ottawa foodies

has anyone tried making their own cheese? I'd love to give it a go, but am not sure where I'd go about finding the rennet, and cheese culture necessary. If anyone would like to share their experiences, I'd certainly appreciate it.

I have a recipe for a FRESH cheese in one of my recipe books, which uses only very simple ingredients (ie: no rennet etc.). I imagine it would be a very mild soft cheese good for maybe marinating in oil and herbs(think the same idea as marinated feta, goat cheese rounds or boccochini). I've never tried it, and it may not be exactly the type of cheese you are looking to make, however it might be good for a first attempt. I was actually kicking around the idea of making cute jars of marinated cheese rounds for Christmas gifts. Let me know if you would like me to dig out the recipe for you.

To make a feta-like cheese just make yoghurt first (or buy it) and then hang it out in cheesecloth over the sink overnight. I used to just use a white cotton handkerchief

www.leeners.com/ will have everything you want for 'real' cheesemaking. For an inexpensive cheese press check out schmidling.com/press.htm

Wouldn't strained yoghurt be more like tzatziki?

I have though about making my own cheese too, and would like more info on the topic. There are plenty of fresh cheese recipes online, but I think they come out to something like cottage cheese.

tzatziki is basically just flavoured yoghurt isn't it?

This turns out to be a nice soft (spreadable) cheese.

I confess I know nothing about cheesemaking but I have eaten and made tzatziki and it is actually eggplant based. You cut your eggplant in half and bake it in the oven. Then you scoop out the flesh and purée it then add a little yogurt and LOTS of garlic. I have often heard the strained yogurt that zymurgist makes is also referred to as yogurt cheese. I haven't tried it myself but I would imagine it is pretty darn close to feta.

The main difference from feta in the stuff that I made would likely be due to me using cow milk and feta being goat milk. The texture and so on was pretty darned close.

Pasta Lover, I think you're making your own version of Baba ghanoush (or ganouj)...which is roasted eggplant puréed with the addition of tahini, garlic, and lemon.
Tzatziki (tzadziki) is not eggplant but plain yoghurt with the addition of puréed cucumber, garlic, olive oil and herbs (usually dill and/or mint).
Both: Greek/Turkish/Middle Eastern.

I thought eggplant in tzatziki sounded strange!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzatziki

Yeah, that was new to me too. When I think eggplant, I think Baba Ghanoush (en.wikipedia.org)

Thanks for the comments folks! I keep getting these brain cramps hehehe... I realized after I hit the "post reply" button that the eggplant dish is in fact baba ghanouj and tzatziki has cucumbers in it. (I make both and I don't even know what I'm making ha!) I am going to hook myself up to the coffee machine now...

I took a cheesemaking workshop a couple or three years ago and had a great (grate!) time. I highly recommend it.

glengarrycheesemaking.on.ca

It's in Alexandria, about an hour east of here.

Give Margaret Morris a call and ask when the next one will be held. In the meantime she has videos and a very comprehensive book, plus all of the supplies of course as that is her main business.

this is an old thread....but does anyone know where i can get rennet locally???

this is an old thread....but does anyone know where i can get rennet locally???

this is an old thread....but does anyone know where i can get rennet locally???

this is an old thread....but does anyone know where i can get rennet locally???

this is an old thread....but does anyone know where i can get rennet locally???

this is an old thread....but does anyone know where i can get rennet locally???

this is an old thread....but does anyone know where i can get rennet locally???

this is an old thread....but does anyone know where i can get rennet locally???

this is an old thread....but does anyone know where i can get rennet locally???

this is an old thread....but does anyone know where i can get rennet locally???

this is an old thread....but does anyone know where i can get rennet locally???

this is an old thread....but does anyone know where i can get rennet locally???

this is an old thread....but does anyone know where i can get rennet locally???

this is an old thread....but does anyone know where i can get rennet locally???

this is an old thread....but does anyone know where i can get rennet locally???

this is an old thread....but does anyone know where i can get rennet locally???

this is an old thread....but does anyone know where i can get rennet locally???

this is an old thread....but does anyone know where i can get rennet locally???

this is an old thread....but does anyone know where i can get rennet locally???

this is an old thread....but does anyone know where i can get rennet locally???

this is an old thread....but does anyone know where i can get rennet locally???

Holy crap, what kind of web browser are you using?

Or what kind of keyboard-chair interface? :-)

must be a Toyota keyboarddddddddddddddddddddd

In Corsica, the traditionally way to do it is pack the milk into a sheep/lamb stomach until it coagulates.......just saying! Apparently you can use one of the veal stomach's as well.

Glengary Cheese

I am also told that a lot of the arabic/muslim stores carry it.

You can get Rennet at Nicastro on Merivale. They have the tablets version. It's on the meat counter just ask there and they will show it to you. I've made fresh mozarella a few times. Very easy and SUPER fun! only takes about 40min. You will also need citric acid for the mozarella. I got some at Rainbow foods on Richmond road. You can substitue lemon juice. I've done this once before. I forget what the ration is though.

I had ordered some from glengarrycheesemaking.on.ca/. She walked me through everything I needed over the phone and then she shipped it to me.

(Then I didn't do anything with it)

Bump!

Now that I have a cow share, I want to make some cheese. I have to get some rennet first - BTW I am told that the stuff at Nicastro is not in fact rennet but is something else, and is "crap" according to my source. I'll start out having a look at Glengarry

I am told that Mozza is pretty easy to start with. What all will I need?

Zymuurgist - you can make Mozza in an afternoon and enjoy it right away. It's a great starter cheese. I bought a kit from Leener's in the states - it came with everything I needed. I also made some ricotta from the leftover whey from the mozzarella. You'll need a large SS pot, SS slotted spoon, SS thermometer. The Leener's kit comes with baskets for the ricotta and the feta (I made goat milk feta). The recipes are good and the cheese was delicious.

That reminds me, time to put a batch of cheddar on for the summer! :-)

Here's the feta I made in the spring. It was creamy, crumbly and delicious :-)

followup - i am told the tablets at nicastro are junket, not rennet

try:

www.berryhilllimited.com/ or hoeggergoatsupply.com

lots of cheese making supplies with those two places. One is Canadian, one is American. There is another site too, but can't recall the name right now.

And fiascofarm.com/dairy/index.htm is a great site for simple cheesemaking ideas.

Zymurgist, if the farm you have your cowshare with makes cheese, ask them when they order their supplies.