Goat cheese milk does not curl. Milk clotting process

Modern food products have the ability to survive under certain conditions for almost any length of time. This became possible thanks to special substances called preservatives, which are now added to almost all food products. However, there is a segment of products that do not tolerate mixing with preservatives and their shelf life remains rather limited. This article will focus on one of these products - milk, and the process that occurs with it as a result of the impossibility of subjecting it to the proper degree of conservation - curdling.

What is curdled milk

For a better understanding of the processes leading to milk curdling, it is first necessary to understand the question of the structure of protein molecules, which form, in their bulk, most of the organoleptic qualities of this product.

The three main proteins found in any dairy product are lactoglobulin, lactoalbumin and casein. Like the molecules of any other protein, in their structure they resemble a chain of a helical configuration.

There are two processes leading to a change in the native properties of a protein - denaturation and destruction. In this case, denaturation precedes and facilitates the further process of destruction.

During denaturation protein changes its natural characteristics. It changes its taste, smell, color, it can begin to show fundamentally different chemical properties, but the structure of its molecules remains unchanged.

During destruction however, there is a complete destruction of the usual structure of molecules, leading to the formation of completely new chemical substances in their structure. The denaturation process is reversible in some cases, while destruction is a final and irreversible process.

Did you know? The milk produced by female seals and whales has the highest amount of fat (45–50%), while donkeys and horses give the least fatty milk (1–1.5%).

If we shift all the above information to the specific case under consideration, then it turns out that the denatured milk is a sour product, and curdled milk is a product whose protein component has gone through the process of destruction.

In terms of its organoleptic properties, it is a liquid with several different levels. The upper one is more liquid and transparent, it is popularly called serum: it is mainly water and a small amount of proteins that have retained their primary structure. The bottom layer is quite dense and thick - these are individual amino acids, as well as fats and carbohydrates.

At what temperature does it roll up

For the most part, the process of destruction of any protein molecules, especially those that have already begun to lose their native properties, can be triggered by almost any catalyst of a chemical or physical nature.

For example, if you drop vinegar or citric acid into milk, it will also begin to curdle. However, the traditional and most common method for achieving the coagulation state of the product is to warm it up.

Did you know? Domestic cows produce an average of 400 million tons of milk annually across the globe.

The temperature required to start and successfully complete the protein degradation process varies significantly depending on many parameters. For example, from the degree of preliminary denaturation, quantitative indicators of protein in the primary liquid, the presence or absence of other chemical impurities (primarily preservatives) in the product, and many others. However, practice shows that, on average, at a temperature of + 95–100 ° C, milk curdles within 30–40 seconds.
Milk can curdle if citric acid or vinegar is dripped into it.

It is also possible that your dairy product curdles at a lower above zero temperature (from +50 ° C), but in this case it will be necessary so that the protein contained in it is already at a certain stage of denaturation. In addition, the protein structures of dairy products lose their original structure as a result of exposure to extremely low temperatures (from –60 ° C).

Milk curdled during boiling (cooking)

It often happens that milk bought in a store or on the market curdled during its heat treatment. However, do not rush to throw the product away, because, despite its unsightly appearance and seeming uselessness, it can still be successfully applied in your kitchen.

Below we will discuss the main reasons for the curdling process of milk during boiling, as well as the methods of its use.

Why

The main reason that any products containing protein, including dairy products, change their structure over time is the specific chemical structure of protein molecules. By their chemical nature, unlike fats or carbohydrates, they cannot retain their native properties for a long period of time.
And the process of increasing the temperature of the environment in which they are located only accelerates the natural course of things. However, there are a number of reasons why the folding process occurs at a lower temperature or in a shorter period of time when exposed to high temperatures.

These are the reasons:

• your dairy product was already acidified, that is, the process of denaturation has already begun in it (sometimes there is such a degree of denaturation that it cannot be detected with the help of human senses);
• you got milk mixed from milk yields of different times, one of which has already begun to denature;
• the cow that gave the milk you bought has latent mastitis or other disease;
• the milk has not been sufficiently pasteurized;
• Your product contains catalysts (substances that change the rate of any chemical reaction), such as soda, vinegar, or citric acid.

What can you cook from it

The best dish you can make with the lower, thicker layer of curdled milk is homemade cottage cheese. To prepare it, it is necessary to collect the mass accumulated at the bottom of the container with the product, and then, after placing it in gauze or other fabric that has a sufficient number of pores, subject it to additional compression (for example, using a brick or vise placed on top).

