All of our recipes have now been updated.  We hope they help you create your basic cheese of choice. For hard cheeses, try the Homesteader's Supply USA made Cheese Press!!  Enjoy! Now we have our yogurt recipe too!

Homemade Yogurt

Yogurt Instructions:  heat milk from 165 -185 degrees. Once that temperature is reached allow the milk to cool down to 108 degrees and add yogurt culture.  Allow culture to dissolve on top of milk for a minute or two.  (Our best culture is our LyoPro Y+ and LyoPro YD+ ) Then stir throughout well. Cover your pot and place it somewhere it can remain warm for about 7-12 hours.  If using a Yogotherm, Immediately pour this cultured milk into the inner bucket, secure the lid.  Place bucket into the Yogotherm, and replace it's lid.  Place your yogotherm in a warm area and allow it to incubate for 7 to 12 hours... more if you like.  You can leave the milk in the stock pot, place lid on top and keeping it in a warm area.

The longer you incubate the yogurt the thicker it will get.  After incubation time, if you like thinner yogurt then place it into the refrigerator until it's cold and then ready to enjoy!  But, if you want THICK yogurt, no matter what yogurt culture you use, then place it into a cheesecloth lined colander over a pot or bowl. Allow to drain for 4 to 6 hrs.  The time draining depends upon how thick you want your yogurt!

Cottage Cheese

1 Gallon Cow, Goat or Sheep Milk
Mesophilic Cheese Culture
Rennet
salt
 

• Gently warm the milk to 70 degrees F in a warm water bath.
• Add: 3/8 tsp Abiasa culture, or
• 1/8 tsp Danisco Culture, or
• 1/16 tsp Sacco Italian Culture
• Let the culture dissolve on the milk surface for 2-4 minutes before stirring. Work well into the milk using the 20 top/bottom strokes.
• Add: 1/4 tsp liquid rennet diluted in 1/4 cup of cool water, or
• 1/2 tab vegetarian rennet diluted in 1/4 cup cool water for 20 minutes prior to use
• Mix thoroughly.
• When a firm curd forms from sitting at room temperature, cut the curd mass with a knife into 1/2 inch cubes and stir gently for 2-5 minutes.
• Cook the curds and whey slowly to 102 degrees F in a double boiler pot system while stirring frequently to break up the curds.  Using a large wire wisk makes this process so easy... just place wish into the pot and pull up through the curds. Try to raise the temperature 5 degrees F every five minutes taking 45-60 minutes to reach your final cook temperature.
• Once the curds appear firm and springy and are approximately the size of a shelled peanut, drain through a clean cheese cloth.
• Rinse the curds in very cold water, allow them to drain completely then add salt to taste.  Remember that salt is also a preservative, helping to prevent mold formation and prolong the self life of your cheese. You may enrich the curds with heavy cream or pack as dry curd into storage tubs and refrigerate.  The products will have approximately 10-14 days of shelf life.

Farmhouse Cheddar Cheese Recipe

3 gallons whole milk

Mesophilic Culture (1/4 tsp Abiasa, 1/8 tsp Danisco, or 1/16 tsp Sacco)

2 teaspoons calcium chloride (only needed for store bought milk)
1.5 tablet rennet or 3/4 tsp liquid rennet
1/4 cup unchlorinated water
1 Tbsp salt

• Combine milk, (calcium chloride) in 16 qt stock pot (double boiler to prevent scorching)
• Slowly heat mixture to 86 degrees. Turn off heat and stir in lactic cheese culture. (Different types of culture create different flavors of cheese)  Stir gently throughout. Cover mixture and allow to rest undisturbed at 86 degrees for 45 minutes.
• Dissolve rennet tablet or liquid rennet in 1/4 cup  water.
• Keep the milk at 86 degrees.  Stir the rennet mixture into milk slowly but thoroughly. Allow milk to set undisturbed for 30 - 45 minutes or until curd shows a clean break.
• Using long knife, cut the curds into 1/2 inch squares, then stir gently just to break the strips of curds into chunks. Let it sit to rest for 5 minutes.
• Slowly heat the curds and whey to 102 degrees, raising the temperature 2 degrees every 5 minutes. Stir curd gently to prevent matting and reduce their size to half peanut size. A large wisk works well by placing it to bottom of pot and putting up right so curds break as they fall through the wisk. Hold curds for additional 30 minutes at this temperature
• Place pre-warmed with hot water colander over a pot and pour the curds into it.
• Reserve 1/3 of the whey and pour back into the cheese pot. Set colander of curds onto the cheese pot. Cover top with cheese cloth and lid to keep in warmth. Allow curds to drain for 45 to 60 minutes. This is called the cheddaring process.
• Cut slab into pieces and press through french fry cutter or cut by hand.
• Add 1 tablespoon course salt. Using your hands, gently mix the salt into curds. You can eat these curds now, or press into a wheel.
• Place the curds into cheese press and follow the directions for dressing with cheese cloth for the next 12 hours.
• Remove cheese from press, unwrap the cloth, place cheese on drying mat to air dry for 12 hours, creating a nice skin over the whole cheese.  Cheese is ready to slice and eat or you can wax and age for stronger cheddar flavor.
• Mix 1 tablespoon of salt with 1/2 cup of water. Use a corner of the cheese cloth to lightly apply a saltwater wash to the cheese.

