Make Cheese Yourself – That’s How it Works

What you should know before cheese production

Before you make your first cheese yourself, we have put together some useful information for you:

• Fresh cow’s milk, also known as raw milk, directly from the farmer is best suited for cheese.
• Raw milk straight from the farmer must be heated to 72 degrees for at least 30 seconds before consumption. This is how you kill possible germs.
• If you are unable to shop at the farm, you can use fresh whole milk, soured milk, and buttermilk instead of raw milk.
• UHT milk is not suitable for cheese production.
• You need rennet tablets for your cheese. Rennet helps with clotting and is a natural thickener.
• You can find rennet tablets in health food stores, pharmacies, and online shops.
• You will also need a food thermometer.

Your first homemade cheese

Mozzarella is the easiest to make for beginners. The following recipe yields 700 grams of delicious mozzarella.

• You need 4 liters of pasteurized raw or whole milk, 7 grams of citric acid from the pharmacy, and 1.3 ml of rennet.
• Add 1.3 ml rennet to 150 ml water to dissolve.
• Dissolve the citric acid in 70 ml of water.
• Put the citric acid and the milk in a saucepan and heat it to about 36 degrees while stirring.
• Remove the pot from the stove and add the rennet.
• Cover the pot and let the contents rest.
• After 15 minutes the product will be firm enough to cut into walnut-sized pieces using both horizontal and vertical slits.
• Make sure the pieces don’t get bigger, otherwise not enough whey will separate.
• Place the pot back on the stove and heat to 43 degrees. Stir gently with a spoon without destroying the cut pieces.
• Place the mixture in a sieve to drain. Drain off as much liquid as possible. You can gently press down the cheese with a slotted spoon.
• Pour the resulting whey back into the pot.
• Heat the whey to 85 degrees. Then dip the cheese mass into the whey in portions for 5-10 seconds on a slotted spoon.
• Let the mozzarella cool until it is no longer too hot.
• Now fold and knead the cheese into shape.
• If desired, you can add a little salt when kneading.