| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| villager |
cheese, as a starter for more cheese?Does anyone know if it is possible to use a piece of store-bought cheese to make a starter for another batch of cheese?To make cheese here, I have been lacking rennet and starter. However, rennet is no longer a problem, because following instructions in Fankhauser's website I have been able to extract it from a goat-kid's tummy. I was planning to use live yoghurt as a starter, but here in the boonies I am finding that it is not available. We have just taken out from the freezer a packet of Kerry Gold's Cheddar Cheese. I wonder if any bugs in it are still alive , and if they would multiply themselves into a starter if I left them in a little warm milk overnight. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Ta |
| twoscoops |
All I can say is that if the cheese has been made with pasteurised milk, which I suspect it has, then there will be no bugs left, good or bad. |
| Erikht |
No, it won't work, and I wouldn't use yogurt either. Buy a freeze dried starter culture on the Internet.
This was the first that popped up when googling "Home cheese making": http://www.cheesemaking.co.uk/cgi-bin/web_store.cgi |
| Sarah D |
No, it won't work. However, I use good quality yoghurt all the time as a starter. |
| Erikht |
Well, you could probably use any traditional soured milk product from Malawi as a starter. Using a grafted starter will help you get a more stable result in the early days of your cheese making career. What kind of press do you use? |
| villager |
Thanks for those replies.
My cheese press is basically what Fankhauser shows on his website. It consists of a 110 mm slotted pipe resting on a hardwood base, with a wooden follower inside being forced down with strips of rubber. So far I have had to let the milk curdle naturally after pasteurisation, which takes 3 to 4 days, then I drain and press the resulting curd. Unfortunately, I never achieve the same result twice, that is why I am keen to use a starter of some sort. |
| Erikht |
That sounds like a very long time.
Here is an easy press to make: 
|