The dense mass can also be used as a basis for preparing a variety of hard cheeses, but this process is fraught with many technological difficulties, so it is not so easy to organize it at home.

Whey, a thinner and thinner layer of curdled milk, is most often used as an ingredient in a variety of homemade cakes - charlottes, pancakes, pancakes, pies, etc. Dough prepared with whey usually tastes more delicate and more pleasant than dairy. since it practically does not contain a variety of fats and milk carbohydrates, which interfere with the proper development of the taste of other components of baked goods.

In addition, homemade yoghurts, kefir and dairy desserts are obtained from a dense layer of curdled dairy products. To prepare them, you need to add lactic acid starter culture to the separated bottom layer of your product, which is designed to increase the amount of lactobacilli contained in the mass and activate their activity. Whey is also sometimes used in some herbal and water-based soft drinks, such as ayran.

Video: what to do when curdling milk in porridge

Important! If you intend to get curdled milk on purpose, then it is not necessary to boil it - just drop a few drops of citric acid into a container with a fresh product.

Why milk may not curl when making cheese

In the process of making homemade cheese or cottage cheese, sometimes a situation may arise when the dairy product you bought does not want to curl up. This condition, as a rule, is more typical for store milk.

There are several explanations for the described phenomenon, the list of the most probable of which is given below:

1. You have purchased milk that is very low in protein. It may have been diluted with water.
2. The milk you purchased was exposed to extremely low temperatures, as a result of which its protein molecules underwent destruction while preserving their natural external properties.
3. Too fresh product curdles very poorly due to insufficient pre-denaturation.
4. You have purchased for your needs a product with a high degree of pasteurization, which almost completely excludes the presence of various bacteria in it, and hence the development of a preliminary denaturation process, which facilitates subsequent folding.
5. The milk you purchased has been pasteurized at too much pressure or temperature, which disrupts the natural structure of protein molecules while maintaining its native external properties and reduces the likelihood of further folding.
6. You are trying to make cheese in the wrong environment. For example, do not bring the temperature to the required level, do not use a sufficient amount of other destruction catalysts, try to achieve the folding process in unsuitable containers (aluminum containers, stainless steel containers).

Why milk bought in a store doesn't turn sour: video

What to add to milk so that it curdles without souring

As already mentioned, the onset of the process of destruction of milk protein molecules can be achieved without the use of high temperatures, mainly with the help of other catalysts, mainly of a chemical nature.

Other physical methods for producing curdled milk are the application of very high pressure for short periods, as well as a simple long wait, during which destruction occurs through the natural process of denaturation.

Among the chemicals most commonly used to produce curdled dairy products, citric acid and sourdough should be singled out in the first place. Both of these substances are good in that they practically do not affect the taste, smell and color of the product obtained after their use.

You can also add table vinegar, soda and any other acids and alkalis to milk, however, the product obtained after their use will differ somewhat less pleasant organoleptic properties.

So, we hope that our article helped you answer all your questions regarding curdled milk. Many culinary experts around the world have successfully used this product in their kitchens, achieving truly amazing results.

Have you decided to start homemade cheese making and are looking for information on how to cook cheese yourself?

In this case, our website about cheese and cheese making will help you cope with this task.

One of the important questions that any novice cheesemaker faces is how to get a curd when preparing cheese and how to process it correctly.

At the very beginning of the cheese making process, you need to take care of curdling milk to get a curd curd, which you will then turn into real cheese.

For curdling milk in cheese making, milk-clotting enzymes of animal origin are used: rennet and pepsin, as well as enzyme preparations based on them.

To prepare the curd, it is obtained from the stomachs (abomasums) of dairy calves, lambs and kids.

Abomasum is a mixture of the enzymes chymosin (rennin) and pepsin. The quantitative ratio of chymosin and pepsin in rennet depends on the age and individual characteristics of the animal.

In the stomachs of calves of 1-2 months of age, rennin predominates (70%), later the ratio of enzymes changes, and the stomachs of adult animals contain mainly pepsin.

An industrial preparation of rennet contains 30-40% pepsin. It is used in the form of a powder consisting of a mixture of rennet and sodium chloride in such proportions that the milk-clotting activity of rennet powder is 100,000 uel. units

Milk-clotting activity is determined by the number of parts of milk coagulated with one part of the powder at a temperature of 35 ° C for 40 minutes.

