Starting the Dairy - not in the Kiwi way

YOGURT

I've been making my own yogurt for a few months thanks to the yogurt maker my Mother bought me late last year. Using this yogurt maker and the officially sanctioned powder you can make 1kg of yogurt for $3.60. Extremely good value! I usually make the plain yogurt so I can use it for cooking or flavour it with fresh fruit. The yogurt maker is available through all good supermarkets.

A couple of months ago my brother cottoned onto the fact that most of the official packet mix was milk powder with a little bit of yogurt culture mixed in. He guessed that if you keep a couple of tablespoons of a previous batch of yogurt and mixed it with fresh milk you could make a complete new batch without buying the packet. I tried it and would you believe it he was correct! (You can even use milk powder, but not UHT) So the cost of 1kg of yogurt has now gone to 80cents! The only problem I have found is that you can't do the same thing for the next batch - the culture becomes contaminated and the yogurt is a milky mess and tastes off. So I have now come to a new solution. Make a batch from the packet and freeze it. Then use an ice-cream spoon and add the two tablespoons and milk to your machine. Back to 80 cents per kilo again!

CHEESE
Sometimes it takes a family to push you along. I have always thought of making cheese but didn't know where to start. My brother bought me a cheese kit for my birthday this year so I thought I would give it a go - thinking it was difficult. I read the manual from cover-to-cover and then investigated online how to make different cheeses. Eventually I didn't use the kit but it did push me in the right direction.

Lemon Cheese

Lemon Cheese - make it at home

This is so easy! Just heat 2L of full cream milk to 36ish degrees then add the juice of a lemon. I used milk powder which works but has less yield. After a few minutes you should see the milk solids detach from the liquid. (Curds and Whey) When they have all separate pour the mixture through a cheese cloth or old clean pillowcase. Let it drip through until you are happy that most of the whey has gone. Then flavour with salt and chives. The next day you will have an awesome spread for your bread - or even a dip!

Cheddar Cheese
After the success of the Lemon Cheese I thought this cheese making is easy and so went for a really difficult cheese, cheddar. I read up online how to make this hard cheese and found you could make a temporary cheese press out of an old coffee can and something. I had the coffee can and about 6000 heavy books!

The Disaster

So milk was heated, junket added, a yogurt culture added and all the instructions followed. I had separated the curds and whey and put them in the cloth, and that into the can. Now the weight was added - my blender jug with le Cruiseo baking pan balancing on top. There was plenty of weight and I left it for an hour or so. Later in the evening I heard the jug fall from the bench and shatter all over the new titles! The balancing was not correct and one half of the cheese had flattened before the other and the whole thing tipped sideways. May I say that I love that blender - real love - and now it was gone. Stupid me! So I went out to the ute and got one of those ratchet type straps, and strapped that damn cheese down applying loads of pressure. A few wooden spoons were thrown across the room as everything was going wrong. The next morning I did having something that resembled cheese but didn't think it wise to eat it. So many things had touched the cheese. I'm getting a cheese press and trying again though. Any ideas where to get one?

Steve's Made-Up Cheese
Here is today's effort - no recipe and no instructions - I'm guessing this one and seeing what happens.

I used about 1 litre of full cream milk and 100ml of cream. 1 half tablet of junket and heated the mixture to 36 degrees in a double boiler.

I'm then going to cube the mixture and leave it a bit. Then heat it up and mix it. Finally straining it to see what happens.

Maybe the dogs will be eating it tonight!