Becky Sue's Cheddar

We tasted Becky's cheese one Shabbat and I had to have the recipe.  She makes here cheese without the Mesophilic Culutre.  I thought it would be great to have a recipe (that I know tastes good) on hand - that would not require the use the culture.  Less is best!  She also opened my eyes to a very simple and prudent way to make a homemade cheese press, from materials I already had on hand for free!!  This was perfect timing because I have 6 gallons of milk that I would like to press and my fancy-shmancy ($150!!) cheese press that only does up to 5 pounds.  Yah has shown me time and time again that good farmers do things ingeniously and learn to work with what they have got whenever possible, before they pay someone else to charge them an arm and leg to do it for them!

4 gallons raw milk
1 tsp liquid rennet diluted in 1/2 C cool clean water
6 T kosher salt

1. Warm your milk to somewhere between 86-90 F.

2. Remove from heat.  Add diluted rennet and mix well for about a minute.

3. Cover and let is sit still for about 40 minutes. Insert your finger into the curds and curl your finger upward out of the curds.  If the curds separate nicely, without the milky residue.  It is ready.  If not - let is sit a little longer. Gently break up all the curds.  She likes to gently use a whisk instead of a knife.

4. Let the curd rest for 5 minutes, so that they settle to the bottom of the pot.  She has let is sit as long as an hour.  The longer they sit, the easier it is to pour off the whey.  Use a muslin lined colander while pouring off the whey to catch any fallen curds. Pour the curds in the colander.

5. Add salt and mix through the cheese.  Add any other flavors you may choose at this time.

6. Press for 12 - 24 hours until desired firmness is reached. She puts the cheese cloth wrapped cheese in the bottom of a food grade 2 gallon plastic bucket that has had holes drilled in it.  Then nests another 2 gallon bucket filled with water on it for the weight. water as the pressure.

7. Unwrap the cheese and place it in the refrigerator until a rind forms and cheese is dry to touch on all sides. 1 day or two.  Store in an airtight container in the fridge if you want to slow the rind from forming and you want it eat is soon. Wax it and put it in cool storage if you want it to age.  If you don't mind the rind that will continue to form, you can store it in the fridge on a plate.

Yield: 4 pounds of cheese, but can easily be adjusted to more or less

Tips
This is a raw cheddar because we use raw milk and  it never reached105F.