Important conditions for the action of rennet are the acidity and temperature of the milk.

The optimum acidity of milk for the action of rennet is pH 6 ... 6.3. At a pH above 6.5, the enzyme loses its activity.

When milk ripens, its acidity increases. At the same time, the pH approaches the value that is optimal for the action of rennet. Therefore, mature milk curdles faster than fresh milk (pH 6.68).

The optimum temperature for the action of rennet is 40-41 “C. However, in cheese making, this temperature is not used, because it is higher than the optimum temperature for the development of lactococci (28-35 ° C).

In addition, at a temperature of 40-41 ° C, a clot is rapidly formed and compacted, the strength of which is five times greater than that obtained at 20 ° C, as a result of which its mechanical processing becomes more difficult.

In cheese making, milk curdling temperature is usually used at 28-36 ° C. For hard rennet cheeses, the coagulation temperature is 32-36 ° C, for soft cheeses, the coagulation temperature is reduced to 28-30 ° C in order to increase the duration of coagulation and obtain a softer curd.

For the same type of cheese, curdling is carried out at higher temperatures if the milk has low acidity, insufficient maturity and high fat content.

Conversely, the clotting temperature is lowered with increasing acidity, a high degree of maturity and a low fat content of milk.

In addition, for cheeses with a higher mass fraction of moisture, it is advisable to curdle milk at low temperatures, and for cheeses with a lower mass fraction of moisture, at high temperatures.

For milk with increased rennet clotting ability, the clotting temperature is reduced within the limits permissible for this type of cheese.

Conversely, the use of milk with a reduced coagulating ability is associated with the need to increase the temperature, which, in turn, allows you to regulate the structural and mechanical properties of the curd.

In the first case, there is a slight decrease, and in the second, an increase in the strength properties of the clot.

To increase the activity, rennet solutions are best prepared not with water, but with acidic whey (45-60 ° T).

It can be prepared from whey pasteurized at 85-90 ° C and cooled to 35-40 ° C, fermented with pure cultures of lactic acid bacteria. The solution is prepared 3-4 hours before use.

A solution of rennet powder in water is prepared 20-30 minutes before adding it to milk. The prepared solution should not be stored for more than 1 hour, as the enzyme activity gradually decreases.

Pepsin is obtained from the stomachs of adult animals: cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and poultry (chickens and chickens).

The coagulating ability of pepsin preparations is the same as that of rennet powder. The activity of pepsin is enhanced in a more acidic environment. Working solutions of pepsin for curdling milk are prepared on acidic (60-70 ° T) pasteurized whey.

A significant drawback of pork pepsin is a drop in its activity during long-term storage (more than 2-3 months), which causes an overconsumption of pepsin, as well as the appearance of bitterness in cheeses.

More stable in storage.

In the cheese-making industry, enzyme preparations are also used, which are a mixture of various milk-clotting enzymes - SG-50, SG-25, KS-50, KG-50, KG-30.

These enzyme preparations bear names that reflect their species and quantitative composition, while the letter "C" stands for rennet, "G" for beef pepsin and "K" for chicken.

The numbers indicate the mass fraction (%) of the enzyme indicated by the first letter.

The duration of coagulation of milk with rennet is set depending on the type of cheese in the range from 25 to 80 minutes.

For hard cheeses produced from low-ripeness milk, the coagulation time is 25-35 minutes, for low-fat cheeses 30-40 minutes.

For soft cheeses produced from milk of a high degree of maturity, in order to activate lactic acid fermentation, the duration of coagulation is increased to 60-90 minutes.

Clot formation

The milk-clotting drug is introduced into milk in the form of a solution prepared 25 ± 5 minutes before use.

The required amount of the enzyme preparation is dissolved in water pasteurized at a temperature of 85 ° C and cooled to 34 ± 2 ° C at the rate of 2.5 g per 150 + 50 cm3 of water.

For uniform distribution of the enzyme preparation throughout the volume, after adding the preparation, the milk is stirred for 6 ± 1 min, and then left alone until a clot forms.

In the first 5-15 minutes after the introduction of the milk-clotting drug, changes in milk visible to the naked eye do not occur.

