I was looking at a cookbook over at my parents’ house this evening and came across a general primer on making cheese. I was under the impression that making cheese was a rather complicated procedure, but it turns out it’s not, really; only time-consuming.
Basically you separate milk into whey and curds, and then drain and age the curds until they become cheese. Well, okay, it’s slightly more complicated than that, but still.
While making cheese at home may seem like some to be some kind of insane throwback rustic hobby, it appeals to me in the same way that brewing beer or making wine does—it’s a way to recapture some of the old skills that seem to get lost sometimes in our mass-production-consumerism society. And, it’s reflective on the way I was raised; growing up in rural Central Oregon, I’m just more used to the idea of growing and raising your own food. Move along now.
Anyway, here’s a link to a Google search for “how to make cheese”.
I totally agree on the recapturing-skills part. My roommate has recaptured baking bread herself. It’s cheap and more rewarding. But, as stated, time-consuming.
Any plans to actually try to make yourself some cheese? Great chance your first try will end up as a blue cheese 🙂
My favourite: Roquefort. Expensive though.
Come to think of it, if we all were to grow and prepare our own snacks, less people would be overweight.
One of my goals is to once kill a chicken myself. And then prepare a nice dinner from it. Creepy nah?
I haven’t any plans for the cheese making yet, I want to read a bit more on it, but it’s a goal. I imagine blue cheese or something similar might be likely if I’m not careful 🙂
I don’t particulary find killing a chicken yourself for food creepy; we did just that every year when I was growing up. If it’s quick and humane it’s not so bad. I never actually killed a chicken myself–someone else always did that deed–but I sure did my share of plucking and gutting.
Homegrown chicken is much, much better quality than what you can buy in the stores.