The basis of cheese is milk: cow, goat or sheep. You can add cottage cheese, sour cream, kefir, butter to milk. It is best to use high-fat farm products: UHT milk will not curdle, and skimmed milk will simply make not very tasty cheese.

Excipients are certain bacteria and enzymes that speed up the process of separating milk into whey and curd. They can be bought in a store or ordered online.

Lemon juice, citric acid solution or vinegar does the same job.

Bacteria and other microorganisms also affect the taste and texture of cheese. But you can cook it without a special sourdough - at the initial stage it is better to do so.

In addition to the main and auxiliary, you can add additional ingredients: nuts, herbs, mushrooms, vegetables or ham. You can also use spices, such as turmeric, which will give the cheese a yellow color.

Technology

Preparation

Prepare cheese in clean utensils and on clean work surfaces. If you touch something extraneous, be sure to dry them with a fresh towel.

If these rules are not followed, harmful bacteria can get into the cheese and it will spoil.

In addition, cheese easily absorbs odors, so you do not need to use perfumed products before cooking it. Cooking other dishes in parallel is also not worth it: the cheese can absorb the flavors of food.

Cooking process

Cheese is obtained by separating milk into curd mass and whey. To do this, pour the milk into a non-stick pan and bring to a boil. Usually, other dairy products and auxiliary ingredients are added at this stage. The milk is then continued to be heated until the curd mass separates from the whey.

Kurkuma.ru

The separated curd mass is filtered through clean gauze and a sieve.

kurkuma.ru

After that, the future cheese, still wrapped in a cloth, is pressed down with a load or suspended in order to finally rid it of whey. In this position, the cheese usually ripens from several hours to a day.

kurkuma.ru

Under pressure, it turns out harder. It is believed that the heavier the load and the longer the mass lies under it, the denser and richer the cheese will be. It is optimal to use a load of 10 kg.

Store homemade cheese in the refrigerator for about a week.

Recipes

rezeptide.ru

Ingredients

• 1 liter of milk;
• 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar;
• 2 tablespoons of butter;
• 1 teaspoon dry herbs;
• 1 teaspoon of salt.

Cooking

Bring the milk to a boil and add the rest of the ingredients. When the mixture boils again, remove it from heat, strain through cheesecloth and squeeze. Put the mass under the load. When the cheese has cooled, you can cut it into pieces and serve.

foodandhealth.ru

Ingredients

• 1 liter of heavy cream;
• 3 tablespoons of lemon juice.

Cooking

Place the cream over medium heat and heat, stirring, but do not bring to a boil. As soon as bubbles begin to appear on the surface, remove the pan from the heat and, while continuing to stir, add the lemon juice.

Return the pot to the stove, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for about 10 minutes. When the mixture turns into a thick cream, discard it in a sieve covered with gauze.

Leave the mass for about an hour or hang it all night. When all the whey drains, the cheese can be tasted.

ywol.ru

Ingredients

• 1 liter of milk;
• 2 tablespoons of salt;
• 3 eggs;
• 200 g sour cream.

Cooking

Bring the milk to a boil. Without reducing the heat, add salt, beaten eggs and sour cream. Cook the mixture, stirring, for about 5 minutes. When the whey begins to separate, drain the mixture into a colander lined with cheesecloth. Hang the cheese for 3 hours, and then put it under the press for a few more hours.

1neof.ru

Ingredients

• 3 liters of milk;
• 2 kg of cottage cheese;
• 100 g butter;
• 1 egg;
• ½ teaspoon of soda;
• salt - to taste.

Cooking

Heat the milk, but do not bring to a boil. Add cottage cheese and stir. After that, reduce the heat to a minimum and simmer the mixture, stirring constantly. When the curd mass separates, fold it into a colander lined with gauze or a cotton towel.

Melt the butter in a saucepan, put the resulting cheese in it, add the egg, soda and salt. Prepare the mixture by stirring constantly. When it begins to acquire a creamy consistency and turn yellow, remove it from heat. Transfer the cheese to a mold, press it down with a load and put it in the refrigerator for several hours or a day.