Then the viscosity of the milk rises rapidly, which indicates a change in the state of the protein, the protein particles begin to enlarge, forming small flakes. Then a very delicate clot appears, and then it hardens.

In the process of milk coagulation, casein coagulates, a clot (gel) is formed; while whey proteins do not coagulate and pass into serum.

Casein coagulation occurs in two stages: the first stage (enzymatic) - the conversion of casein into paracasein - a chemical process; the second stage is the coagulation of paracasein - a colloidal-chemical process.

Now in stores and markets you can find and buy almost any product, even the most exotic, and it is not at all necessary to spend time preparing your favorite delicacies. This is the opinion of most people, and you can understand it: time is money, after work you just want to get the packaging out of the refrigerator and not think about where and how its contents came from. Attentive buyers, in addition to paying attention to prices, also read the composition and compliance with production standards (GOST, TU). And thoughtful and wise customers learn in more detail about what they eat, after which they seriously think about switching at least partially to their own cooking. Homemade cheese, in addition to having an interesting and fresh taste, guarantees that it was "produced" according to all the rules and without unnecessary unnecessary components. The fact that your cheese will be very different from the store counterparts for the better is the main reason to try.

There is a small peculiarity in the preparation of cheeses. Good cheeses are made from large quantities of milk. Having made a test sample of a liter volume, you can get a similar, but far from good quality homemade cheese.

Cheese is essentially a milk concentrate. So, a pound of hard cheese contains as many nutrients as they are in 4.5 liters of milk. Having eaten in the morning a fragrant slice of bread with cheese, you can say, you drink a glass of milk with all its useful substances: riboflavin, calcium, vitamins. As the cheese ripens, the content of B vitamins rises, so the cheese has additional benefits.

Cheap cheese (up to 200 rubles / kg) is usually made from dry mixes. In stores, such cheese is usually already cut, and information on the composition and production rates is not available to the buyer. When making homemade cheese, you can be calm about the quality, because you will buy milk for this yourself. The best option is when you live outside the city and have the opportunity to buy fresh real milk or keep a cow yourself. If you have to buy milk, it is important to choose the right supplier. Milk should be clean, free of foreign unpleasant odors, maximum fat content and, of course, fresh. Such milk can be bought in the markets; it is sometimes brought from the surrounding villages to the railway station areas, sold in places where the electric trains stop. If you can't find a rustic one, you can get by with the fattest store milk (the shelf life should be minimal) or use ready-made cottage cheese. The latter option is even preferable for the first time, as it will save time, but will give a general idea of ​​the process, and you can decide if you need homemade cheese on the farm or if it is not for you.

Cheeses come in different degrees of hardness (or softness). Homemade cheese is usually soft. It can reach a solid state after a long exposure. Hard cheese is prepared on the basis of cottage cheese separated from the whey under a press. The heavier the oppression, the better the whey is squeezed out, and the harder the cheese becomes. Hard cheese can be stored for a little longer than medium and soft cheeses. Aging hard cheeses greatly improves the flavor. Soft cheese is not aged for long under the press, therefore it has the structure of dense cottage cheese, is not stored for long and has a delicate mild taste. Soft cheese is as good as hard cheese - it's just different. It all depends on your taste and patience.

In the cheese business, it rarely happens the first time, so please be patient. If the preparation is serious enough, then perhaps the delicious cheese will come out the first time. Cooking will require an impressive list of tools. Some tools can be replaced with improvised means, and the main ones can be made by yourself.

You will need:

Choose the shape according to your needs. The optimal diameter is 20 cm - not too big, but not too narrow. In the future, you can make cheese molds of different sizes. If you have not yet decided finally - to make cheese or not, try to make the simplest form from any large-diameter can of about a liter in volume. Cut off the uneven edges from the top so that they do not interfere with the piston entry, and from the inside in the bottom of the can make holes to drain the liquid. The torn edges of the holes should be on the outside so as not to damage the future cheese.

The piston is the part of the press equal to the diameter of the mold. The piston should fit freely into the mold and not have large gaps around the edges. The purpose of the piston is to squeeze and squeeze out excess moisture.

Press. This device can be made by yourself or purchased. The simplest press, and at the same time the piston, can be considered two buckets, one of which is smaller. Small and will be a piston at the same time. In the larger bucket, make holes in the bottom for the whey to drain.

You will need pots to collect skim milk (liquid left over from milk). It is better to have several pots of different capacities ready.

