get them? The answer ended up being rather simple, buttermilk and yogurt. In the same pot as the milk, I poured a half-gallon of milk, one quart of buttermilk, and a whole container of yogurt. I put in half a pint of heavy cream for good measure. I let this sit for a good two hours and guess what? It began to curdle. I wanted thicker curds though, so I poured a half-cup of my homemade rennet in and the curds got thicker in just a matter of minutes. To promote the growth of the bacteria in the yogurt, I let it sit a while, warming it slightly over the stove, careful to not even bring it to a simmer.

I could now see the curds and the whey. The whey was a pale yellowish hue and the curds looked a little bit like scrambled egg whites. I then lined a colander with cheesecloth and proceeded to filter the curds from the whey. I put the curds into a bowl and added salt to further help the removal of excess liquid. Next, I returned it to the colander lined with a fresh layer of cheesecloth. I was anxious to taste it, and wow, it actually tasted like cheese!

The next step is optional - putting your cheese in a mold and pressing it. To make my press, I rummaged around the kitchen to see what I could use. I took an old plastic sherbet container and put a bunch of holes in it. I then placed my cheese curd filled cheesecloth inside and placed it in a large bowl and but a plate on top of my curds. Now the problem was having enough weight to press it. I placed two big cans of tomatoes on top and, voilà, it worked. After pressing it, I put the cheese into the refrigerator and let it set. It tasted a lot like cheddar.

Next time I try to make cheese, I probably use this same recipe but will try to improve upon it. When I master this one, then I think I’ll feel a little more like trying a different style of cheese. Happy cheese making!

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Setting out to find a new cheese to add to your life is a great way to
spend a weekend afternoon. There are some great spots in just about
every city to explore new tastes. Once you find your new cheese, having
it loose its flavor or dry out before you can share it with others is a
sad moment. So let’s talk about caring for the cheese.

As a rule, you shouldn’t slice up your hunk of cheese before you are
ready to use it. Unpasteurized cheese will begin to loose subtlety and
aroma once it is sliced and more area is exposed to the oxygen in the
air. So keep them in hunks as long as you can.

Find out from your cheese vendor, or from searching the Internet, what
conditions were used to mature your new found cheese. Storing your
cheese in the same conditions is often the best way to keep it
flavorful. For hard, semi-hard and semi-soft cheeses the normal storing
temperature is about 8-13 C (about 46 degrees Fahrenheit) for example.
Cheese stored in the refrigerator should be removed about an hour and a
half before serving, letting the cheese warm up allows the flavor and
aroma to develop.

Keeping your cheese wrapped in waxed paper is much better than a plastic
wrap or plastic container. Waxed paper, inside a loose-fitting storing
bag will not lose humidity and will maintain air circulation. Plastic
will often condense air and trap moisture. One exception to this would
be blue cheese. Mould spores from blue cheese spread quickly and easily.
If they stayed on the cheese that would be fine, but they don’t, and
quickly spread to anything close to them. Cheeses contain living
organisms that must not be cut off from air, yet it is important not to
let a cheese dry out.

Most cheese are like sponges for other strong smelling odors, so you
don’t want to store cheese next to the garlic dip, or anything that
might damage the cheese’s flavors.

So what cheese should we be looking for? Really it depends a great deal
on what we might be serving with the cheese. If wine is on the list,
then that may make it a bit easier to narrow down a good new cheese to
bring home.

The rule of thumb for finding cheese to serve with wine is: the whiter
and fresher the cheese the crisper and fruitier the wine. White wines
normally go better with more cheeses than reds wines do, but a dry fresh
red wine goes very well with soft cheeses, especially goat milk types.
Light fruity red wines are often the best matches for other cheeses, but
the heavier reds are a hard match with cheese. Sweet wines a great with
the cheeses that have a high acidity, the contrast in tastes is often
very enjoyable. Dry champagnes a great choice with bloomy white rinds.

The matching of cheese and wine is such an old culinary tradition that
when you are first starting out on the matching exploration of these
two, try combinations which include cheese and wine from the same
geographical regions. There are probably good reasons they make the
cheese and wine they do.

Personal enjoyment is the last and final line of judgment. So enjoy
yourself and have a great time exploring new tastes.

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Cheeses come in a wide variety of flavors, textures, and types. Gone are the days of un-wrapping a slice of American cheese placing it on white bread and calling it a meal. Today’s specialty markets make it easy to serve gourmet cheeses as an appetizer, desert, or as a simple course in a larger meal.

When serving cheese never serve more than 5 varieties at a time. Vary the size, shape, flavor and texture of the choices to add interest to the selection. The tray you serve on should be a wooden board or marble slab. A silver tray with a wood insert can add elegance and glamour for a special touch. The tray should never be crowded, and any bread or fancy crackers should be served separately. Separate utensils and trays should be used if the cheeses have strong or distinctive flavors. Mild varieties will pick up the flavors and aromas of stronger cheese.

Coupling the cheese with fresh fruit or thin sliced onions gives added interest and texture and makes for an appetizing arrangement. Always remember to slice all the accompaniments in bite size pieces.

Cheeses can be served as a very elegant desert a light course after the entrée or as an appetizer. When using cheese as an appetizer, choose a light meal because cheese can be filling.

The temperature of your cheese will make a difference in how it taste. When served at room temperature cheese displays more of its natural flavors and characteristics. By leaving the cheese out for 30 minutes before serving the cheese will reach its optimum temperature. Just remember during warm months to keep watch so that the cheese does not get too warm and begin to sweat.

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