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Making Butter/cheese


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Ok, I need help please. How can you make butter or cheese without a strainer or cream separator? I don't remember by grandma having them but then again I didn't pay much attention. I called all around and looked on the internet for them, new or used, Craigs list, and freecycle. I even went to second hand stores and farm stores. Everyone laughs, refers me to somewhere else, then tries to remember what they could for me. The lady at the kitchen store suggested a large strainer that you can buy at Walmart or a vegetable sieve with one layer of cheesecloth.

 

 

Can you let the cream rise in a large jar and use a large spoon and spoon it off or would a fat-gravy separator work? For butter, I have a daisy churn and have used whipping cream and made butter in my food processor for fun. Nobody would eat it but me. It didn't seem to have much taste. I am tried to practice before everything happens. I think this sure would cause me less stress.:smiley_shitfan:

 

 

Now, I have looked and looked trying to find how to make vinegar cheese. Do you know how many hits I got on Mrs. S when I tried to search for it? 98 I read a bunch of them but never found how to make it. Help. I printed off several ways to other kinds of cheese plus adding herbs, etc. If I use the left over liquid, how do I use it in biscuits or bread? What else can I use it for?

 

I used to could do several things at once but now I seem to have lost my zeal for that. Please help and thanks for helping an old woman in destress--at least today. Tomorrow is another day. Four year olds can wear you out but oh what fun!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

(I can blame Mother. After reading her story, I decided I wanted to learn how. Now I have to reread the other stories, then I will have more projects).:laughkick::cele:

Edited by AMarthaByHeart
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Thanks Violet. How long does it last? Can you add honey to make honey butter? Would that work for straining and separating the cream--what I put down?

 

Now how do you make queso fresco? (Added to my growing list)

Edited by AMarthaByHeart
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You could, but it would need to be used up rather quickly if you add honey to it. You use room temp. butter, to 1 cup add about 1/2 cup honey. Add grated orange rind, too, if you want, or some vanilla. You can always freeze it, too. Butter freezes very well.

 

 

I have the queso fresco directions at work in my files. I can get it for you later.

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Thanks Violet and gofish. I got my questions answered. I guess you can substitute the liquid for liquid when making biscuits or bread. Now, I guess it is up to Mother to help me with vinegar cheese. Oh Mother.......................wherefore art thou?

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  • 2 weeks later...

After reading the ' Wagon Ho' story again and ehow website (thanks gofish), I think I have figured out vinegar cheese. If you don't have rennet or junk, you can use vinegar and pour it in your milk to make cheese. This is suppose to make a form of mozzerella cheese. Now, Mother, if you read this is this accurate? I am anxious to try this. I am going to get grandson to help me. If he doesn't have to get his hands goopy, as he calls it, he might have fun. At the price of cheese, I will see if this saves me any money.

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Butter can be made by shaking the cream in a jar until the butter forms,

You can make sweet cream or sour cream butter.

 

Vinegar cheese is made by adding vinegar to the warmed milk and

allowing it to set until it makes clabber or thickened milk. The clabber is

then put in a clean, not terry, towel and hung up to drain. Depending on how long it

drains is how soft or firm it will be.

You can either serve it soft in a bowl

with cream/ milk salt and or pepper, chives, celery leaves etc. or you can take the

drier curd and press it further dry, salt it and place a weight on it to drain it

further and have a nice firm cheese.

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If you are using cow's milk, you can let the raw milk set overnight and then skim off the cream with a large spoon. If you are using goat milk, you will either need a separator that spins the milk to separate the cream or you will need to let the milk set 2 or 3 days to skim it. (Set it in the refrigerator of course.)

 

This is my favorite site for cheese making instructions.

Fankhauser's Cheese Page

 

You will find directions for vinegar cheese here

http://fiascofarm.com/dairy/quesoblanco.htm

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Twilight-Your info was very helpful. When do you add the chives, pepper, etc. ? If you season when it is still curds, is that cottage cheese? One more question, is the whey low fat? Is it still considered milk?

 

 

CGA- I loved the websites. Now I have to go get another ribbon and add to my cheese notebook. They have so many different kinds. Is the hard cheese listed cheddar or colby? Hopefully, if I have time, I am trying some tomorrow. We will see how I do. I will just use whole milk from the store for the first time.