A colander is required to separate the liquid part of the curdled milk (skim milk). As a rule, gauze will work with a colander in steam, retaining solid parts and allowing liquid to pass through.

The harder you want the cheese, the heavier the load must be. It is optimal to have the main load weighing about 10 kg and several additional 5 kg each. It is convenient to use ordinary bricks as a load.

Paraffin or wax is required if you want to make hard cheese. Paraffin is used to preserve the resulting cheese. The easiest way is to melt a few household colorless candles.

The spoon should have a handle long enough to reach the bottom of the container in which you will stir the milk. It is better if it is wooden. Don't use aluminum.

The easiest way to make cheese is from cottage cheese. Less time and effort will be spent, and an enzyme will not be needed to clot milk. Throw the cottage cheese into a colander lined with a cloth so that the whey is glass, sprinkle with salt (1 tablespoon per kilogram of cottage cheese) and rub thoroughly so that the salt is evenly distributed, and there are no lumps in the cottage cheese. Ideally, you should get a plastic curd mass. If the curd is dry or fat-free, you can add a little sour cream or cream. After that, transfer the curd mass into a mold, the bottom of which is laid with gauze folded in several layers and put under a press for 10-12 hours. Be careful not to overdry the cheese. The resulting cheese does not last long, it should be eaten within a few days.

The second method is that the cottage cheese is rubbed with salt and left for 5 days in a dry place. Mix the dried and yellowed cottage cheese again, transfer to a greased pan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly until a liquid homogeneous mass without lumps is formed. Pour the prepared mass into containers and cool. Ready cheese can be eaten within a few hours. Sometimes, with this method, an equal amount of milk is added to the curd, heated and allowed to cool in molds. The cheese obtained by these methods is also not stored for a long time.

Cottage cheese will not make hard varieties that can be aged and stored for a long time. Real cheese can only be obtained using whole milk and a fermenting agent. Pepsin is the most readily available enzyme. Since pepsin is quite difficult to obtain in its pure form due to the specifics of its production, the drug "acidin-pepsin", which is freely sold in pharmacies, is suitable instead. Preparations containing pepsin should not be feared. Pepsin is just an enzyme produced in the stomach of animals, it folds protein well. In its pure form, pepsin is a medicine for certain types of gastritis and for poor digestibility of food. In the case of cheese, pepsin acts as an enzyme that quickly converts milk into the required thick mass. By the way, you can use pepsin only once, then you can use the starter culture. Another option is natural rennet. This is that gastric enzyme extracted from the stomachs of animals. This is why vegetarians don't eat rennet cheeses. Instead of rennet, you can use sour milk, live yogurt or a couple of cups of homemade yogurt, but in this case the process will take a little longer.

Remember that 4 liters of milk will make about 0.5 liters of finished cheese. Cheese is best made from large volumes of milk (from 7 liters). Salt is an important element in cheese making. Avoid oversalting. On average, for every liter of milk, from one teaspoon to one tablespoon of salt is spent. The degree of salinity is selected individually.

Stages of making cheese.

1. Maturation.

Heat the milk to 32 degrees (use a thermometer) and add the starter culture. If it is sour milk, then it needs about 500 ml per 10 liters of fresh milk. Stir well and cover. Leave in a warm place overnight. The container temperature must not rise.

2. Adding abomasum.

Add to milk (temperature 25 degrees) ½ teaspoon of rennet or a solution of one tablet of "acesedin-pepsin" per 100 ml of water. Stir the mixture thoroughly and cover with a lid or cloth. Wait 30-40 minutes for the milk to curd.

3. Cutting.

The curdled milk should thicken and the whey should separate. Using a long knife, cut the mass into equal pieces with a 3 cm edge, cutting vertically, and then, tilting the container, cut horizontally. Stir the pieces with a large handled wooden spoon.

4. Heating.

Place the mixed curd mass in a smaller container, which in a large one. Pour water into a large one and heat in a water bath, slowly increasing the temperature (by 2 degrees every 5 minutes). Bring the temperature to 38 degrees and keep it at this level, stirring the curd mass for about 30-40 minutes. Stir gently to keep the cubes from sticking together and check periodically for tightness by gently squeezing and releasing sharply. Ready is the state when the cubes break in the hand and do not stick together. This condition can occur 2-2.5 hours after the abomasum has entered the milk. This is an important point, you must wait for the required density of the curd cubes, otherwise a bad taste may appear.