The resulting cheeses can be served as an independent snack, used for making sandwiches, salads and. The separated whey can also be put into circulation: for example, make okroshka or pancakes on it.

Modern food products have the ability to be preserved in certain conditions for almost any length of time. This was made possible thanks to special substances called preservatives, which are now added to almost all food products. However, there is a segment of products that do not tolerate mixing with preservatives and their shelf life remains rather limited. This article will focus on one of these products - milk, and the process that occurs with it as a result of the inability to subject it to the proper degree of conservation - folding.

What is curdled milk

For a better understanding of the processes leading to milk curdling, it is first necessary to deal with the issue of the structure of protein molecules, which form the bulk of the organoleptic qualities of this product.

The three main proteins found in any dairy product are lactoglobulin, lactalbumin, and casein. Like the molecules of any other protein, in their structure they resemble a chain of a helical configuration.

There are two processes that lead to a change in the native properties of a protein - these are denaturation and destruction. In this case, denaturation precedes and facilitates the further process of destruction.

During denaturation protein changes its natural parameters. It changes taste, smell, color, it can begin to show fundamentally different chemical properties, but the structure of its molecules remains unchanged.

During the destruction but there is a complete destruction of the usual structure of molecules, leading to the formation of completely new chemical substances in their structure. The process of denaturation is reversible in some cases, while destruction is a final and irreversible process.

Did you know? In the milk produced by female seals and whales, the largest amount of fat (45–50%), and the least fat milk is given by donkeys and horses (1–1.5%).

If we transfer all the above information to the specific case under consideration, it turns out that denatured milk is a sour product, and curdled milk is a product whose protein component has gone through the process of destruction.

According to its organoleptic properties, it is a liquid with several different levels. The upper one is more liquid and transparent, popularly called whey: it is mainly water and a small amount of proteins that have retained their primary structure. The bottom layer is quite dense and thick - these are individual amino acids, as well as fats and carbohydrates.

At what temperature does it curl

For the most part, the process of destruction of any protein molecules, especially those that have already begun to lose their native properties, can be triggered by almost any catalyst of a chemical or physical nature.

For example, if you drop vinegar or citric acid into milk, it will also begin to curdle. However, the traditional and most common method for the product to reach the coagulation state is to heat it.

Did you know? Domestic cows produce an average of 400 million tons of milk a year around the globe.

The temperature required to start and successfully complete the process of protein degradation varies significantly depending on many parameters. For example, on the degree of preliminary denaturation, quantitative indicators of protein in the primary liquid, the presence or absence of other chemical impurities (primarily preservatives) in the product, and many others. However, practice shows that, on average, at a temperature of +95–100 ° C, milk curdles within 30–40 seconds.
Milk can curdle if you drop citric acid or vinegar into it.

It is also possible that your dairy product will curdle at a lower positive temperature (from +50 ° C), but in this case it will be necessary that the protein contained in it is already at a certain stage of denaturation. In addition, the protein structures of dairy products lose their original structure as a result of exposure to extremely low temperatures (from -60 ° C).

Milk curdled when boiled (boiled)

It often happens that milk bought in a store or on the market has curdled during its heat treatment. However, do not rush to throw away the product, because, despite its unsightly appearance and apparent uselessness, it can still be successfully used in your kitchen.

Below we will discuss the main reasons for the process of curdling milk when boiled, as well as methods for its application.

Why

The main reason that any products containing protein, including dairy, change their structure over time, is the specific chemical structure of protein molecules. By their chemical nature, unlike fats or carbohydrates, they cannot retain their native properties for a long period of time.
And the process of increasing the temperature of the environment in which they are, only accelerates the natural course of things. However, there are a number of reasons why the curing process occurs at a lower temperature or in a shorter period of exposure to high temperature.

Here are the reasons:

• your dairy product was already sour, that is, the process of denaturation has already begun in it (sometimes there is such a degree of denaturation that it cannot be detected with the help of human senses);
• you got milk mixed from different milking times, one of which has already begun to denature;
• the cow that gave the milk you bought has latent mastitis or another disease;
• milk has not undergone a sufficient degree of pasteurization;
• Catalysts (substances that change the rate of any chemical reaction), such as baking soda, vinegar, or citric acid, have been added to your product.

