Warning: graphic pictures of cheese curds

I told one of my friends that I had made cheese and that I had pictures, and she thought she would be totally grossed out by the cheese curds and whatnot, so therefore, I thought I would put a general warning out there to anyone terrified of cheese curds. Do not read any further if you have a cheese curd problem. I think they look pretty cool, actually.

It's been about 3 weeks now since I made my first ever cheese (besides ricotta which doesn't count because it uses common kitchen ingredients, not special supplies), but the glow still hasn't worn off. I don't know what it is that is so exciting about making something like cheese. There is just kind of a mystique about it - it seems like a magical, complicated procedure that a common human shouldn't be able to perform without extensive training. Or something like that. So to be able to turn it out in an afternoon and have it actually taste good, is pretty darn fun. Granted, I didn't make an aged Cheddar or a Gruyere or a Gouda. I made cream cheese. But still.

So the process went something like this: Heat up a big pot of milk and cream. Add the culture that you buy from the cheese lady (http://www.cheesemaking.com/). Stir it in. Add the rennet. I used vegetable rennet for no particular reason. I guess, originally, animal-based rennet came from the stomach of cows and the thought of using stomach in my cheese...I don't know...Plus, this way vegetarians can eat my cheese! :) So you stir the rennet in, cover the pot with a tea towel and then just let it sit for 18 hours. I got up the next morning so excited to check out the cheese! It had firmed up until it was about the consistency of greek yogurt.

I cut it up into cubes and loosened it from the edges of the pot, then I poured the whole thing into a big colander lined with cheesecloth.

The curds had separated from the whey, and so you have to give it time for all of the whey to drip out of the cheese, so I rigged up the cheesecloth to dangle from the water faucet. And I just let it dangle for 8 hours or so. It really reduced in size as the whey dripped out. The cheesecloth was probably about half as full at the end of the dripping period.

Then, to finish it off and to squeeze out the last bit of whey, I put the cheese in a pasta strainer (b/c it fits so nicely into the pot), placed it over a pot, put a plate on top of the cheese in the strainer and placed a weight on top of the cheese. The book said to use a couple of bricks. Well, there didn't happen to be any bricks laying around the house, and I couldn't really put my finger on anything that heavy. Until I spied our dominos set. It worked out perfectly. I dumped them all in a plastic bag and they were nice and flexible to fit down into the strainer on top of the plate. I put the whole contraption in the fridge and let it sit overnight.

The next morning I woke up and, voila - cream cheese!! Well, close, anyway. I put the drained cheese into a bowl and kneaded in a bunch of cheese salt, and then formed them into two little patties, wrapped them in plastic wrap and it was all good to go.

I didn't get to taste it right away, because I was already late for work (cheese-making not being part of my usual morning routine), but tried it the next morning on some homemade bagels and it was really good! It was nice and creamy, with an interesting tang to it. It didn't taste anything like the cream cheese that you get from the store, but I'm okay with that.

So cheese-making success has been achieved. Next up, Mozarella!! And then I might think about investing in a cheese cave so I can move on to the aged Cheddar, Gouda and Gruyere! And then, maybe I'll get a cow and some goats to have my own milk! And then... Oh dear, this could get out of control.