5. Spin.

Filter the whey from the curd. To do this, you can use a colander lined with cloth. After that, transfer the mass to a sufficiently flat container and turn from side to side so that the remaining whey comes out completely. From time to time, loosen the mass with your hands or a fork to avoid the formation of a lump. Monitor the temperature. At 32 degrees, the curd should be rubbery, creaky when chewed.

The amount of salt is chosen experimentally. For the first time, take a little less salt than you think is sufficient. For the proportions initially selected, the guideline will be from 1 to 2 tablespoons. Spread the salt evenly and mix thoroughly. When the salt dissolves and the mass cools down to 30 degrees, it can be transferred to a pressing mold.

Place the press mold inside with cloth and fill with cheese mass. Swaddle the mass on top with the loose ends of the fabric and place under a press. First, load the piston with a weight of about 15 kg (3-4 bricks). Gradually add one brick at a time, bringing the total weight to 40 kg (8 bricks) and wait until the whey stops draining (about an hour).

8. Wrapping.

Remove the oppression, take out the piston, take out the cheese, wash, wipe it off so that the top layer of fat comes off, smooth out irregularities and folds. Cut a piece of cloth so that it overlaps the cheese by 5 centimeters. The cheese must be wrapped tightly and securely. Put back in the press mold (after rinsing and wiping it dry) and place under oppression for a day (40-50 kg).

Take out the cheese, remove the cloth, wipe it off with a dry clean cloth. Rinse with warm water, at the same time smooth out cracks and irregularities (with your fingers or a table knife). Wipe the cheese with a clean cloth and place in a cool, dark place. The best storage place is a wooden cabinet. Wipe and turn the cheese daily for 4-5 days, until a crust forms on the surface.

10. Paraffin.

If the cheese is hard enough, you can coat the surface with paraffin for best results. Heat 250 grams of paraffin in a water bath to a liquid state. The container should be larger in diameter than the head of cheese. Dip the cheese in paraffin for a few seconds and let set for 2-3 minutes. Make sure that the entire surface is covered with paraffin evenly.

11. Maturation.

Turn your cheese every day. Wipe down the cabinet, ventilate and dry it every week. After 6 weeks, the cheese will acquire firmness, its taste will be soft and tender. The storage temperature should be no higher than 15 degrees. If you want to wait for a spicy taste, then you should keep the cheese for 3-5 months. In this case, lower the storage temperature to 5-7 degrees. The lower the storage temperature, the longer the cheese can be kept, and the more delicate and spicy its taste will turn out. For the first cheese, it will be enough to age it for several weeks. You can divide the cheese into several parts before pouring paraffin and test one part for taste. But many believe that only a whole head is able to mature qualitatively.

These recommendations are intended to give a guideline in the manufacture of cheeses, to show the reality of their preparation at home. There are quite a few detailed recipes for making cheese, and they will all differ to some extent from this. In the production of cheese, each of the stages described affects flavor, aroma and texture. By experimenting and trying, you can get your own “signature” strain and name it whatever you like.

The base of the cheese is milk: cow, goat or sheep. You can add cottage cheese, sour cream, kefir, butter to milk. It is best to use farm products with a high fat content: UHT milk will not curdle, and skim milk will simply make a not very tasty cheese.

Excipients are certain bacteria and enzymes that accelerate the process of separating milk into whey and curd. You can buy them in a store or order them online.

Lemon juice, citric acid solution, or vinegar do the same job.

Bacteria and other microorganisms also affect the taste and texture of the cheese. But you can cook it without a special leaven - at the initial stage it is better to do so.

In addition to the main and auxiliary ingredients, you can add additional ingredients: nuts, herbs, mushrooms, vegetables or ham. You can also use spices such as turmeric, which will give the cheese a yellow color.

Technology

Training

Cook cheese in clean dishes and on clean work surfaces. If you touch anything foreign, be sure to dry them with a fresh towel.

If you do not follow these rules, harmful bacteria can enter the cheese and spoil it.

In addition, cheese easily absorbs foreign odors, so you do not need to use perfumes before cooking. Cooking other dishes in parallel is also not worth it: cheese can absorb the aromas of the food.

