Cheese Making

This has been an adventurous year for us, I started making cheese in October which has lead to building a cold smoker so we can oak smoke some of the chedder, we have also made our own smoked salmon too

Initially my guide for cheese making was a booklet produced by the very helpful Christine Ashby who is also contactable by phone and more recently a book HOME CHEESE MAKING by Ricki Carroll.

The greatest difficulty was finding suitable vessels large enough to make a double boiler. I eventually sourced a 12 L stainless steel bucket from Germany for £25 including postage and a huge aluminium stock / preserve pan on eBay large enough to sail a yacht in. I made a cheese press from two chopping boards and some stainless steel threaded bar.

To produce a chedder style hard cheese is not as difficult as you may think, it does however require some equiptment and time. All equiptment and cheese making supplies can be sourced from Moorland Cheese Makers

The basic requirements:-

A double boiler larger enough for 8L milk

Dial thermometer

8 litres of milk

a starter culture ( MA 400)

Rennet

Cold boiled water

Long bladed knife

Long handled spoon

Cheese mould and follower

Cheese cloth

Draining matt