What can be prepared from it

The best dish that can be prepared from the bottom, dense layer of curdled milk is homemade cottage cheese. To prepare it, it is necessary to collect the mass accumulated at the bottom of the container with the product, and then, having previously placed it in gauze or other fabric with a sufficient number of pores, subject it to additional compression (for example, using a brick or vise placed on top).

A dense mass can also be used as the basis for making a variety of hard cheeses, however, this process is associated with a large number of technological difficulties, so it is not so easy to organize it at home.

Whey, a more watery and liquid layer of curdled milk, is most often used as an ingredient for making a variety of homemade pastries - charlottes, pancakes, fritters, pies, etc. Dough prepared using whey usually has a more delicate and pleasant taste than milk, since it practically does not contain a variety of fats and milk carbohydrates, which prevent the taste of other baking components from being properly revealed.

In addition, homemade yoghurts, kefir and dairy desserts are made from a dense layer of curdled dairy products. To prepare them, you need to add lactic acid starter to the separated lower layer of your product, which is designed to increase the amount of lactobacilli contained in the mass and activate their activity. Whey is also sometimes used to make some soft drinks with herbs and water infusions, such as ayran.

Video: what to do when curdling milk in porridge

Important! If you intend to get curdled milk on purpose, then it is not necessary to boil it - just drop a few drops of citric acid into a container with a fresh product.

Why milk may not curdle when making cheese

In the process of making homemade cheese or cottage cheese, sometimes a situation may arise when the dairy product you bought does not want to curdle. This condition, as a rule, is more typical for store-bought milk.

There are several explanations for the described phenomenon, the list of the most probable of which we give below:

1. You have purchased milk that contains very little protein. Probably it could be diluted with water.
2. The milk you purchased was exposed to extremely low temperatures, as a result of which its protein molecules were destroyed while maintaining their natural external properties.
3. A product that is too fresh does not coagulate very well due to insufficient pre-denaturation.
4. You have purchased for your needs a product that has a high degree of pasteurization, which almost completely eliminates the presence of various bacteria in it, and hence the development of a preliminary denaturation process that facilitates subsequent folding.
5. The milk you have purchased has been pasteurized at too high a pressure or temperature, which disrupts the natural structure of the protein molecules while maintaining its native external properties and reduces the likelihood of further curdling.
6. You are trying to make cheese under the wrong environmental conditions. For example, do not bring the temperature to the required level, do not use a sufficient amount of other degradation catalysts, try to achieve the folding process in unsuitable dishes (aluminum containers, stainless steel containers).

Why store-bought milk doesn't sour: video

What to add to milk so that it curdles without turning sour

As already mentioned, it is possible to achieve the onset of the process of destruction of milk protein molecules without the use of high temperatures, mainly with the help of other catalysts, mainly of a chemical nature.

Other physical methods of producing curdled milk are the application of very high pressure for short periods, as well as a simple long wait, during which destruction occurs through the natural process of denaturation.

Among the chemicals most commonly used to produce curdled dairy products, citric acid and sourdough are the most important. Both of these substances are good in that they practically do not affect the taste, smell and color of the product obtained after their use.

You can also add table vinegar, soda and any other acids and alkalis to milk, however, the product obtained after their use will differ in slightly less pleasant organoleptic properties.

So, we hope that our article helped you answer all your questions about curdled milk. Many culinary experts around the world use this product in their kitchens with great success, achieving truly amazing results.

Milk coagulation

Coagulation(coagulation of milk) is one of the most crucial moments in the manufacture of cheese. During coagulation, milk, under the action of a special enzyme, passes from a liquid form into a gel-like one (this clot is called calier). Calle, or cheese clot, is a solid fraction of milk proteins with an admixture of fats, easily separated from the liquid fraction (whey).

The coagulation time for each recipe is determined individually, and also depends on the specific milk. An accurate calculation of the coagulation time can be made by measuring the flocculation point. The flocculation point is the time during which milk "seizes" under the action of a coagulant (i.e. begins to turn from a liquid to a gel).