Cooking process

The cheese is made by dividing milk into curd mass and whey. To do this, milk is poured into a non-stick saucepan and brought to a boil. Usually, other dairy products and auxiliary ingredients are added at this stage. Then the milk continues to be heated until the curd mass separates from the whey.

Kurkuma.ru

The separated curd mass is filtered through clean cheesecloth and a sieve.

kurkuma.ru

After that, the future cheese, still wrapped in a cloth, is pressed down with a load or hung to completely rid it of the whey. In this position, the cheese usually ripens from several hours to a day.

kurkuma.ru

They are harder under pressure. It is believed that the heavier the load and the longer the mass lies under it, the denser and richer the cheese will be. It is optimal to use a load of 10 kg or more.

Store homemade cheese in the refrigerator for about a week.

Recipes

rezeptide.ru

Ingredients

• 1 liter of milk;
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons of butter;
• 1 teaspoon of dry herbs;
• 1 teaspoon of salt.

Preparation

Bring the milk to a boil and add the rest of the ingredients. When the mixture boils again, remove it from heat, strain through cheesecloth and squeeze. Place the mass under the load. When the cheese has cooled, you can cut it into pieces and serve.

foodandhealth.ru

Ingredients

• 1 liter of heavy cream;
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice.

Preparation

Place the cream over medium heat and, stirring occasionally, heat, but do not bring to a boil. As soon as bubbles begin to appear on the surface, remove the pan from the heat and, while stirring, add the lemon juice.

Return the pot to the stove, reduce heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes. When the mixture turns into a thick cream, fold it into a sieve covered with gauze.

Leave it on for about an hour or hang overnight. When all the whey is drained, the cheese can be tasted.

ywol.ru

Ingredients

• 1 liter of milk;
• 2 tablespoons of salt;
• 3 eggs;
• 200 g sour cream.

Preparation

Bring milk to a boil. Without reducing heat, add salt, beaten eggs and sour cream. Cook the mixture, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. When the whey begins to separate, discard the mixture in a colander lined with gauze. Hang the cheese for 3 hours, and then put it under the press for a few more hours.

1neof.ru

Ingredients

• 3 liters of milk;
• 2 kg of cottage cheese;
• 100 g butter;
• 1 egg;
• ½ teaspoon of baking soda;
• salt to taste.

Preparation

Heat the milk, but do not bring it to a boil. Add curd and stir. After that, reduce heat to low and simmer the mixture, stirring constantly. When the curd mass comes off, put it in a colander lined with gauze or cotton towel.

Melt the butter in a saucepan, put the resulting cheese in it, add the egg, soda and salt. Prepare the mixture, stirring constantly. When it starts to acquire a creamy consistency and turn yellow, remove it from heat. Transfer the cheese to a mold, press down with a load and refrigerate for a few hours or a day.

The resulting cheeses can be served as an independent snack, used for making sandwiches, salads, etc. The separated whey can also be put into circulation: for example, to make okroshka or pancakes on it.

This unfortunate situation can happen to every amateur cheese maker who uses commercial milk. You add enough milk-clotting enzyme, wait an hour and ... nothing happens. Instead of the expected jelly-like curd, you only get slightly thickened milk. You wait another half hour, and another - no result. And you ask yourself, "What did I do wrong? After all, everything worked out before ...".
So, what are the reasons for the fact that the clot did not work:

1. You have taken UHT milk, or milk that has been pasteurized at too high a temperature (over 68ºC) or pasteurized for too long. When milk is overheated above certain temperatures, irreversible changes in the protein structure occur, which make coagulation impossible. Unfortunately, this sometimes happens with store-bought milk. Even if the packaging says that the milk is pasteurized, you may fail. Solution: remember those milk producers with whom you got a normal curd, and use only them.
2. Rennet sluggish milk. Milk is called sluggish if the rennet curls poorly or does not curdle at all. This is due to the lack of calcium salts in animal feed. Yield: adding an increased amount of calcium chloride before adding rennet.
3. Insufficient amount of coagulant. The solution is simple: add enough enzyme to milk. Follow the instructions for the drug, or use the calculator on our website. To accurately determine the clotting time for a given cheese recipe, use the determination method.
4. The milk-clotting enzyme used has expired or become inactive due to improper storage conditions. See how to test rennet activity. An expired enzyme can also be used, but its dosage should be increased.

If your milk is not curdled with a coagulant, you can try to make fresh cheese from it.