 

I have learned so much about butter and cheese. I can't believe I never cared about making it. After 'pink slime', I realize the more I know about how things are made the better off I will be, especially when I will be able to do a lot more. CGA, you once posted that you don't have to have all of the fancy equipment to make stuff. I have emprovised before in other things, but just didn't realize there was a lot more I could do on my on.

 

 

Tomorrow afternoon, they are having frontier days at a museum. I am anxious to go and see what else I can learn. I wish I knew how to post pictures on here. I would try and take some when I am through see if I can figure it out. Hopefully, this old gray mare is not too old to learn.

 

P.S. CGA and Miki--I am glad you are all safe.

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(Mother comes rushing in not sure how she missed this thread all this time :sEm_blush: ) SORRY!

 

Okay, Vinegar Cheese. I guess I thought I'd explained it better in Illinois Story but I see I didn't. So here's the very easy way to do it...

 

Put a gallon (half this or double this or whatever)in a pan on the stove over medium heat. I've made this with bought milk and with fresh whole or skimmed milk and it all works fairly well, some just a bit softer than others. Goat's milk is often a very soft cheese made this way. Heat the milk, stirring often, until it just starts to get a few bubbles around the edge of the pan. Don't let it boil. (185 degrees on a thermometer works too) Remove from the heat. Slowly drizzle about 1/4 cup of vinegar into the milk in a slow steady stream (any kind of vinegar though I prefer apple cider)as you are stirring the milk. As you stir you should see the milk thicken and get slimy looking even before it starts to separate into globs as you stir. If it hasn't 'turned' shortly after you add the last of the vinegar add just a bit more vinegar. Continue to stir until the globs (curds) are floating in a yellowish/clear liquid (whey). When ready, set the curds and whey, pan and all, into a sink of cold water to cool. Try not to get water in the whey.

 

Stir often as the liquid cools to keep the curd from clumping together. (if it does, don't worry, you can break it up a bit later) add cold water to the sink as needed around the pan. When the curds and whey are cool drain the curd from the whey by using a cheese cloth in a colander. If you do not have a colander,just use a big bowl with the cloth (old diaper, slightly porous material, anything that will drain the curd) clothes-pinned to edges to keep it from going into the bowl. When the whey and curd are in the bowl, just gather the corners of the cloth together and hang the whole thing over the bowl to drain. I've done this setting the bowl on the counter and hanging the cloth from a door handle above. Save the whey for other uses. It's good in baked goods, to cook noodles or vegetables in, our dogs and cats love it, and it makes a good facial wash too.

 

Let the curd drain for several hours (for a softer cheese), maybe squeezing the bag a bit to get a bit more whey out, and then scrape the cheese curds into a bowl. Sometimes the whole thing will come right out of the cloth, sometimes you might have to scrape a bit. If you want a harder cheese, just devise a way to hang the bag of curds in the refrigerator overnight or several days and more whey will drain out. Mixing it with salt first will help the whey drain.

 

To use the softer product, I like to put herbs and a bit of salt into the cheese and mix it all together making a soft, cottage-cheese like spread for crackers or bread or if you add some type of mayo or salad dressing it makes a good dip. I will often do the same thing for the harder cheese, adding herbs and salt and letting it drip for a couple of days. If it's cool in the house you don't have to put it in the refrig to drip but I usually do. This cheese is a bit like a soft cheese ball and left long enough will even slice.

 

Now, that said, you can also improvise a sort of cheese 'press' for this and other cheese by using a big can (like a large coffee can) poked full of nail holes both sides and bottom from the inside of the can so it's not rough against the cheese. Line this 'form' with cheesecloth and put in your curds. Cover the top with another cloth and figure out an insert (a follower) to just fit inside the top of the can on the cheese. A round of wood works or sometimes you can find a plate, a tin lid or even the lid you originally cut from the can. On the top of that place a canning jar full of water to act as a weight to press the cheese. Again, salt added to the crumbled curd before placing it in the 'form' will help the whey drain away better and give the cheese a bit of taste. Let set 24 hours (doesn't need to be refrigerated either)and then take the cheese out carefully and rewrap it and put it into the form again, upside down. Press it for another 24 hours, this time using a book or something balanced on the top of the jar of water to add more weight. This should give you a fairly hard cheese but not like a regular cheese made with rennet and etc would give you.

