Day 42: Home Dairy: Delicious Cheese, Yogurt, And Sour Cream

Dear Student,

If you have the space for a milk cow or a few milk goats, it can be a great bonus to your self-sufficiency endeavor.

Even if you don’t have a dairy animal, you can buy milk and discover the joys of the home dairy.

Dairy products are some of the most nutritious and delightful tasting foodstuffs available…

Types Of Milk

Milk is seven-eighths water, with the final part made up of “solids.” These solids are protein, sugar (lactose), fat, vitamins, and minerals.

Cow’s milk: The most popular milk consumed in the Western world, especially the United States.

Goat’s milk: More digestible than cow’s milk and its cheese is somewhat easier to make. Goat cheese is softer and uses less rennet. To make a hard cheese, you need to use calcium chloride. Curds tend to be delicate.

Sheep’s milk: Very high yielding for cheeses and other products, as it uses three to five times less rennet than cow’s milk and requires half the salt that other milks need.

One gallon of cow milk will produce 1 pound of hard cheese or 2 pounds of soft cheese. Goat milk yields slightly less, and sheep’s milk produces two-and-a-half times that of a cow.

Processed Milks

Raw milk is unpasteurized. The nutrients have not been denatured by the heat of the pasteurization process, so it’s more nutritious. However, it does carry a risk of communicable diseases, such as tuberculosis, brucellosis, and salmonella, which is why at the federal level, the United States has banned its sale and distribution.

But each state regulates itself on the matter, so it’s more and less possible to produce or buy raw milk depending on where you live. Outside of the United States, though, very few places in the world have any prohibition against raw milk. Vending machines selling it can be found throughout Europe, and its widely accepted as a highly nutritious addition to any diet.

Pasteurized milk has been heat-treated at 172°F (78°C) for a short period and cooled. This extends the life of the milk but damages some of the protein structure, making it more difficult to make cheese and reducing its ultimate nutritional value.

Ultra-pasteurized milk is long-life milk and nutritionally is practically valueless. It does not make good cheese.

Milk powder is dehydrated milk. If it has no additives, you can use it to make cheese.

Other Ingredients Needed For Dairy Production…

Rennet: Traditionally sourced from the fourth stomach of a calf, today rennet can be bought from stores in liquid, powder, or tablet form. Vegetarian forms exist now, too. The enzyme chymosin is used for the production of vegetarian cheeses.

Rennet is a set of enzymes that work on the casein protein in milk, curdling it and creating whey (liquid waste product) along with the curds. Rennet is present in the stomach of all mammal babies, including humans, because it allows their diet of milk to curdle in their stomachs, which keeps it in the body longer, allowing for more absorption of nutrients during digestion.

Acids like vinegar, citric acid, and tartaric acid can be used in place of rennet when making soft cheeses.

Water: Use only pure, unchlorinated water.

Starter Bacteria: A starter culture of bacteria is used to change the acidity of the milk, which makes it more suitable for the rennet to work on. This process is called ripening. Starters are commercially available online or in cheese supply stores.

Cheese Salt: This is used to draw water out of the curds and enhance the flavor of the resulting cheese. If you can’t find cheese salt, you can use a kosher crystal salt. Don’t use iodized salt if you can avoid it.

Calcium Chloride: Used to restore calcium levels in heat-treated milk, without which it would not curdle properly. Also used with goats’ milk. If needed, use a 1/4 teaspoon per 2 gallons of milk.

Lipase Powder: This is used in some strongly flavored cheeses, like blue cheese.

The Equipment

Never use aluminum or cast-iron utensils as they will affect the flavor.

As with all food production processes, cleanliness is essential. Wash all utensils in boiling water or use a bleach solution to sterilize and rinse well.

Cheesecloth: A cotton cloth used to drain curds. Purchase professional-quality cloth and reuse it for years. Rinse immediately after each use and wash with a small amount of bleach.

Butter Muslin: A finer cheesecloth used to drain soft cheeses.

Cheese Wax: Used to create a protective coating that inhibits bacteria and prevents drying out during the ageing process.

Cheese Wrap: Breathable cellophane used to wrap soft cheese.

Thermometer: To ensure ripening is done correctly.

A Cheese Mold: Used to shape and drain the cheese.

Cheese Press: Used for making hard cheese.