Cheese-Making

Appears in
Farmhouse Kitchen
Farmhouse Kitchen

By Audrey Ellis

Published 1971

  • About

Hard cheeses: These are only a practical proposition for people who live on a farm or have access to milk in large quantities, as you need several gallons to make even one cheese of reasonable size.

You will need a container to hold the milk, a drainer and cloth, a curd mill or tray for handling, cheese moulds or vats. Storage shelves in an airy room. Smaller articles include a thermometer, curd knife, small scales for weighing salt, larger scales for weighing curd. Muslin, cheese rennet, salt.

Clean and sterile utensils are essential; those that are easy to clean are obviously the best, and there are various items of everyday domestic equipment that can be adapted to a cheesemaking purpose. For instance: a zinc bath or enamel bowl as a container; a steamer top (the part with holes) lined with cloth as a drainer; if no cheese press is available, round cake tins with holes punched in do very well as moulds, and with a round piece of wood to fit inside the top, stones put on top of this provide the necessary weight for pressing.