For the person who enjoys canning, home brewing beer and wine, or pickling, home cheese making is a hobby that they should consider trying. Making cheese at home is surprisingly easy and most people don’t realize that they have everything they need right in their own home kitchens. For many people who have turned to making their own cheese at home, they have discovered that the process is no more difficult than baking homemade bread.
If you are the type of individual who enjoys creating food products at home, then you should consider home cheese making. Additionally, if you enjoy eating different types of cheeses, home cheese making will help you appreciate what artisan and commercial cheese makers go through in order to make their products. When you consider some of the costs and labor involved with making cheese, it is easy to see why some artisan cheeses can run upwards of $30 a pound.
After you have dabbled in the hobby for a while and you have learned how to make a few different types of cheeses at home, you’ll more than likely understand why the assortment of cheeses in the grocery store is so expansive. You’ll also see how the same 4 ingredients – milk, rennet, salt, and starter – are usually involved in making many different types of cheeses. In addition to this, based on the milk source and the type of cheese, you’ll learn what you can expect from each of the different types that you make.
About the different types of cheeses
Cheese is a food that is made by using the curds (or solids) from the soured milk of cows, goats, or sheep which is then separated from the whey (or liquids). Once the curds and whey have been separated, it is then salted, poured into a mould, and pressed into firm, solid blocks. Typically, bacteria and/or surface fungi are used in the ripening process of cheese, while it is aged to maturity before it is eaten.
Cheese today is normally classified into one of the 6 following categories:
oWhey cheese – made by coagulating whey proteins using heat and includes cheeses such as Mysost or Primost
oProcessed cheese – made by using additives and skim milk powder (dried)
oVery hard cheeses – such as Parmesan, are made using skimmed milk
oHard cheeses – includes cheeses such as Cheddar or Swiss varieties such as Emmental and are usually ripened by using bacteria
oSemi Hard cheeses – can be made by using either bacteria, a combination of bacteria and surface fungi, or by injecting penicillin mold into the cheese
oSoft cheeses – these types of cheeses can be ripened or unripened and includes cheeses such as cottage cheese or Camembert
Just as home beer brewing and wine making burst onto the scene and became extremely popular two decades ago, home cheese making is where those two hobbies were at that point in time – poised to explode in popularity. In so many words, making your own cheese at home is now a hobby whose time has finally come.
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