Colby Cheese Recipe

1 - 3 gal whole milk
1/4 tsp MESOPHILIC Abiasa Culture ( 1/8 tsp Danisco, or 1/16 tsp Sacco Italian)
1/2 rennet tablet per gallon dissolved in 1/4 cup unchlorinated water,
1 Tbsp salt

• Warm milk to 86 F. Add culture and mix gently but thoroughly. Let it ripen undisturbed at 86 degrees for one hour.
• Add dissolved rennet and gently but thoroughly stir into milk. Then top stir. Let milk set for 30 minutes or until curd shows a "clean break".
• Cut the curd into 3/8" cubes. Stir gently. Let curd rest for 5 minutes to firm up.
• Raise temperature of the curd 2 degrees every 5 minutes until temperature reaches 102 F. Stir gently so curd particles do not mat together. Hold at 102 F for 30 minutes undisturbed. Gently stir curd. Then let curd set undisturbed for 5 minutes to settle at bottom of pot.
• Drain off the whey to level of the curd. Add tap water at 60 degrees until temperature of curd water reaches 80 F. Stir while adding the water. Hold curd at 80 degrees for 15 minutes. Stir to keep from matting. (Moisture content of the cheese is controlled by temperature of the water added... dryer cheese keep at a few degrees higher than 80 degrees, if moisture cheese is desired keep at few degrees below 80 degrees.)
• Pour curds into cheesecloth lined colander. Allow curds to drain 20 minutes.
• Place curds into large bowl, add salt, add seasonings/herbs as desired. Mix thoroughly yet gently, breaking curds into thumbnail size pieces.
• Place cheese into cheesecloth lined mold (Tome Mold for 2-3 gallon milk cheese, or Reblochon Mold for 1 gallon milk cheese) Press with 8-10 lbs for about 4 hours allowing all the whey to release from the cheese.
• Flip cheese, cheesecloth and all, int the mold with 8 to 10 lbs for about 12 hours.
• Remove cheese from mold. Remove cheesecloth and place on drying rack to air dry for a day or two to develop a skin all around the cheese.  It is now ready to eat or you can age it.
• Wax and store at 50 degrees for 2-3 months. Turn the cheese daily for first couple of days, then at least once a week until eaten.
• Cheese can also be frozen for storage, but this does stop the aging process.

Homemade Butter Recipe

1/2 gallon cream, skimmed from top of fresh milk
1/16 tsp Mesophilic Culture
cold, non-chlorinated water
Be sure to have a blender or jar for shaking, and stainless steal: mixing bowl, large spoon, soup ladle and strainer.  Stainless steel is preferable.

• Stir in the culture into the jar of fresh cream. Cover with lid. Leave on counter at room temperature for 24 hours. Then place into refrigerator until cold.
• Remove jar with soured cream. Remove the amount you want reserved for sour cream and place into glass jar with lid marked sour cream and dated.
• From large jar of soured cream, remove small amount of sour cream and place into blender. Add about 8 oz cold water. Blend on high until you see a break from just liquid to solids floating in the liquid. Stop blender and pour contents into strainer. The solid left in the strainer is the butter! Wash the butter by running cold water over it until liquid runs almost clear. Place this ball of butter into another bowl.
• You can just placed the soured cream with some cold water into a quart jar and shake until butter solids are released from the liquid.
• Repeat the process until all soured cream has resulted in butter.
• Once all washed butter is in the mixing bowl, take a large spoon and smash the butter over and over. You will see water released. Drain this off as you go. You know you are done when your smashing results in no water being released.
• Remove the fresh butter from the mixing bowl, add any salt, spices, herbs at this time and mix well, and then place into containers for storing. Fresh butter from cow's milks will only last a few days in the frig, so store into small containers and freeze until ready for use.

Homemade Cream Cheese

• Place cream from milk into quart jar.
• Add 1/16 mesophilic culture and stir well.
• Cover the jar and leave on the counter at room temperature for 12 to24 hrs, or until cream is thick just like sour cream, in fact when it is ready, this thicken cream IS sour cream!
• Place cheesecloth over colander that is sitting inside large bowl or pot.
• Remove the thick sour cream from the quart jar right into the cheesecloth. Wrap up the cheesecloth and either hang freely to drain the whey and butter milk from the sour cream.
• The longer is drains the dryer the cheese will be. Allow approx 8 to 12 hours of drying time.
• Remove cream cheese from the cheese cloth and add spices, herbs, natural sweetiners to your taste preference.