Whey To Go! More Adventures in Cheese Making

This week I am making cheese…..I have some cows milk and goat’s milk so I wanted to try my hand at more of my favourite cheese in the world – Feta. It is just the absolute best as far as I am concerned both for it’s taste and versatility.

I find I can use feta in nearly anything – and it improves the texture, taste, and overall appeal of any dish. From salads in the summer (doesn’t feta remind you of summer!) to warm vegetable pie bakes in the winter. Lovely.

So, with this in mind I wanted to make a sizable amount of cheese for us to enjoy in the coming week. (For me here, that means a bowl full LOL) Of course, getting a bowlful of cheese means using several liters of milk…..

And this means lots of whey left over at the end of the process of cheese making…..I never throw out something good – it just gets made into more food and fed to everyone.

To make feta, for those who are interested - it's quite straight forward. Using clean pots, thermometer and utensils - I gently heat the milk (this time 6 liters) to about 86 F. Then add in the starter culture (tiny quantities) - as much as possible I keep the temp around this mark for the next hour or so.

Then, I add a tiny amount of rennet (I use raw milk for cheese so a little goes a long way) stir and let this sit for another 30 to 40 minutes (with some warmth if I can) until curds are starting to form. Once the curds are forming and I get a clean break with a knife - I start cutting, slicing and otherwise gently lifting the curds to encourage more whey to come out.

This might take a little while....then the curds are moved to a muslin cloth to be strained for several hours or overnight (up to 24 hours depending on your tastes). Once out of the cloth the cheese is cut further into cubes, salted (and herbed in my case) and placed in the fridge for a couple of days. 

This entire endeavour produces a large amount of whey......

With this large pot of leftover whey, this week I made a few loaves of sourdough bread – one batch with cinnamon and one plain. I also decided to cook a large pot of basmati rice in whey (it is very tasty) as well as do a little spicy carrot & lentil stew….

Some of the whey went into animal feeds as well. Whey is a great source of protein, I would consider it similar to a tonic and a strengthening food. When it is used in cooking (such as the lentil stew) it adds a tangy flavour like nothing else – as if your stew had melted cheese in it.

Yum!

Finding uses for byproducts of making our food from scratch is part of the fun (and challenge) of using innovation and resourcefulness to it’s maximum. Yet….it’s all been done before!

Enjoy your day out there,

April

Curds and Whey