Making Cheese, The Food of the Gods Quiz

Answer: Raw milk from a trusted source

Raw milk will make an amazing cheese. As long as you have visited the farm or are otherwise satisfied with the level of cleanliness of the production facility, no pasteurization is necessary. If you cannot access raw milk, experiment with the local grocery store milks to see what works for you. Non-homogenized milk is best, as long as it is not ultra-pasteurized, but I prefer to splurge on raw milk when I can, and have had good results in between times with the cheapest whole milk available at my local grocery. Unless you are rolling in money, or have a cow, I suggest starting out with cheap milk. You will make lots of mistakes at first -- just carry on!

All of the milks listed with the exception of ultrapasteurized can be used to make at least some sort of cheese. Even powdered milk will make a decent soft cheese, though ultrapasteurized will not. This is because the proteins in powdered milk have not been destroyed by excessive heating.

Answer: None - if you have a large pot, a slotted spoon, and a thermometer, you are good to go.

While all of the specialized equipment listed above would be really nice to have, you really only need basic kitchen equipment to begin making cheese. I have spent maybe a grand total of a hundred bucks, if that, on equipment, and my cheesemaking is still very successful.

A pH meter is a great help if you can afford it, but remember that people have been making cheese for millennia. All you really need is something to heat the milk in and something to stir it with, plus a thermometer (unless you are already expert at gauging the temperature of liquids with your finger).

Answer: Milk, culture, rennet, and salt.

All that is required to make good cheese is milk, rennet (a coagulation enzyme), culture (for acidification of the milk to prepare it for coagulation and so it will not spoil), and salt. The salt is not optional -- not only is it crucial for the preservation of the cheese, it is also very important for the proper growth of the bacteria in the cultures.

If you look at the ingredients list of almost any block (unshredded and unprocessed) cheese, you will see that it is just these four ingredients. Cheese is one of the few foods where the typical, cheap supermarket version contains the same set of ingredients as if you made it yourself, with no artificial additives.

Answer: Flocculation (floc) method

The floc method is the most reliable method for determining when you should cut your curd. pH is used elsewhere in the process, but not for cutting, since the action of the rennet is not reflected in the pH of the milk. The amount of time necessary varies from make to make. The curd has a ways to go yet when it is yogurt consistency!

Note -- when using pasteurized milk, the floc method may not work. In such a situation, use a combination of time and clean break determination. It's not ideal but it works.

Answer: It varies according to the type of cheese.

While most cheeses can be aged most successfully between 50 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit, many require temperatures above or below that range, especially during particular stages of their development. White-mould ripened cheese, for instance, such as bries or camemberts, must be transferred to a cold fridge as soon as the mold coating has developed, or you risk ammoniation, leading to a runny paste and extreme bitterness. This happened with my first batches of bries, and then I discovered OzzieCheese's posts on the cheeseforum. Now my white-ripened cheeses are my most reliable and delicious products!

Room temperature is used for the warm stage of Swiss styles, while there is no necessity for keeping the cheese cold. The bacteria that make the cheese what it is will prevent any undercover nasties from growing. (There are a few that can be a problem, but believe me you will know it when you get it. A coliform infected cheese smells like vomit.)

Answer: To make the cheese sweeter by removing lactic acid and slowing acid production.

Lowfat cheese is made with lowfat milk. Washing doesn't change the fat content of a cheese. If you dropped the curds somewhere insanitary, you probably should pitch them (or eat them fresh -- that works too and no waste!) -- washing will only exacerbate contamination. If you sterilized your sink well before beginning, and are confident that no contamination has occurred, there is no need to do anything. Just carry on! If you overheated them, you probably invented a new type of cheese. Take very specific notes in case it is really good.

Then place the whole pot in a sink of ice water and stir until the temperature has come back to a reasonable stage.

Answer: Brush it down with a nail brush gently.

Caerphilly typically is allowed to form a natural rind, which means it is permitted to mold at will, with the mold growth being brushed off with a soft brush (gently, so as not to injure the rind) on a regular basis. The mold will eventually settle down, about the time the cheese is ready to eat. It will have produced a soft, creamy layer just under the rind which, in my opinion, is the best part of the cheese. You will see some seriously scary molds, from the slimy, goopy black poil de chat (which you really want to get rid of) to vivid greens and yellows. Don't panic, just keep it wiped down.

Do NOT throw out your cheese! It is supposed to do this. And do not go overboard trying to eradicate the mold either -- you will get a much less complex cheese. Finally, don't just leave it -- this can lead to mold infiltrating the main body, which will spoil a good portion of the cheese.

I have eaten these rinds without problems, but I don't recommend it. They don't taste that great either, so I would pare them off. Try not to lose the precious soft underlying layer, though!

Answer: Cloth bandaged

Cloth bandaging (preferably with lard, but other solid fats such as coconut oil work too) is the traditional method of aging a cheddar. And boy are the results good! The cloth bandage permits air circulation, which leads to a much more flavorful cheese than vacuum sealing, but does not require the maintenance that a natural rind does. It also prevents the cheese from drying out. There are several tutorials on bandaging cheeses -- the process is messy but actually simple.

I put washed rind to trip you up. This type of rind treatment is use for softer, stinky cheeses or for swiss types.

Answer: Penicillium candidum and Geotrichum candidum

P. candidum and G. candidum are the two molds responsible for most bries. If you are making brie yourself, you may wish to ditch the Geo entirely, as it is much more aggressive than the P. candidum and may cause rapid ammoniation and runniness. I use Geo almost exclusively for butterkäse, which is not as susceptible to softening too far.

P. roqueforti, as you should be able to tell by the name, is blue cheese mold. N. crassa is an important mold used in genetic research. B. linens is the critical mold in stinky cheeses such as Taleggio and brick cheeses (milder Münster to notorious Limburger). R. stolonifer is common black bread mold.

Answer: Vacuum bag them and replace them in the cave for further aging.

Make sure these are large chunks you are bagging up. The next best method of storage if you don't have a bagger (though a Ziploc hand pump will set you back no more than about 20 bucks on Amazon) is to wrap the cheese in wax paper, then in a plastic bag, and store in the deli drawer in the fridge.

You could freeze the cheese, but depending on what type it is, the texture may be altered by the process.

The "throw it out" choice is meant to grab unsuspecting players. Store bought cheese has no more ingredients in it than home made - the bacteria that make the cheese also preserve it.

Don't store at room temperature - the fat will sweat out and the cheese will get an off taste as a result.