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The Great Cheese Rescue

March 15, 2009 @ 22:21 By Gavin Webber 9 Comments

Late this afternoon, I thought I would try my hand at making a Wensleydale cheese infused with sage leaves in the middle.  Kim had bought me a cheese press during the week and I was all set to give it a tryout.  

Cheesepress

Well that was the plan anyway.  It all started out well.  I used UHT full cream milk which was apparently OK to use in cheese making.  I added the right amount of Calcium Chloride to de-homogenise the milk (make the fat globules bigger), then added the starter culture, and waited for the prescribed 45 minutes.  So far so good.  I kept the temperature at 32C for the entire time, and then when time was up I added the rennet and waited another 45 minutes for the curds to set.

I checked the milk and expected to see a nicely set curd, but it was not to be.  It was still milk!  That was disappointing, so I added another lot of rennet and waited another 45 minutes.  To my surprise it was still bloody milk!  No curds had set.  I thought back to the cheese making class, and I remembered that one of the ladies mentioned that if the curds doesn’t set after a second go, never throw out the milk because you can always make Ricotta Cheese out of it.

So, out with the cheese making book and off I went.  Brought the milk to 90-95C stirring all the time to ensure that the milk didn’t burn, and then added half a cup of white vinegar.  This is meant to separate the milk into a basic curds and whey.  Guess what.  Nothing happened.  This was the most stubborn milk I had ever come across.  So in a panic, I threw in another half a cup of vinegar. It finally worked.  The whey was visible and the curds were so tiny that you could just see them.  I strained the curds and whey through cheesecloth in a colander and waited for 5 minutes.  The cheese was still very hot so I had to be careful not to burn myself. 

After a bit of mucking around, I ended up with two containers full of creamy Ricotta.  I added half a teaspoon of salt to each container and stirred well.  This is what the final product ended up like.

Ricotta 001 

Here is a close up.

Ricotta

I guess we will be having lasagne tomorrow night!  It tastes very nice indeed and much better than the store bought muck.

So what went wrong with the Wensleydale?  I might have been a bit heavy handed with the bleach when sterilizing all the equipment before I started or the UHT milk might not have been suitable.  I might not have used enough Calcium Chloride to reverse the homogenisation process, which might have accounted for me having to add double the vinegar to separate the curds and whey in the last ditch effort to rescue the milk. 

I think I will give it another go, but this time with fresh milk.  At least I can eliminate one factor from the process.   I still want to taste home made Wensleydale with sage!

The old saying is true; When at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

 

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Filed Under: Cheese

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About Gavin Webber

Gavin Webber's daily goal is to live a more sustainable lifestyle, in an effort to reduce his family's environmental footprint so we can all make a difference for our children & future generations to come.

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Comments

  1. bayside gardener says

    March 16, 2009 at 05:57

    Hi Gav,
    I can’t help you with your cheesemaking dilemma, sorry. If you don’t use all the ricotta or maybe next time you make more, have a look at the recipe in march/april organic gardener. There’s a gorgeous looking ricotta cake just asking to be made.
    Cheers
    Anita

    Reply
  2. wombat064 says

    March 16, 2009 at 07:44

    Whey to go Gav

    Reply
  3. Silver Rookie says

    March 16, 2009 at 08:21

    Glad you managed the rescue…I attempted another loaf of bread after you guys left yesterday…and it pretty much turned out like the first…me thinks I might get new yeast!!
    Jane

    Reply
  4. The Neighbours says

    March 16, 2009 at 13:10

    Keep trying! Ricotta is great. Try it on some toast with Jam. Heat it up a little bit first. Yum!

    And so many cakes, cheesecakes, slices you can make with it too.

    Reply
  5. Gavin says

    March 16, 2009 at 20:55

    Thanks for the encouragement. Kim made a very tasty lasagne tonight with half of the ricotta. I think she is looking at making a cheesecake with the rest tomorrow! I am going to give the cheese another try on Sunday.

    Gav

    Reply
  6. Linda Cockburn says

    March 21, 2009 at 04:09

    I’m a cheesemaker and my suggestion is pretty much where you ended up anyway. I wouldn’t use Ultra Heat Treated Milk, there’s nothing left of much value left in it nutritionally anyway. Adding more rennet tends not to work and you can end up with a horrible flavour to the cheese. As a suggestion, don’t use bleach, sterilise your pots etc with boiling water – better for you and the environment.

    Reply
  7. Tree Hugging Mama says

    December 16, 2009 at 01:09

    Your description of Ricotta sounds easy, I might even have to give it a go 🙂

    Reply
  8. Melissa from Naturally Good Soaps says

    March 19, 2013 at 01:49

    Gavin, I am loving your blog posts! Can I ask where did you purchase the mechanism that is in your photo? Is that specific to cheesemaking? I am looking for a tincture press like this but the ones I find on the market are super expensive..
    keep it up!

    Reply
    • Gavin Webber says

      March 19, 2013 at 08:25

      Hi Melissa. I bought the press from Green Living Australia.

      Gav x

      Reply

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An Ordinary Australian Man Who Has A Green Epiphany Whilst Watching A Documentary, Gets a Hybrid Car, Plants A Large Organic Vegetable Garden, Goes Totally Solar, Lowers Consumption, Feeds Composts Bins and Worms, Harvests Rainwater, Raises Chickens, Makes Cheese and Soap, and Eats Locally. All In The Effort To Reduce Our Family's Carbon Footprint So We Can Start Making A Difference For Our Children & Future Generations To Come.

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