The entire coagulation process can be divided into the following periods:

• flocculation time- from the addition of coagulant to the point of flocculation
• coagulation time- from adding coagulant to clot cutting time
• Time relax = coagulation time - flocculation time

Method for determining the flocculation point

So what is flocculation point and how to determine it in everyday life. The bowl method is used to determine the flocculation point:

1. Add a dose of the enzyme to the milk (according to the instructions for the preparation) and wait 5-6 minutes
2. Take a sterile plastic bowl (it should be light) with a flat bottom.
3. Place the bowl upside down on the surface of the milk and note the time.
4. Give the bowl a gentle push to make it spin. At first, the bowl will rotate freely on the surface of the milk.
5. Repeat step 4 about once a minute or more.
6. Gradually, the bowl will resist rotation more and more, and at some point it will stop rotating altogether. You will notice a dent on the surface of the milk (now a clot) under it. This the moment when the bowl has stopped rotating and there is a flocculation point.
7. Look at and remember the time in minutes that has elapsed since the start of enzyme addition - this is the flocculation time ( F). It usually takes 12-25 minutes, on average, 15 minutes is taken in recipes.

The total coagulation time (clotting time) can be determined by the formula

K - coagulation time, min.

F - flocculation time, min.

M is the flocculation multiplier.

The flocculation multiplier is a coefficient that is individual for each type of cheese. In general, the following table can be used to select the flocculation multiplier:

K = 3 * 16 = 48 minutes - this is the time after which you can cut the resulting clot (from the moment the enzyme was added).

Clean separation test (clean tear test).

After coagulation of milk, it is necessary to test the clot for a clean separation. Take a knife and carefully cut the clot with it. Try using a knife to separate one edge of the incision from the other. Happened? Okay, test passed. That is, the point is to get a jelly-like substance that can be cut into portioned pieces. If it turned out that the knife is all in lumps, and the edges of the cut do not move apart, but stick together, you have to wait another 15 minutes: the clot is not yet ready.

The recipe for cheese always indicates what size pieces the clot needs to be cut into. The softer the cheese, the larger the side of the piece should be. The harder, the less.

If you don't have a clot within an hour, .

Technique for cutting a clot with a long knife

1. Take a long cheese knife (should reach the bottom of the pan) and cut the curd vertically into strips with the side specified in the recipe (~1cm+/-).

2. Rotate the pan 90% and cut strips of the same width perpendicular to the first (squares will turn out).

3. Now you need to cut the clot horizontally. Tilt the knife at a 45% angle and cut the clot diagonally in the same way: along and across (as in steps 1 and 2).

4. It is normal if, when stirring after slicing, you will find big uncut pieces at the bottom. It's okay, there's no other way to do it with a knife. Just grind these pieces to the right size until there are none left.

If you need to get very small pieces (0.5 cm), you can use a metal whisk instead of a knife to cut. Just move it up and down the clot, and you get the same small pieces. Just what you need.

Now in shops and markets you can find and buy almost any product, even the most exotic, and it is not at all necessary to spend time preparing your favorite delicacies. This is the opinion of most people, and it can be understood: time is money, after work you just want to get the package out of the refrigerator and not think about where and how its contents came from. Attentive buyers, in addition to paying attention to prices, also read the composition and compliance with production standards (GOST, TU). And thoughtful and wise buyers learn more about what they eat, after which they seriously think about switching at least partially to their own cooking. Homemade cheese, in addition to having an interesting and fresh taste, guarantees that it was “produced” in accordance with all the rules and without unnecessary unnecessary components. The fact that your cheese will be very different from store-bought counterparts for the better is the main reason for trying it.

There is a little peculiarity in the preparation of cheeses. Good cheeses are made from large volumes of milk. By making a test sample of a liter volume, you can get a similar, but far from good quality, homemade cheese.

Cheese is essentially milk concentrate. So, a pound of hard cheese contains as many useful substances as they are contained in 4.5 liters of milk. Having eaten a fragrant slice of bread with cheese in the morning, you can say that you drink a glass of milk with all its beneficial substances: riboflavin, calcium, vitamins. During the maturation of the cheese, the content of B vitamins increases, so that the cheese carries additional benefits.

