Cheese making - Made easy, ebook, pobierz pdf

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EQUIPMENT YOU
Much of the equipment you will need for
cheesemaking can be found in your kitchen. There are
a few precautions that must be taken in the use of this
equipment, and these are extremely important.
Cleaning Your Equipment
The minute you're through with a utensil, rinse it
thoroughly with
cold water.
Hot water will cook the
milk onto the surface of a pan or ladle. Then wash and
scrub it in hot water with a good dish-washing
detergent or soap (or you may use washing soda).
Rinse thoroughly in hot water. You must wash utensils
just as carefully
before
using them.
1. All utensils (and this includes
everything
that
comes in contact with the milk at any stage) used
during cheesemaking should be made of glass or
stainless steel, or enamel-lined (with no chips or
cracks, please). During cheesemaking, milk be-
comes acidic, and if aluminum or cast iron pots
are used, metallic salts will be taken up into the
curds, causing an unpleasant flavor and being
potentially dangerous to eat.
2. All utensils must be carefully cleaned before and
after cheesemaking.
Most home cheesemaking
failures are caused by unclean or unsterile equip-
ment.
Remember that the whole process of
making cheese is based on the action of friendly
bacteria. Unclean and unsterile conditions can
add the unwanted factor of "war between the
good guys and the bad guys."
Sterilizing Your Equipment
You may sterilize your equipment in one of three
ways.
1. Immerse equipment in boiling water for up to
five minutes.
2. Steam utensils for a minimum of five minutes in
a large kettle with about two inches of water in
the bottom and a tight lid on top. Wooden items
WILL NEED
such as cheese boards and mats should be boiled
or steamed for at least twenty minutes.
3. Plastic (even food grade) equipment should not
be boiled or steamed, and should be sterilized
with a solution of household bleach (sodium
hypochlorite) mixed in the proportion of two
tablespoons of bleach to one gallon of water.
Bleach may also be used with stainless steel
utensils. Be sure that your rinsing is very
thorough after using bleach, because a residue
of sodium hypochlorite will interfere with the
growth of cheesemaking bacteria. Drain the
rinsed equipment dry and store it in a clean
place.
Just before using them again, all utensils should
be resterilized.
Dampen a clean cloth in the bleach
solution and wipe all counter areas around the place
where you will work.
These are some of the things you will need:
1. Glass or stainless steel
measuring cup and
spoons.
2. Dairy thermometer.
The thermometer should
measure from 20° to 220° F. Before using it,
check its accuracy by testing it in boiling water. If
it doesn't read exactly 212° F., you'll need to
make adjustments when using it.
There are two types of thermometers.
One is the floating glass dairy thermometer,
a fine choice for beginners. It floats upright in the
milk and is easy to read.
The stainless steel dial thermometer is faster
in its response to temperature changes than the
glass model. Most have a bracket to hold them at
the side of the pot. They have a nine-inch shaft
suspended in the milk.
3.
Pots.
They should be stainless steel or glass, or
enamel-lined, and large enough to hold the
amount of milk you will use.
4.
Pots.
You'll also need a pot larger than the one
that contains the milk, to hold water, double-
boiler fashion, around the cheese pot. This pot
should have a rack, so that water can circulate
under the cheese pot. As an alternative, you can
put the cheese pot in a sink of hot water. In many
cases, this is the easiest way to warm milk. When
recipes in this book call for heating indirectly, use
one of these methods.
5. Stainless steel stirring
spoon
or
ladle.
6.
Curd knife
with a stainless steel blade long
enough to reach to the bottom of the smaller
pot without immersing the handle.
7.
Cheesecloth.
We don't mean the loosely woven
mosquito netting fabric sold in most stores under
the name of cheesecloth. The real thing is much
more closely woven, needs only one layer of
thickness for draining cheese, and is strong
enough to wash, boil to sterilize, and use over and
over again. After being used, cheesecloth should
be rinsed clear in cold water, then washed right
away with a little bleach added to the wash water
occasionally. Boiling the cheesecloth in water to
which washing soda has been added will help
maintain the freshness of the cloth.
8.
Butter muslin.
Slightly closer weave than cheese-
cloth.
9.
Molds
come in many shapes and sizes and are
used to contain the curds during the final drain-
ing period. When finished, the cheese retains the
shape of the mold. Molds come in stainless steel
and food-grade plastic. A make-do mold can be
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