A question about the vinegar cheese recipe

[Fla Gal]

I want to try this recipe and use as little salt as necessary. Is the salt necessary for proper processing or is it added for flavor only?

[shelby]

Salt is for flavor mostly, but does help with the curds release of the whey,
You could go with less salt, I'd just hang it a little longer, or replace the cloth half way through so the whey drains better.

I make our cottage cheese, and I don't salt it after making it, It does need a little but we just add it before serving and a very little bit.

[Fla Gal]

Shelby, you answered my question rather well. The salt helping release the whey makes a lot of sense. My next trip to the grocery store will include a gallon of milk. I already have the cheese cloth. I've been putting off making cottage cheese because of the salt.

Now I can have a go at making cottage cheese and cheese. Thanks for the reply!

[shelby]

Just make sure that you don't get ultra-pasturized milk, otherwise you will be greatly disappointed in the results.

[shelby]

Also, what method were you going to use to make your cottage cheese, I have a recipe from another forum that does not require cooking the curd and it is much better than the cooked curd, More or less no fuss.

[Fla Gal]

I didn't know there was such a thing as ultra-pasturized milk. Egads! What will the money monger corporates come up with next?

I've been buying Organic Valley whole milk when I buy it. I don't look at the other brands. I call it selective blindness.

Thanks for the tip!

[Fla Gal]

I was going to use the vinegar method of making cottage cheese and it requires heating the milk. Please share the recipe you have. I'm very interested in having it.

[shelby]

Okay, this is the recipe, I found it on a board called Family cow, Now mind you we use freshly skimmed milk, from our cow not store bought. It doesn't matter if it is skimmed though.

Put your stainless steel kettle of one gallon of milk in hot water in the sink and let it come to room temperature. (The milk definately needs to be room temperature - not warm, just room temperature.)

Take 1/3 cup mesophilic culture (or one packet of Direct Set freeze dried culture). Stir the culture until there are no lumps and is super smooth and add 1/2 cup milk to the culture and stir thoroughly. Stir this thoroughly into the gallon of milk.

Cover with a dish towell and leave out at room temperature for 12 to 18 hours. This will set a curd, just as if you had used rennet - (but will not yield a squeaky curd). It will be a fairly soft curd, but cut it just like you would for a cheese.

Let it sit for 15 to 20 minutes. Then, gently pour it into a cheesecloth lined collandar. Pull up your corners and tie it off and hang to drain for a couple hours. (It helps if, midway thorough the hanging, you untie and gently roll the curd over within the cloth to make the top be on the bottom - just makes it drain faster as the bottom tends to seal off some - I'm always about time, time, time.)

After draining (and, it might still be dripping some - but you can go on with the next step.), place the cloth with the curd in a large bowl. Untie the cloth and drape it over the sides of the bowl. Run cold water into the bowl until the curd is covered. Gently break the curd apart and swirl the water through it. Lift the cloth and drain the water out of the curd for a few minutes. Just hold it there while the water runs out.

Place the cloth and curd back in the bowl and drape the cloth over the sides again and run the cold water over the curd again and gently swirl the water through it again. Lift the cloth around the curd again and drain by hanging for about half an hour. (This twice rinsing process is only about 5 minutes total - and makes the mild cottage cheese that is pure pleasure.)

After the curd has drained, line a bowl with four or five thicknesses of Bounty paper towells and turn the curd into the bowl. Break it up a bit. This step wicks out the last of the whey and water and leaves you with pure cottage cheese curds. Set this in the refr. for twenty minutes or so -or until the paper towells are soaked.
I do the paper towell thing twice to get the liquids out of the curd. If I am serving the cottage cheese now, - I then break the curds up however course I like with my fingers and add the salt and stir in cold cream until I have the amount of cream that looks right. I make it pretty salty.

I only make up the amount of cottage cheese that I am planning to serve at a meal and keep the rest of the batch in a glass bowl on paper towells (Cover with plastic wrap.) to continue to wick out any moisture. Cottage cheese keeps longer in the refrigerator if you store it this way and make it up as you want it.

No squeak to the curds and a super flavor. The added perk is you can put the curds in the food processor with a little cream and add bacon, or pepparoni, or herbs and salt and run the food processor until it makes a wonderful cheese spread like neufchatel. You can also run it in the food processor until smooth and use it where you would use cream cheese in a recipe.

Regular recipes will have you "cook the curd" somewhat, with a double boiler type set up with a second kettle. There is no rennet in this recipe and no "cooking".



For the 1/3 cup culture, I use cultured buttermilk, (must be cultured) Stir it in and then set covered pot wrapped in a towel into a cheap styrofoam cooler from the store. This helps keep the temp. right. I also don't use the paper towels just hang it a bit longer,

If you have any questions feel free to ask,