Homemade Fresh Cheese

This is a very special post! I’m dedicating it to a person I love dearly and who inspired me to learn how to make fresh cheese, Mr. Marcos  (also known as Father). Thank you for encouraging me to keep learning : ) This one is for you!

Almost everyone loves cheese, how can we help it?! Everything is better with the addition of cheese (I have to admit i learned this late in my life but I'm glad I got it now :P). 

With all the research I did about cheese making and how it originated, I found that there are many legends about how it came about, but one I found interesting and logical (because of how we make cheese now) is that since animal skins and inflated internal organs (I'M NOT TRYING TO GROSS ANYONE OUT) were being used as storage vessels for milk and other foods, it is possible that cheese making was discovered accidentally by storing milk in a container made from the stomach of an animal, resulting in the milk being turned to curd by the rennet from the stomach.

No need to lie, when I started to think about making cheese at home and after all the research -> I got a bit overwhelmed, THERE IS A LOTTTT OUT THERE!!! 

I learned a lot about rennet, a naturally occurring enzyme that is produced in the stomach of young mammals to help digest the milk and it's the most common tool used to make cheese because it helps in the coagulation of milk to produce the curds we need for cheese, but ->Animal enzyme? digest milk? it all doesn't sound very appealing -> A bit complicated for what I was trying to accomplish (AND they have a million different brands and you have to go and buy it somewhere) so I kept looking and found that for making a basic fresh cheese at home you can also use LEMON JUICE! NOW WE ARE TALKING MY LANGUAGE!!!!

Maybe another day ill take the challenge of making it the other way, but today I'm very happy with the results I got and I'm sure you will to.

The cheese I made is basically, in my opinion, a lot like Ricotta but a bit milder. I really enjoyed it because not only can you use it as is in a savory way (like lasagna or stuffed pasta shells) but also in desert form (with honey or raisins, etc). It really lets you play with it in any way desired.

So without further ado, here is the recipe I would love to share with you today. (Don't worry, its fun and easy to make)

You will need:

• 4 Cups Whole Milk
• 2 Tsp Salt
• 1 ½ Tbs Lemon Juice (a little extra for later use)

• Strainer 
• Medium Bowl
• 4 Layers of Cheesecloth
• Metal Spoon
• Heavy Sauce Pot

Makes about 1 Cup of Cheese

Step 1- Line your strainer with four layers of cheesecloth and place over the medium bowl.

Step 2 - Bring your four cups of milk and the salt to a simmer, stir occasionally so the milk doesn't burn on the bottom of the pan.

Step 3 - When the milk simmers, add the lemon juice and let it keep simmering. After a couple of minutes, the mixture will begin to form curds.

Step 4 - Remove the curds and ladle them carefully with your metal spoon into the cheesecloth to drain.

*** After I removed my curds, I still had a lot of milk left over so I added more lemon juice (about ¾ Tbs) and repeated over and over until I was out of milk in the pot ***

Step 5 - Let the cheese drain for a few minutes, you can help it by squeezing the cheesecloth a little bit. 

*** Taste it, if it needs more salt you can add it now ***

Cover and refrigerate or dig in and eat right away!!

Fresh cheese with warm honey and lemon zest

As I was saying before, you can use this cheese for many dishes: in some kind of pasta dish, as an appetizer on bread, as a dessert with warm honey and raisins, or any way you feel like.

Hope you enjoy!! Try it and let me know what you think!!

EAT AWAY!!! : )