How To Make Mesophilic Cheese Cultures At Home

Cheese Cultures Make Your Own Mesophilic Cultures

This article will guide you, step by step, to make your own cheese cultures at home.

By doing this you will save a lot of money from buying thermophilic and mesophilic cultures so often.

Allowing you to make more homemade cheese for less costs.

That’s not all…

We will cover what are cheese cultures, mesophilic cultures and thermophilic cultures. Outlining which cultures should be used for certain cheeses.

The bottom line is I have been doing this for years and it has saved me a pretty penny.

It has allowed me to make more delicious cheeses then I would have been able to, if I had to buy starter cultures all the time.

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Cheese pH Meter – Do You Need One For Cheese Making?

Cheese pH Meter – Do You Need One For Cheese Making?

Many new home cheese makers are surprised to discover that you don’t need a whole lot of fancy, technical equipment to make cheese.

Sure, you can go all out and buy the best of the best and get everything you could possibly want and need to make cheese, but you can also start making cheese with just a few basic tools and the right ingredients, and without spending a whole lot of money. Read more

Vacuum Sealing Cheese | Cheese Preservation Techniques

Vacuum Sealing Cheese | Preserving Cheese Methods

Once upon a time there was only cling film, and sandwich bags. 

Then someone found a way to take the concept of those two items and invented a product which didn’t just cover your food in plastic, but it actually sucked out all the air first, creating a air-tight, vacuum sealed wrapper.

Welcome to the Vacuum Sealer!

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QA7 – How Do I Label My Waxed Cheeses?

How To label Cheese - Cheese Labels

So you’ve made a great looking round of cheese and now it’s time to wax it.

But once it’s waxed and stored away for aging, how do you ever remember which cheese is which, when it was made and when it will be ready?

Obviously the answer is to label the cheese, but how?

Don’t worry cheese labels are extremely simple. Read more

Age Does Matter – Aging Homemade Cheese

Aging Cheese - How To Age Homemade Cheese

This post is Part 8 of the continued basic home cheese making instructions. See the Curd Nerd Beginner Page for previous parts.

It’s not always true what they say, that age doesn’t matter.

For cheese, it most certainly does.

Aging cheese (also known as ripening or maturing) is an important part of developing the signature of the particular cheese you are making. It allows time for millions of microbes and enzymes to do their thing, breaking down the proteins and fats into a complex combination of acids that influences how texture, taste and aroma are expressed in your chosen cheese.

A longer aging time causes a firmer, more intense cheese, whereas short aging times result in a more mild taste and a softer ‘paste’. Read more

3 More Cheese Recipes, And A New Feature

There have been a few changes around the Curd-Nerd household lately. One of which has allowed me to spend a little more time on my home cheese making.

I recently left my full time job and have been spending the last few weeks settling into a new routine. I have to say it has been quite strange after 20 years in the corporate world, aiming for the top of the ladder but it’s also exciting to be following a shift in priorities. Read more

Making Home Cheese Making Cheaper

Tips on homemade cheese molds, homemade cheese cloth and homemade cheese press ideas

When you first start home cheese making, it is easy to end up spending a lot of money on all the equipment you feel like you have to have to make great cheese. There are cultures and Rennet to buy, stockpots and thermometers, pH meters and curd knifes, cheese cloth and molds and a press for hard cheeses.

Plus the price of good milk alone can be quite frightening! Read more

What Is Flocculation? A Method For A Better Curd

Flocculation Method And What Is Flocculation?

As we all know, one of the most important steps in cheese making is getting a good curd set up.

Without a good set up, most cheeses won’t ever become what they should be, and some won’t become anything much at all. Apart from pig or chook feed, or compost waste that is.

Using the suggested coagulation times in a cheese recipe is reasonably reliable for getting a set, but not overly precise in terms of getting the best set to achieve the ideal cheese profile.

Sure, you might end up with a Gouda after all your hard work, but does it have the texture and moisture that you know it should have? Do you have a cheese that could give the all those store bought wedges a run for their money.

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