How To Make Cheese: Organic Farmer's Cheese

Farmers cheese is a simple, soft cheese that can be made at home in an evening. It's not a complicated recipe and homemade cheese is fresher and healthier than that made with preservatives.

In order to make farmer's cheese, you will need a small amount of kitchen equipment:

• A colander
• A food thermometer
• Some cheesecloth
• A stockpot
• A large metal or ceramic bowl

Below is my recipe for how to make home cheese:

• 1 gal organic whole milk
• 1 pinch salt
• Juice of an organic lemon OR organic white vinegar (approx. 2 T)

The most important thing about making farmers cheese is to make sure your equipment is clean, dry and sterilized.. Any time you are handling dairy products, this is key to preventing unwanted contamination in the finished product. I prefer to use metal, ceramic and glass items for this reason, over plastic. Wooden spoons are okay, but a metal one is preferable for stirring.  I keep the milk fat content high because I find that makes a smoother, tastier farmers cheese, but you can also use low-fat milk if you prefer.

1. Put the milk in the stock pot with the salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, being careful not to overcook the milk and scorching it on the bottom of the pot, or it will taste burnt.
2. When it just begins to boil, go ahead and turn off the burner. It should have reached a temperature of 160F to kill all the possible bad bacteria. Use your thermometer to check.
3. Stir in the lemon juice or vinegar to curdle the milk. It make take 5-15 minutes for the process to completely break down the whey and curds in all of the milk.
4. Line a colander with cheesecloth and place over the large bowl.
5. Pour the contents of the pot through the colander/cheesecloth and let the liquid go into the bowl. The liquid contains whey which is good for you. What is left in the cheesecloth is the curd, which will form the cheese with pressure.
6. Use the cloth to strain all the last bits of whey out of the curd and to form the cheese into a soft ball shape. You can twist or compress the cloth to achieve the desired result.
7. Wrap in wax paper or store in a glass container in the refrigerator overnight. After being refrigerated, it will be firmer and easier to slice.

The cheese will be good for approximately 7 days if you want to keep it longer you’ll need to store it in the freezer.  I think one of the things that surprised me most is how much milk is required to make cheese. You might be surprised that a gallon of milk leads to such a small quantity of farmers cheese.