Butcher, Baker, and Feta Cheese Maker

What are you to do on a rainy/sleety/snowy Sunday? Make cheese, of course! Since there was not much that I could do outside due to the constraints of the weather, I decided to take the milk I had saved last week and begin the experiment of making Feta cheese. Last year, I made lots of chevre, a soft, spreadable goat cheese and it almost always seemed to go over big. I experimented with flavoring it in many different ways: garlic & chive, jalapeno, pecan encrusted, black peppercorn encrusted…and the big FLOP—Tuscan (sun-dried tomato, garlic, and Kalamata olives). I was always partial to the plain myself. It is really good to spread on crackers, but can also be used in making all kinds of dishes, from casseroles to cheesecake. I wanted to try Feta last year, but just never got around to it. And since Feta has to age 4-6 weeks, I decided to take the first saved milk (most goes to the wee fur balls) and make Feta.

The most important thing to remember when making cheese (or anything for that matter) is to make sure you have all your ingredients together. No sense in rushing around to find some culture to inoculate (now that sounds kinda creepy, huh?) 3 gallons of milk, only to discover you have just enough culture for 1 quart! Experience talking here! Notice the notebook with the recipe…that’s important too. Once, I started a batch of yogurt without finding the recipe. You know me: “It’s all in my head”, “I can remember that.” Well, after the cat would not even sniff the slimy goo that resulted, I make sure to always have the recipe on hand (even if I don’t look at it…hehehehe).

You have to heat the milk up to 86 degrees and hold it there for a long, long time. The most frustrating part for me, the ever patient one, is waiting for the milk to heat. The milk has to be warmed up very slowly or it scorches. Burnt milk really smells…just ask my wife. I am sure she remembers well when Mr. Impatient thought he could speed the process of heating 2 gallons of milk. But Mr. Impatient was on vacation this time (probably on some warm and sunny beach somewhere!). After, oh…. FOREVER, the milk reached temperature and I was able to add the cultures. And then…wait. Stir. Wait. Stir. Wait. You get the picture.



Finally, the time came to cut the cheese curd into small cubes. Here you see me cutting the cheese, ha ha! Who knew Feta smelled like that? After cutting the curds, guess what I had to do next? You guessed it….wait! Then I got to stir the curds every 10 minutes for 40 minutes. Wait a minute! I think Mr. Impatient is at the door!







Here is what they look like during the stirring process. My, didn’t that sound technical…stirring process. Kind of like a bus driver is a mass transportation specialist, not that there is anything wrong with being a bus driver. Anyway, the stirring is to “toughen up” the curds and help them release more whey. Notice how yellow the whey is as opposed to whiteness of the cheese curds. And, no Jill, that did not start out as yellow snow!

When the curds are all tough guys, it’s time to separate the curds and whey. Betcha Little Miss Muffet is all excited! Using a large piece of cheese cloth (the fine meshed stuff that you can not get at the grocery store, to the dismay of my wallet!) and a colander, I drained the whey and tied up the cheese cloth. It now has to “hang” to finish draining the whey from the cheese. I tied it up and hung it on a couple of wooden spoons (OK…they're plastic, but they are like a wooden spoons!) over the large stockpot to drain. Now all we have to do is….WAIT! I am not really sure what the kitchen will smell like this evening, but my guess is that it will be something between richly aged Feta and cat vomit!
To be continued………