5 Min Cheese!

(forgive the photo quality. It was dark)

While eating dinner Limon suddenly stated with a burst of passion, "Want to see me make cheese in 5 min?"

I didn't believe it could be done. After all, I've lived through almost 10 batches of cheese so far and each one took at least over night.

Limon frantically began heating milk, adding rennet, etc. In a few minutes he had strained a nicely sized chunk of cheese. However, this was special cheese. He began to elongate it until it resembled a long rope of taffy. He worked it for a bit then pulled off a piece. It shredded just like string cheese! He then asked me to heat up a tortilla. I was in for a special treat.

The cheese melted! I have been craving melting cheese the whole time we have been in this cheese-making phase. Don't get me wrong, I like the fresh stuff, but come on...cheese has to melt...

It was done. 5 min queso Oaxaca. I was definitely impressed.

More Cheeses

My husband...the cheesemaker.

Cheese!

For years now (I kind of love that I can say that!) I have heard Limon talk about cheese. He studied food sciences in dairy while attending college in Mexico and learned to make many different types of cheeses in large quantities. For years he has also been saying that if only he had the right ingredients he would be able to make the tastiest fresh cheese I would ever experience and that it was a very simple process.

His dreams finally came true this week. Enjoy this basic overview of the cheese-making process!

Step 1: Pasteurize the milk by heating it.

Step 2: Add rennet. This is the enzyme that allows the milk to separate into curds and whey. Dissolve in water and then add the water to the pasteurized milk.

Step 3: The milk will thicken and resemble custard or gelatin.

Step 4: You know when the rennet is done when you stick a knife in and it comes out clean (this is obviously not done!)

Step 5: Once it sets, you cut the mass into squares. This helps start the process of draining the excess water from the cheese curds. This is usually when you add salt to taste.


Step 6: Once it has separated you place the curds in a mold and leave to drain. We left ours overnight and...


Ta-da! Cheese. This is fresh "queso panela." It is not a melting cheese but tastes wonderful on your breakfast tortillas. We will be experimenting more with cheese later this week.