Cheap cheese (up to 200 rubles/kg) is usually made from dry mixes. In stores, such cheese is usually already sliced, and information about the composition and production standards is not available to the buyer. When making homemade cheese, you can be calm about the quality, because you will buy milk for this yourself. The best option when you live outside the city and have the opportunity to buy fresh real milk or keep a cow yourself. If milk has to be bought, it is important to choose the right supplier. Milk should be clean, without foreign unpleasant odors, maximum fat content and, of course, fresh. Such milk can be bought in the markets, it is sometimes brought from the surrounding villages to the railway station areas, sold in places where electric trains stop. If you can’t find rustic, you can get by with the fattest store-bought milk (shelf life should be minimal) or use ready-made cottage cheese. The last option for the first time is even preferable, as it will save time, but it will give a general idea of ​​​​the process, and you can decide whether homemade cheese is needed on the farm or not for you.

Cheeses come in varying degrees of hardness (or softness). Homemade cheese is usually soft. It can reach a solid state after a long exposure. Hard cheese is prepared on the basis of cottage cheese separated from whey under pressure. The harder the pressure, the better the whey is squeezed out, and the harder the cheese becomes. Hard cheese can be stored a little longer than medium and soft cheeses. Aging hard cheeses greatly improves the taste. Soft cheese is not aged for a long time under pressure, therefore it has the structure of dense cottage cheese, is stored for a short time and has a delicate, mild taste. Soft cheese is no worse than hard cheese - it's just different. It all depends on your taste preferences and patience.

In the cheese business, it's rare to get it right the first time, so please be patient. If the preparation is serious enough, then perhaps delicious cheese will turn out the first time. For cooking, you will need an impressive list of tools. Some tools can be replaced with improvised means, and the main ones can be made independently.

You will need:

Choose the shape according to your needs. The optimal diameter is 20 cm - not too big, but not narrow. In the future, you can make cheese molds of different sizes. If you have not yet finally decided whether to make cheese or not, try making the simplest form from any large-diameter tin can with a volume of about a liter. Cut off the uneven edges at the top so that they do not interfere with the piston entering, and make holes in the bottom of the jar from the inside to drain the liquid. The torn edges of the holes should be on the outside so as not to damage the future cheese.

The piston is the part of the press that is equal to the diameter of the mold. The piston should freely enter the mold and not have large gaps at the edges. The purpose of the piston is to press and squeeze out excess moisture.

Press. This device can be made independently or bought. The simplest press, and at the same time a piston, can be considered two buckets, one of which is smaller. Small and will be a piston at the same time. In a larger bucket, make holes in the bottom for whey to flow out.

You will need pots to collect skimmed milk (liquid left over from milk). It is better to have several pots of different capacities ready.

A colander is required to separate the liquid part of curdled milk (skim milk). As a rule, gauze will work with a colander in pairs, retaining solid parts and letting liquid through.

The harder you want the cheese to be, the heavier the weight should be. It is optimal to have a main load weighing about 10 kg and several additional 5 kg each. It is convenient to use ordinary bricks as a load.

Paraffin or wax is required if you want to make hard cheese. Paraffin is used to preserve the resulting cheese. The easiest way is to melt a few household colorless candles.

The spoon should have a handle long enough to reach the bottom of the container in which you will stir the milk. It is better if it is wooden. Don't use aluminum.

The easiest way to make cheese from cottage cheese. Less time and effort will be spent, and an enzyme will not be needed to coagulate milk. Throw the cottage cheese into a colander lined with a cloth so that the whey is glassed, sprinkle with salt (1 tablespoon per kilogram of cottage cheese) and grind thoroughly so that the salt is evenly distributed and there are no lumps in the cottage cheese. Ideally, you should get a plastic curd mass. If the cottage cheese is dry or fat-free, you can add a little sour cream or cream. After that, transfer the curd mass into a mold, lay the bottom of it with gauze folded in several layers and put it under a press for 10-12 hours. Make sure the cheese doesn't get too dry. The resulting cheese is not stored for a long time, it should be eaten within a few days.

