How to Make Fresh Cheese Using Kits

I recently picked up two different cheese making kits for fresh cheese.

The first one I got from The Homebrew Exchange for making mascarpone. I had never even really looked into making cheese before I bought this kit, which ended up containing enough tartaric acid to make 30 batches, some cheese cloth, and instructions. It took about an hour to make, and the batch turned out very well when I did get around to making it because we had bought fresh strawberries. The mascarpone was actually better than the early cheap strawberries.

The other kit I bought was at the 16^th Annual Spring Beer & Wine Fest back and Tour de Cheese back in April from Urban Cheese Craft. I paid $15 for a queso blanco and paneer DYI Cheese Kit, in which the kit contained cheese cloth, cheese salt (AKA flaked salt), citric acid, and instructions. This kit is supposedly good for 10 batches, and all I have to do is buy whole milk after buying the kit. I have also seen their kits at Whole Foods Market, where I believe they have taught some classes. I made the queso blanco the same day I did the mascarpone, and it turned out a little bland due to me going a bit easy on the salt. I will note that as part of the instructions, it does say that if you run out of the citric acid, you can use vinegar to make queso blanco, so when I run out of the citric acid, I do not have to worry about finding more or buying it from them. I looked at the difference between paneer and queso blanco, and I saw very little difference between the two recipes, so I’ve just been sticking to making the queso blanco.

Both of these kits are good beginners kits, as the cheese cloth provided is good quality cheese cloth unlike what you might find in a grocery store. However, both kits called for an accurate thermometer to get the milk up to 185⁰. I did use a digital one that had been given to us as a gift, but later I purchased a better one that had a holder on the side of the pot from the Homebrew Exchange.

Tour de Cheese

As part of the 16^th Annual Spring Beer & Wine Fest back in April, there was also a Tour de Cheese portion. This brought together several different northwest craft cheese makers.

Most cheese makers in the area are using goat or sheep’s milk. I don’t blame them. Both species take up less space than cows, reach maturity sooner, and require less feed to maintain, so it is an easier livestock for the backyard farmer to raise. I tried some as my first cheese, but I unfortunately got it stuck in my throat due to my dislike of this style of product. I’m sure their products are quite wonderful, but I just struggle so much with it.

However, that’s not to say that all of the cheese was goat or sheep’s milk, as there were several cow milk cheeses represented, of which I could eat. From Chehalis, WA, Rosecrest Farm was there with swiss style cheese from their milking shorthorns. I bought some of their garlic flavored swiss cheese, and thought it was delightful.

There were also a few cheese makers and distributors from outside the Pacific Northwest present at the event, such as Beehive Cheese Co from Utah. I admit, I’m a sucker for cheese curd, and my husband loves Cajun food, so I got their Ragin’ Cajun Squeaky Bee Curds.

The other interesting booth that was cheese related that I should note was Urban Cheese Craft. They are a company that puts everything you need to make a simple cheese into a box except the milk. For $15, I bought a DYI Cheese Kit to make queso blanco and paneer. I have also seen their kits at Whole Foods Market, where I believe they have taught some classes. I’ll give a review on that shortly.