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This table cloth is awesome.

Some old recurring hobby: quasi-cheese making. Why quasi? Because I’ve never gone beyond the step of heated milk and vinegar / citric acid. Basically, all I’ve ever made was heavily-pressed milk Ricotta. No rennet, no cultures, no dedicated cellars with controlled humidity etc.

The recipe is simple: 2-3 liters of milk, 200ml of yoghurt (for flavor), ~50ml of white vinegar (acetic, 5%, synthetic). Heat milk & yoghurt to ~88c / ~185f, remove from heat, pour vinegar, and from then on slowly filter/remove whey (not really whey technically, but never mind). When the curds are dry enough, combine with salt and put in a makeshift press overnight.

The result is not great, yet not bad - it tends to become a very dry and crumbly cheese with a faint yoghurt flavor. Putting more salt or covering in brine results in some fetta-like cheese, where the dominant flavor is, well, salty-acidic (yawn). I had a cheese once that got a bit rancid, like white mold, and it was actually great (I would be probably put to jail in the European Union for that). I also wrapped once a cheese with a mix of candle wax and beeswax and from some reason the taste of the waxes seeped inside (that one was terrible).

As a first step, it may be wise to find the limits of this method, e.g. for how long can the cheese be aged in room temperature, like anyone else did barely 100 years ago. The internet is full of how-tos and opinions but it seems that no one dared to cross the boundaries, out of curiosity. Why not? This is an inexpensive hobby.


Ideas to explore

  • Build a ripening box / closet / just keep it in some dark place in the kitchen, will ya?!
  • Varying doses of salt
  • Omit yoghourt
  • Infect with blue/white mold
  • Wash regularly with brine etc.
  • Oil wash
  • Wine wash
  • Incorporate herbs (sage/thyme)
  • Give up and buy rennet / calcium chloride / mesophylic culture / a goat