The second method is that the cottage cheese is ground with salt and left for 5 days in a dry place. Mix the dried and yellowed cottage cheese again, transfer to a greased pan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly until a liquid homogeneous mass without lumps is formed. Pour the prepared mass into containers and refrigerate. Ready cheese can be eaten in a few hours. Sometimes with this method, an equal amount of milk is added to the curd, heated and allowed to cool in the forms. Cheese obtained by these methods is also not stored for a long time.

Cottage cheese will not produce hard varieties that can be aged and stored for a long time. Real cheese can only be made with whole milk and a fermenting agent. The most widely available enzyme is pepsin. Since, due to the specifics of its preparation, pepsin is quite difficult to obtain in its pure form, the acidin-pepsin drug, which is freely sold in pharmacies, is suitable instead. Preparations containing pepsin should not be feared. Pepsin is just an enzyme produced in the stomach of animals, it folds protein well. In its pure form, pepsin is a medicine for certain types of gastritis and for poor digestion of food. In the case of cheese, pepsin acts as an enzyme that quickly turns milk into the necessary thick mass. By the way, you can use pepsin only once, later you can use sourdough. Another option is natural abomasum. This is the same gastric enzyme extracted from the stomachs of animals. This is why vegetarians don't eat rennet-based cheeses. Instead of rennet starter, you can use sour milk, live yogurt, or a couple of cups of homemade curdled milk, but in this case, the process will stretch somewhat over time.

Remember that from 4 liters of milk you will get about 0.5 liters of finished cheese. Cheese is best obtained from large volumes of milk (from 7 liters). Salt is an important ingredient in making cheese. Avoid overdoing. On average, from one teaspoon to one tablespoon of salt is spent for every liter of milk. The degree of salinity is selected individually.

Steps for making cheese.

1. Ripening.

Heat the milk to 32 degrees (use a thermometer) and add the starter. If it is sour milk, then it needs about 500 ml per 10 liters of fresh milk. Mix thoroughly and cover. Leave in a warm place overnight. The temperature of the container must not rise.

2. Adding abomasum.

Add to milk (at 25 degrees) ½ teaspoon of rennet or a solution of one tablet of "acedin-pepsin" per 100 ml of water. Stir the resulting mixture thoroughly and cover with a lid or cloth. Wait 30-40 minutes for the milk to curdle.

3. Cutting.

The curdled milk should thicken and the whey should separate. With a long knife, cut the mass into equal pieces with a 3 cm edge, cutting vertically, and then, tilting the container, cut horizontally. Stir the pieces with a large wooden spoon.

4. Heating.

Place the curd mixed mass in a smaller container, which you put in a large one. Pour water into a large one and heat in a water bath, slowly raising the temperature (by 2 degrees every 5 minutes). Bring the temperature to 38 degrees and keep at this level, stirring the curd mass for about 30-40 minutes. Stir gently to keep the cubes from sticking together and check periodically for tightness by gently squeezing and releasing quickly. The state is considered ready when the cubes break in the hand and do not stick together. This condition can occur 2-2.5 hours after the abomasum has entered the milk. This is an important point, you need to wait for the required density of the curd cubes, otherwise a bad aftertaste may appear.

5. Spin.

Filter the whey from the curd mass. To do this, you can use a colander lined with a cloth. After that, transfer the mass into a fairly flat container and turn it from side to side so that the remaining whey comes out completely. From time to time, loosen the mass with your hands or a fork so that a lump does not form. Control the temperature. At 32 degrees, the curd should be rubbery, creaking when chewed.

The amount of salt is chosen experimentally. For the first time, take a little less salt than seems sufficient. For the initially selected proportions, the guideline will be from 1 to 2 tablespoons. Spread the salt evenly and mix thoroughly. When the salt dissolves and the mass cools down to 30 degrees, it can be transferred to a mold for pressing.

Line the mold for pressing inside with a cloth and fill with cheese mass. Swaddle the mass on top with the free ends of the fabric and place under the press. To begin with, load the piston with a load of about 15 kg (3-4 bricks). Gradually add one brick at a time, bringing the total weight to 40 kg (8 bricks) and wait until the whey stops draining (about an hour).

