Do you ever buy someone a present that you really wish you could keep yourself?
We bought a cheese making kit for our cheese-obsessed friends and then, just as I thought about buying one for myself as a treat, received a kit of our very own from the lovely Liz at Mrs Whiskerson.
We finally got around to trying it out, on a particularly grumpy Sunday afternoon, so hold tight and here we go!
The first problem was finding a non-reactive pan large enough for the eight pints of milk required for a full batch. After a bit of frantic work with our fridge magnet collection, I remembered the jam pan.
After that, it’s just a case of dissolving this into that, heating, stirring, allowing to sit, a bit more heating, some stirring again and pouring it all into a colander to drain.
A full batch makes a very healthy wodge of cheese, so I made the firmer variety so it would last.
The next questions was what to do with all the whey, which amounted to what felt like nine or 10 pints!
The recipe makes sour whey, and the acidity means you shouldn’t just pour it down the sink. So far I’ve used it instead of water to cook rice, made whey pickles, and washed my hair with it. That leaves about six pints in the freezer to use up slowly! (You can use it as stock in soups, and I think it will make an appearance in my next risotto.)
Cheese making was a fun experiment, and one of those things I always wanted to try, but I’m not sure I’m going to quit my day job. More cheese, anyone?
8 November, 2015 — 11:20 pm
Wow – that’s a lot of… Well, everything! Milk, cheese and whey. the ‘what to do with whey’ isn’t really something I’d considered before. How was it, in your hair? I guess if it’s acidic you use it to rinse out the shampoo / conditioner? (You can do the same with vinegar, which I guess you already know!)
More importantly- how was the cheese?
9 November, 2015 — 12:28 pm
I know, I’m still chucking cheese in everything I make!
The whey was ok in my hair. I have low porosity hair, so it doesn’t really need the extra protein and tends to go a little crispy. Next time I think I’ll dilute a lot more and maybe add a drop of essential oil.
The cheese was good, not amazing but good. I’m discovering it’s more of a cooking cheese (a cross between cheddar and paneer maybe), but I was very unscientific about how long it drained and salted it very patchily. I’m kind of tempted to try another batch to see if I make better cheese when I’m not slamming about the kitchen in a huff.