Learning The Craft Of Cheese Making

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

How to make a simple cheese from scratch was the subject for exploration last week at a class held at the Old Logandale School on Tuesday, July 26.

The class was taught by Moapa resident Callie Wade who has become something of a local expert on all things home made and home grown. The class was the last in a weekly summer series of classes covering everything from pressure canning to soap making; from making the perfect loaf of bread to starting one’s own cottage food business.

“I had this idea that everyone in our little community is really good at something and has different strengths,” Wade said at the class. “I mean, everyone has things that they know how to do really well. So why couldn’t we have a forum where we share our strengths with other people and learn together? That is how this class started.”

Using the kitchen area of the Old Logandale School building, Wade instructed participants in making three different types of cheeses. These included a simple farmer’s cheese (see recipe below), similar in texture to a stiff cream cheese; a ricotta cheese; and finally a fresh mozarella cheese.

Students first heated up pots of whole milk on the stove. Then they added some kind of acid to curdle the milk. Depending on the recipe the acid might be lemon or lime juice, vinegar, or citric acid.

After five or ten minutes the milk was poured through a cloth sieve to separate curds from whey. The curds were then used to make the cheese while the whey was bottled and saved for other purposes.

“I never knew that making this stuff was so easy,” said class member Megan Sneller. “It has been great getting together with other people this way and learning from Callie.”

Sneller had attended other sessions of the class which took place through the summer. “We have had a lot of fun,” she said.

Wade said that she planned to continue on with the classes later on this fall. She is even willing to teach at-home classes for those interesting in putting a group together to learn.
“I have met some really neat people in doing this,” Wade said. “I have made a lot of friends and learnws a lot from other people. I really enjoy that.”

Below is the recipe for the Basic Farmers’ Cheese that was used at last week’s class.

Basic Farmers’ Cheese

1 gallon milk
1/4 – 1/2 cup of lemon or lime juice, or vinegar
Salt
Optional add-ins: Fresh or dried herbs; Honey.

1. Pour milk into a large pot and stir in a pinch of salt. Bring to just before a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally to prevent the milk from scorching on the bottom of the pot.

2. When the milk is to temp (small bubbles will first appear at the edges), turn off the heat. Stir lemon juice (lime juice or vinegar) into the milk. The milk will curdle. You may need to wait 5 or 10 minutes.

3. Line a sieve or colander with a cheesecloth and pour the milk through the cloth to catch the curds. What is left in the cheesecloth is the Farmers’ Cheese. The liquid is the whey. Gather the cloth around the cheese and squeeze out as much of the whey as you can. Wrap it in plastic, or place in an airtight container. Store in refrigerator.