8. Wrap.

Remove the oppression, remove the piston, remove the cheese, wash, wipe, so that the top layer of fat comes off, smooth out bumps and folds. Cut off a piece of fabric so that it overlaps a piece of cheese by 5 centimeters. Cheese should be tightly and securely “wrapped”. Put it back into the mold for the press (after washing and wiping it dry) and place it under pressure for a day (40-50 kg).

Take out the cheese, remove the cloth, wipe it with a dry clean cloth. Rinse with warm water, at the same time smooth out cracks and bumps (with your fingers or a table knife). Wipe the cheese with a clean cloth and place in a dark, cool place. The best storage place is a wooden cabinet. Rub and turn the cheese daily for 4-5 days until a crust forms on the surface.

10. Paraffin.

If the cheese turned out to be hard enough, then for the best result, you can cover its surface with paraffin. Heat 250 grams of paraffin in a water bath until liquid. The container should be larger in diameter than the head of cheese. Dip the cheese in paraffin for a few seconds and let it harden for 2-3 minutes. Make sure that the entire surface is covered with paraffin evenly.

11. Ripening.

Turn your cheese every day. Every week, wipe the closet, ventilate and dry it. After 6 weeks, the cheese will acquire a density, its taste will be soft and tender. The storage temperature should not exceed 15 degrees. If you want to wait for a sharp taste, then you should withstand the cheese for 3-5 months. At the same time, lower the storage temperature to 5-7 degrees. The lower the storage temperature, the longer the cheese can be aged, and the more elegant and sharper its taste will be. For the first cheese, it will be enough to withstand it for several weeks. You can divide the cheese into several parts before filling with paraffin and test one part for taste. But many believe that only a whole head is able to mature qualitatively.

These recommendations are intended to give a guideline in the manufacture of cheeses, to show the reality of their preparation at home. There are quite a few detailed recipes for making cheese, and all of them will differ to some extent from this. In the production of cheese, each of the described stages affects the taste, aroma and structure. By experimenting and trying, you can get your own "signature" variety and call it whatever you want.

MILK COAGING PROCESS

In the production of almost all varieties of cheese, rennet is used to curdle or accelerate it.

Preparation of rennet

For the preparation of rennet, calf abomasums are used, which are washed, dried, cleaned of blood vessels and fat. These abomasums are sold in bundles of a dozen each. The abomasums are cut into thin strips, which are then soaked in large vats in a 5% saline solution with the addition of 3-4% boric acid at a temperature of 28-35 ° C for 4-5 days. For 80 g of rennet, 1 liter of solution is needed.

Clotting ability, or strength, of rennet

To ensure the rational use of rennet preparations, rennet preparations are commercially released, the coagulation activity of which is predetermined. Coagulation activity is usually understood as the strength (strength) of rennet, determined by the number of liters of milk that can coagulate a liter of liquid rennet at a temperature of 35 ° C in 40 minutes. Liquid extracts usually have a strength of 1:10,000 (meaning that 1 liter of extract can coagulate 10,000 liters of milk at 35°C in 40 minutes).

For the production of fresh cheeses that require weak coagulation of milk with rennet, extracts are produced with a strength of 1:5000 or 1:2500.

As for rennet in powders, their activity is 1: 100,000 or more.

The activity of the rennet preparation can be easily checked. 500 ml of very fresh milk is heated to 35°C and 1 ml of the rennet to be tested, or preferably 10 ml of its 10% aqueous solution, is added to it.

Syneresis should appear much earlier than in the production of cheeses of the previous group. Coagulation is carried out at the temperature of optimal development of the usual lactic acid bacteria of milk (30-32°C), thereby providing optimal conditions for the activity of rennet. The original milk must contain a large amount of lactic acid flora, as a result of which it is often in the initial stage of oxidation. The duration of coagulation should be on average 1 to 3 hours so that the rennet clot can acquire sufficient fermentation properties to ensure its dehydration.

Coagulation of milk with rennet

This stage of production is very important, as it determines the quality of the cheese. The properties of cheese primarily depend on the nature of the clot that they want to get.

We know that cheeses can be divided into three main categories: those obtained from the clot, which has mainly sour-milk properties; obtained from a clot that has mainly rennet properties; obtained from a clot that has both properties (the so-called mixed clot).