 

Personally, I love the vinegar cheese just fresh with salt and a bit of cream and maybe herbs mixed in and eaten like cottage cheese or as a spread. YUM. Faster than it sounds and so good.

 

Okay, Skimming cream. I've used various means to do so and even goats milk will eventually give you a bit of very pale white cream on the top. However, you cannot get cream to rise on homogenized milk as from the store, only raw or pasturized milk. I have used a big ice tea maker jar and let it set overnight or a day and just taken the skim milk off the bottom leaving the cream in the jar. You can see the line where the cream starts and the skim milk ends. I have also used big gallon pickle jars or something similar and just let it set before using a small ladle to skim the cream from the top. You can set the milk in a shallow pan and skim it with a 'skimmer' if you have one but they are not always easy to find. A skimmer is a very shallow wide scoop with small holes in it to allow the lighter skim milk to go through. I have one but I prefer just using a ladle.

 

Lets see, did I forget anything? Probably but I'll try to pay attention to this thread and answer other questions. We will be leaving on a month long trip next week though and I will only intermittantly be getting online as we travel so be patient please.

 

Good luck with the cheese.

 

:bighug2:

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PS.... I forgot to add,,,,AMBH, You are NEVER too old to learn. I try to learn something new every day or I consider the day wasted. :grinning-smiley-044:

 

:bighug2:

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Thank you Mother for the info. I have enough in my folder to help me . I want to do vinegar cheese first. I was gone too long today but will probably try and make some tomorrow afternoon or Monday. I am excited. AND I am trying to learn something new everyday but tend to forget it sooner than I used to. Thanks for the encouragement.

 

 

 

Have fun on your trip. Rest, relax and enjoy. Stay safe.

 

 

 

Thanks everyone for the help. I have marked it and printed the info off. Such great info and websites. :grouphug:

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Another way to get the cream...tho the other ways are probably easier. I used a turkey baster to suck out the top layer of cream from my goat milk. As CGA mentioned, it takes 2-3 days for the goat milk to separate in the fridge but this method worked for me.

 

 

Can someone please go thru the process of butter making? I've got the part about shaking, spinning, aggitating to separate the milk solids but....then what? Do you have to do that patting and such with those paddles carved with ridges? :unsure:

 

Sweet cream butter or sour cream butter...huh? And does sweet cream butter have salt?

 

This is a great thread! I'm going to be looking at the links everyone gave. :darlenedance: I've done quite a few things with my goat milk but only have a few things that I know well.

 

Good book for goat's milk products and recipes: Mary Jane Toth's Goats Produce Too ( Sorry, I lent out my copy so that's as close to the name as I recall Found the book listed on the cheesemaking.com link :happy0203:]

 

 

MtRider [ :grouphug: Thanks everyone! ]

Edited by Mt_Rider
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Making butter goes faster if the cream is approximately 60 to 65 degrees (near as my memory allows me to say that is). Don't heat it though. I leave my cream set on the counter and periodically feel it. It should still feel cool, even cold, but not refrigerator cold.

 

Do the swishing, agitating, churning, etc until the lumps of butter form in the liquid. I always churn mine a bit longer to get the butter to "gather". When it's pretty much only a few lumps I drain my buttermilk off, saving it for drinking (this is not your store bought kind, it's really tasty and sweet if you have used sweet cream) or for baking etc. I put my butter lumps into a bowl, preferrably wooden as that seems to make it easier to smoosh the butter around without it sliding all over. I have the butter paddles but I just use the back of a wooden spoon to smash the butter against the bowl, extracting a bit more of the buttermilk which I pour into the first drained.

 

Then I add a small amount of cold water to the butter and smash and turn the butter in the water until it's cloudy. It only takes a couple of minutes. I save this water for cooking or for the animals as they love it. I add lots of cold water again, turning and smashing it against the bowl to 'wash' the buttermilk out of the butter before draining and adding more water. I don't save this water though I'm sure something would like it. I change the water several times, smashing and turning the butter in it each time until the water comes off reasonably clear. I drain the butter and then continue to smash and turn the butter to extract as much water from it as I can. The more buttermilk removed from the butter, the better the butter stores. Smash in a bit of salt right at the end, if you like salted butter. The salt will also help bring out a bit more liquid. You aren't really adding enough to use the salt as a preservative but butter keeps fairly well either way. They used to store it under water in a butter bell right on the table. You can still get them, BTW.

