Wine and Cheese
Labor day weekend and a few days off to lay around the house and experiment. I dusted this post off because being a lazy weekend, I thought that I would post something fun that the whole family could enjoy. It was orginally posted in November 2005 and I have added comments (in pink) to it. Here is the process that I use to make simple cottage cheese.
Night before, put 1 gallon milk into pot with starter,
(For a starter you can use cultured buttermilk since it has the enzymes needed to convert milk to cheese) cover and let it sit overnight. Next morning, add 1/8 teaspoon calcium chloride diluted in 1/4 cup water. (if you don’t have calcium chloride, you can use non-idoized salt)
Add 1/2 teaspoon liquid rennet diluted in 1/4 cup of water. Mix with a slow up and down motion. Cover and let stand for 4 - 8 hours. If have used the rennet that is found in the grocery stores and have had great success. Generally, I use 1 tablet per 1 gallon.
The curd should be rather soft at this point, cut the curd and allow it to sit for 10 minutes.
Slowly heat the curds to 110 degrees. I usually use the lowest setting on the stove.
After the curds have reached 110 degrees maintain this temperature for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, cover and let stand for another 5 minutes.
Line a colander with cheesecloth, drain the curds into the colander and tie into a ball.
Dunk the ball into cold water a couple of times and then let drain for 10 minutes.
Untie the bag, place curds in a bowl and break up the pieces. Add any salt, herbs, fruit that you desire. I have been using cumin along with caraway seeds, sort of a southwestern rye taste.
Store covered in the refrigerator. This will keep for about a week and will make about 1 1/2 pounds of cottage chess.
Just another thing that you can enjoy with your homemade wine or beer. Make a couple of different ones and have a cheese and wine tasting party. Bottom line, just enjoy