The coagulation process in turn determines the separation of the whey and ultimately the composition of the clot, on which the course of fermentation depends.

Varieties obtained by curdling (fresh cheeses). Rennet is used to coagulate milk, both because of its activity and the ease with which whey can be removed from the curd. However, if the cheeses are not ripened, then there is no need to use the proteolytic properties of diastase. Under these conditions, weak doses of the enzyme preparation are always used (1-1.5 ml of rennet with an activity of 1: 10,000 per 100 liters of milk), and the coagulation process itself is carried out at low temperatures (15-20 ° C) in order to deviate from optimal conditions enzyme action. However, in order to ensure sufficient oxidation, allowing the clot to show lactic acid properties, the milk must contain the required amount of lactic acid bacteria, preferably psychrotrophic ones, and the duration of coagulation in this case should be increased to 24-48 hours.

Cheese varieties obtained as a result of rennet coagulation of milk (cantal, gruyère). Sufficiently large doses of rennet are added to milk, which should not be sour in any case (15-30 ml per 100 liters of milk). Coagulation occurs at a higher temperature (30-35°C); at the same time, accelerated formation of a clot is observed, which should, after a very short time (from 30 to 60 minutes), reveal pronounced rennet properties, allowing for vigorous mechanical and thermal (Gruyère) separation of whey. This separation of whey must occur before oxidation changes the original properties of the clot. For the production of cheeses such as Cantal and Gruyere, milk must be taken that contains a sufficient amount of lactic acid bacteria, but the bacteria should not immediately begin to develop, so that there is no strong oxidation during curdling and during the period of whey separation prior to pressing.

After the introduction of rennet, the milk heated to the required temperature must be mixed well immediately in order to homogenize the mixture. Poor distribution of diastase leads to uneven quality of cheeses: some are dry and brittle, others are difficult to dehydrate. To facilitate the distribution of diastase, rennet is usually diluted in five or six times the volume of water before being introduced into milk.

As soon as the rennet is distributed throughout the mass of milk, the milk should immediately be left alone, since coagulation should take place in an absolutely immobile liquid. In this way, in almost all cases, it is possible to avoid the formation of a curd of a layered structure, which adversely affects the quality of the cheese.

Coagulation of milk with rennet is carried out in tanks, the shape and volume of which may vary depending on the type of cheese. Generally, the stronger the mechanical treatment of the clot, the larger should be the volume of the tank in which the rennet coagulation takes place. In the production of camembert, vats with a capacity of 100 liters are used, Saint-polen or Dutch cheese - from 3 to 6 thousand liters.

Determination of the end of clotting

The clotting period of milk is the time during which milk loses its fluidity and becomes more viscous; the period of transformation into a clot - the time from the moment the milk is coagulated by rennet until the moment the clot acquires a dense consistency necessary for separating the whey.

The end of the period of transformation of milk into a clot is always determined empirically, requiring great skill and experience from the cheese maker. The density of the clot can be determined by placing the back of the hand on its surface. The cohesiveness of the clot is considered to be quite sufficient so that it can be dehydrated if the curdled milk does not stick to the skin of the fingers. Another common method is called the boutonniere method. This method consists in the fact that the index finger is dipped into the clot and then slowly removed: in this case, a small mound forms on the surface of the clot, which quickly blurs into a boutonniere. The resulting break should be clear, and the whey separating in this place should not contain casein particles, as happens with incomplete coagulation. In addition, the mound floats the sooner, the less elasticity (and, consequently, greater sour-milk properties) the clot has.

The end of curdling is an extremely short phase, which should be determined the more precisely, the more pronounced the rennet properties of the cheese are.

As soon as the process of fermentation of milk is completed, syneresis immediately begins. This is especially pronounced in a mixed-type clot. On its surface, very soon droplets of whey, released from paracaseinate micelles, appear. It is said that the clot has become "pearl". Soon there are so many of these droplets that they form clusters - the clot "blooms". Finally, as syneresis increases, the surface of the clot is completely covered with a layer of serum, the volume of which increases.

From: Biryukova Irina,  11569 visits

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