 

Sweet cream makes just that, sweet cream butter. If the cream is a bit sour it seems to 'turn' faster but it does have a bit of the taste of the sour cream. It's really a matter of taste. I prefer to use my soured raw cream for making cultured sour cream, which I do just like yogurt only using a naturally cultured commercial sour cream as the culture to start out with. Daisy is a good brand here. I culture it at the same temp as yogurt only it seems to take a bit less time. I do my yogurt 24 hours though as it makes the lactose easier to digest. I've done the sour cream that long too without any problems but it is done often in only six or eight. Goats cream makes a bit softer sour cream just like it does yogurt but draining the sour cream just like you can with yogurt makes a wonderful cream cheese like spread. YUM!

 

Hopefully I haven't left any steps out here. After a few times you tend to do it automatically. Thank heavens for grandchildren who still like old fashioned ways of doing things though. I often have a willing volunteer. Of course, while they are shaking cream, I usually have to be making Baking Powder Biscuits so they can eat the fresh butter on them with honey. :grinning-smiley-044:

 

:bighug2:

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:thumbs: THANKS, Mother! That puts in some clarification of some steps I think I was messing up. My butter was never quite right.

 

And... {'duh' moment) ....it never ocurred to me to use commercial sour cream for the starter. :woohoo: I've made tons of yogurt over the years so it sounds like sour cream [another favorite around here] will be easy for me.

 

I'm going to have to try this with pasteurized cows milk from the store. Currently not getting enough from single goat. {remembering not to get homogenized (sp)...}

 

 

MtRider [note to self: CALL the goat buck lady...I need more does bred! :yum3: ]

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Thanks Mt. Rider. I made butter with heavy cream from the store. It wasn''t bad at all. I have found a place that I can get some cow's milk, so that is next. I haven't gotten to the cheese yet. Grandkids showed up and drank most of my milk, then dishwasher finally did go out. The last one we put in was 18 years ago. They used to come with everything on it. Now, you have to buy the drain hose, hot water hose, couplings, etc. We didn't know that until we got home. It took 2 days to get that thing in. Then yard work because weeds are trying to take over. After the hot, dry summer we had, with water restrictions, everyone's yard looks awful around here. At least it didn't die. So much for that.

 

Thanks for the info. Now at least, I have some info to start with.

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This is a short video by Andrew Zimmerman about the dairy I sometimes help out at. Where they are making the cheese is the part I help in. A big part of their business is making Creole Cream Cheese.

 

http://appetiteforlife.msn.com/videos/archive/season3/progress-cream-always-rises

 

 

P.S. The puppies are much bigger now. I saw them yesterday!

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Mt_Rider, you shouldn't have to worry about commercial cream being homogenized, only the milk. All (most at least) dairy is pasteurized as it's required by law. When milk is homogenized it keeps the fat in suspension in the milk and the cream won't rise. Some of the organic milk I buy is not homogenized and I used to be able to buy fresh goats milk in the store that wasn't either. Haven't seen that brand for a long time now. It came in returnable glass bottles from a dairy in Missouri and was wonderful. I sure miss my little goats. We still can get fresh from the farm milk here though, thankfully.

 

Commercial whipping cream works fine for the sour cream, it doesn't have to be sour to use a culture with and in fact, the sourness is more controllable when you use sweet cream. As an aside, if you allow raw cream to sour naturally it is technically sour cream. The longer it sets the thicker it gets and the more sour it gets to a point.

 

:ph34r::gaah::unsure::tapfoot: because this is in the public forum....I want to warn everyone though that commercial milk or cream that has soured through age or because it wasn't stored properly can be unsafe. It is a whole different entity than raw milk. Raw milk and cream from healthy animals, taken and handled with strict attention to sanitation can but usually doesn't go bad. Normally it only changes it's composition. It will go from fresh to sour to clabbered and all of it can normally be used as a food. Our ancestors used it in all stages. But if we want to talk naturally 'turned' dairy we probably should be doing it in the Edge. For this discussion it's better to use pasteurized commercial products. Just saying. :behindsofa:

 

:bighug2:

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