Homemade Dill Cheese

Make your own homemade cheese!

Last sunday I visited the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum with my boyfriend. We had the chance to learn about farm animals and food production, and ended our day at the demonstration kitchen where we watched a demo on how to make butter. 

After the demonstration, we started talking to demonstrator and she explained to us how easy it was to make homemade cheese. I was so fascinated that after visiting all the animals at the museum and looking at the food preservation exhibit, we went straight to the grocery store so that I could buy the ingredients needed to attempt making my very own cheese!

Being a cheese lover, I was really excited when this recipe turned out amazing and was actually incredibly simple to make. The consistency of the cheese is a mix between ricotta and bocconcini. I decided to add dill and sea salt to add flavor to my cheese, but you can basically use anything you'd like. I made a second batch and used garlic powder and sea salt, which also turned out to be delicious. Now that I've discovered the beauty of making my own cheese, I will definitely be experimenting with loads of different flavors. 

Start off by pouring 4 litres of homogenized milk (3.25%) into a pot. Put on high heat and, while stirring constantly, bring to 190^oF (when small bubbles start forming.) Remove from heat and add in a third cup of white vinegar. Let sit for 10 minutes to allow the milk to curdle. 

While the milk sits, line a colander with two layers of cheesecloth and place it above a large bowl or pot. 

Once the 10 minutes are up, you will see that the milk has curdled. This is when you want to mix in your spices. Add in one tablespoon of dried dill weed and one teaspoon of sea salt (more if you prefer a saltier tasting cheese), or any other spices of your choice. Like I mentioned above, I added garlic powder and sea salt to my second batch of cheese. 

Mix the spices in the milk then pour mixture through the cheesecloth. This will allow you to catch all the curdles.

 It may take time for all the liquid to come out, so you can work the cheesecloth by twisting the top to create a ball and squeezing out as much liquid as possible. 

Once the liquid is all squeezed out, you can remove your cheese ball from the cloth. 

The leftover liquid (whey) should be yellow, almost like melted butter. If it still looks milky, that means that you can redo the process and create another cheese ball since there's still some milk products left in the liquid. This happened to me so I created the second garlic cheese. 

To store the cheese, simply wrap it in plastic wrap and keep in the refrigerator for up to a week. And there you have it, homemade cheese!

Homemade Dill Cheese

Ingredients 

4L homogenized milk (3.25%)

1/3 white vinegar

1 tbsp dried dill weed

1 tsp sea salt (more if you like your cheese to be salty)

Cheesecloth

Food thermometer 

Instructions

1. Put milk in a large pot on high heat and bring to 190^oF (when small bubbles start forming) while constantly stirring. 
2. Once milk has reached 190^oF, remove from heat and add vinegar. Stir and let sit for 10 minutes.
3. In the meantime, line a colander with 2 layers of cheesecloth and place above a large bowl or pot. 
4. Once the 10 minutes are up, you will see that the milk has curdled. This is when you want to mix in your spices. Add in dill and sea salt, or any other spice of your choice. Mix until well distributed.
5. Pour the milk through the cheesecloth in order to catch all curdles. It may take time for all the liquid to come out, so you can work the cheesecloth by twisting the top to create a ball and squeezing out am much liquid as possible. 
6. Once the liquid is all squeezed out, remove your cheese ball from the cloth. 
7. The leftover liquid (whey) should be yellow. If the liquid expelled from the cloth is still a milky color, that means that there's still some curdles that can be taken from the liquid. You can repeat steps 1-6 to create another cheese ball (I had to do this and made a garlic cheese ball). When finished, remaining liquid (whey) should be yellow, like melted butter. 
8. To store the cheese, wrap in plastic wrap and keep in the refrigerator for up to a week.