How to Make Feta Cheese
You probably already know that feta is delicious crumbled over the traditional Greek Salad. But did you know that you can make it yourself with some common household ingredients?
Steps
1. Warm the milk to 30°C (86°F) and stir it regularly so that it does not burn on the bottom. Remove it from the heat and set aside.
2. Mix 1 tablespoon of yogurt with an equal amount of milk to blend. Stir the blended yogurt and milk into the warmed milk and mix thoroughly. Cover and and allow the inoculated milk to sit for one hour at room temperature.
3.
While the inoculated milk sits, dissolve 1/2 tablet of rennet in fresh, cool water.
4.
After the inoculated milk has sat for one hour, add the dissolved rennet and stir to mix thoroughly.
5.
Let the inoculated, renneted milk sit covered overnight at room temperature.
6.
Closeup of clean break
Closeup of clean break
Not so clean break
Not so clean break
Check for a clean break the next morning, by which time the milk should have gelled and some of the whey will have separated.
7.
Cut the curd by starting at one side, and cut straight down to bottom. Make the next cut 1/2 inch from and parallel to the first, but sloping slightly (the sliced curd will be wider at bottom than top). Repeat increasing angle with each cut. Turn the pot 90° and repeat cuts. Repeat cuts and turning two more times. The curd pieces should be about ½ inch cubes or slices as you prefer.
8.
With a very clean hand and arm, reach to the bottom and gently lift the curds to stir. Cut the large pieces that appear with a table knife so that they are ½ inch cubes.
9. Let the cut curds sit, with occasional stirring, for 10-15 minutes until curd is somewhat contracted.
10.
Decant off the whey through the strainer lined with the handkerchief, pouring the curds into the handkerchief. Save the whey for a later step.
11.
Let the cheese drain in the handkerchief until no more whey drains out (about 2-4 hours). It may be drained at room temperature or in the refrigerator, as shown in the image.
12.
Place the drained curds into a bowl. Mix in a 1/2 teaspoon of salt, breaking up the curd.
13.
Homemade cheese press
Homemade cheese press
Press the cheese into a mold. (See the External Links for how to make your own cheese press.) Line the can with a handkerchief, place the curds inside, fold over the ends of the cloth, place the end on top, and place a weight on top of that. Let sit overnight.
14.
Prepare pickling whey brine (12.5% salt): mix 20 oz of whey (saved from before) with 5 tablespoons of salt. Stir to dissolve. The brine must be acidic or else the cheese will melt on the surface.
15.
Cut the cheese into 1.5 inch cubes and place them in a wide-mouth jar. Pour brine over to cover. Let the cheese pickle for several days in the refrigerator. The cheese will become drier and more easily crumbled with time.
16.
Store in the frigerator. Rinse before use to remove excess salt.
Tips
* Although feta is traditionally made from sheep's milk, goat's milk, or a combination of the two, you can substitute with cow's milk from the store as well.
Warnings
* If culture becomes contaminated at any point along the way, this could significantly increase your ability to contract food poisoning from the cheese.
Things You'll Need
* 1 gallon fresh goat's milk
* 1 Tbl fresh yogurt (Dannon Plain works well)
* 1/2 tablet rennet, dissolve in 1/4 cup water
* 1+ gallon pot with lid (stainless steel with heavy bottom is best; enamel works, but you must stir it!)
* 1 long bladed knife
* 2 clean sterile handkerchiefs or cheesecloth
* strainer
* A cheese mold: Cut the ends out of a smooth-sided 4 x 5 inch tin can, save one of the cut ends.
* table salt
-thanks: st0neskull for pointing this out
Wed Dec 20, 2006 1:28 pm
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dystinctlyvague
Joined: 01 Jan 2007 Posts: 4 Location: Vermont, us
Great idea. Thanks for sharing. A friend of mine made 'queso blanco' (at least that is what I think that she called it) for a potluck recently. It was a soft cheese and I think that it was served as curds rather than pressed into a particular shape. Also- she did not use rennet, just some kind of vinegar that was added to the milk when it reached a certain temp..
