Cheese

Though most cheese is not artificially colored, flavored or preserved, making homemade cheese can be quite tasty and when it comes to some of the more advanced types of cheeses it can be economical as well. 

Here is a great source for learning how to make cheese:

Frankhouser's Cheese Page:

This cheese making instructional course starts with how to make yogurt, and then progresses to soft spreadable cheese, basic white cheese, American Mozzarella, and then blue cheese.  There are other types of cheeses included on this site as well but he tries to walk you through from easy to more difficult cheeses.

What you'll Need to Get Started

Except for the soft spreadable cheese called Labneh, most cheeses require the addition of Rennet and sometimes Calcium Chloride. Additionally, you will need cheese cloth or plain cotton (non-terrycloth) kitchen towels in order to strain the whey from the cheese.

Rennet: This is an enzyme which is needed to make cheese.  It can be found in tablets called Junket and also in refrigerated bottles.  Organic vegetarian Rennet can also be found on-line.  Sometimes the Junket brand of Rennet can be found in grocery stores for much less than it is on-line.  To find it you should look where the jello, gelatin, and custards are located.  Though Rennet is possible to find locally, you may have to check several stores before you find it.


Calcium Chloride: This substance may be needed in some recipes in order to firm the cheese.  Calcium Chloride is mostly needed when making cheese with pasteurized milk since pasteurization depletes some of the natural calcium in raw milk.  Calcium Chloride can be found on-line as well as in the vitamin section of most stores.

Cheese Cloth: This can be found in the painting section at Wal-Mart or Target.  However, if you want something that can be washed and used over and over, plain cotton kitchen towels are also very effective for straining cheese.

Cheese Making Trials:
Labneh/ Cream Cheese #1 - 3 Aug 2011