I am looking for ideas on making homemade cheese, butter etc, without having to buy all the tradional equipment. My husband is a little unsure of homemade items, so I don't want to invest anything until I'm sure I can convince him to like such items. There is almost no where to purchase used or even borrow these items.(i'm only 20 miles fromPittsburgh,PA) Thanks for you advice.

-- Ginger (majic99@home.com), July 03, 2000

Answers

Hi Ginger, I don't know if your using goat milk or cows milk.. For cows milk, let set in a shallow wide pan in the fridge for a day or two. then slim off the cream with and put it in any jar with a tight lid,fill no more than 1/2 full, let it warm to about 55 degrees, a little less than room temp and then shake gently until the butter separates from the milk. Most cheese can be made with what you have in the kitchen except the rennet.. A press is the big expence, I've used 2 plates and something heavy on top.. Ask the library for books on making cheese, there are some reciepes that don't have to be pressed.. Cottage Cheese is one.. Good luck..Doris in Idaho

-- Doris Richards (dorisquilts@webtv.net), July 03, 2000.

What expense? Buy a $9 instant read meat thermometer, a cheap stainless steel stock pot and some fine cheesecloth from WalMart and you're in business for cheese. An excellent lever press for hard cheeses can be made for the price of a 2X4 (plans are at )plus a food grade cheese mold from New England Cheesemaking Supply. Use store bought Buttermilk for a mesophilic starter, yogurt for a thermophilic starter and go have fun!

And butter is easy to make in a food processor---no need for a churn. Culture the cream with buttermilk overnight (or it won't have any flavor IMHO), chill the works of the processor and the cream, put cream in processor bowl and whiz until the butter comes. It's fool proof.

-- Julia (farmer@westco.net), July 03, 2000.

Ginger, butter can be made by shaking it in a screw-topped jar. Good way to keep the kids occupied for a while. It can also be made in a blender, or with a mixer.

Cheese presses, I've seen where they take a large can, cut the top and bottom out, then use a wooden disc as a follower. You can then use a smaller can on the disc to get something sticking up above the large can that you can put weight on. Gerbil

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), July 03, 2000.

The simple lever press plans are at http://members.xoom.com/cheesemaker/Cheesemakers-L.htm

Sorry for the goof!

-- Julia (farmer@westco.net), July 03, 2000.

I used to use the blender to make butter. On low, and shut if off frequently to see how the butter is coming along. After you've got butter, pour off the buttermilk and add ice water to the blender, blend again. Do that a couple of times and your butter is washed free of the buttermilk than can make it taste sour if you leave it out at room temperature. The mason jar idea works, but it sure does take a long time!

-- polly (Tigger@moultrie.com), July 03, 2000.

We used to make butter in a quart mason jar when I was young, and it usually took about twenty minutes. However, a couple of years ago, I was helping at the summer program at church, and decided to teach the children how to make butter. I used very thick cream, and by the time we were ready, it was room temperature (pretty warm, as it was a hot day), and I was stunned to see butter coming in the jar after only five minutes. I think the jar is the easiest way, as it is less of a pain to wash than a blender or a food processor. We used to have a glass jar churn but I think Mom gave it to the local museum. I wasn't too happy about that as they are VERY expensive now, and I could have used it!! But the jar works -- good exercise, too :-)

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), July 03, 2000.

Jar method makes butter super good, but keep a good grip as we lost one once and it slid across the room and broke against the wall!!

-- Don (dairyagri@yahoo.com), July 03, 2000.

Ginger, I grew up outside of Pittsburgh myself...are you in PA or WV? Let us know how the cheese/butter experiments go.

-- Anne (HT@HM.com), July 04, 2000.

Thank you all for your advice and help!

-- Ginger (majic99@home.com), July 05, 2000.

Hi Ginger! We live about an hour west of Pittsburgh,PA in OH. If I ever see any good deals on cheese making stuff,I'll drop you a line(via email of course). Can't wait till I can get my own goats to try all this neat stuff, but that's probably several years off. The Lord bless... ~~~Tracy~~~

-- Tracy Jo Neff (tntneff@ifriendly.com), July 10, 2000.