Starters for cheeses: review, instructions, recipes and reviews. Cheese starter at home

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

As you know, cheese is a useful product and familiar to mankind for more than one millennium. It is prepared from the milk of ruminants: mainly cow, goat, sheep, mare. But not everyone knows that special starter cultures for cheeses are also used in cheese making, which, by the way, can also be of different origin. It is clear that the product prepared at home will be both tastier and he althier than store-bought. Especially in the light of recent checks, which showed that in the production of many cheeses the required technology is not followed and additives are added that are completely unnecessary and spoil the natural taste. This is done, as a rule, in order to save on the cost of production, and in order to increase the shelf life of the fermented milk product. So sourdough for cheese at home will obviously come in handy if you have already come close to the question of how to make it yourself. That way you'll at least know exactly what it's made of.

Types of homemade cheeses

Things that can be produced in your kitchen using cheese starters are divided into three types.

1. Hard cheeses. They are made on the basis of sourdough for cheeses and cottage cheese. They are kept under a special press (you can do it yourself or buy it in a store, but it will cost a pretty penny). Exposure occurs for at least a month. The longer the exposure, the better the taste after. The density of the structure of the body of the product is largely dependent on the time and weight of the load of the press. Another caveat: hard cheese can only be made from whole milk.
2. Soft cheeses. Cheese starters and cottage cheese are also used here. The difference with solid variants is mainly in the exposure time. And soft cheeses are also made from skimmed milk, and the product can be consumed after a week (at the same time, soft types are not covered with paraffin for long-term storage).
3. Homemade cheeses (like Adyghe, suluguni or feta cheese). They are also made from cottage cheese, which has a fairly high liquid content. The shelf life of such cheeses is short. And they are made mainly from skimmed milk (but you can also from whole milk). These products are fairly easy to make and do not need to be pressurized.

What you need to make

• It is advisable to take whole milk (mostly cow's milk in modern conditions). The main thing is to choose quality. Clarify that when feeding the animal are not usedantibiotics (at least for a week, as they slow down the oxidation processes). It is best if you have a private economy and your own horned ones, or you have the opportunity to constantly buy raw materials from friends who are engaged in subsistence farming. It should be remembered that from 10 liters of milk you can get only one kilogram of hard cheese, or 1.5 kg of soft cheese, or 2 kg of cheese or suluguni.
• From equipment - it can be built cheaply and with your own hands, so as not to buy expensive imported options - you will need: cheese molds (can be made from ordinary tin cans), a press with a piston (at home it is made from boards and a clamp), thermometer for liquid, knife, colander, gauze, paraffin (if we are preparing hard cheese).

Sourdough starter for cheese at home

And, of course, sourdough is essential for cheese. It must be used so that it stimulates the formation of that amount of acid, which would be sufficient for the correct process, as quickly and better as possible. In home cheesemaking, buttermilk, yogurts, and powdered starters, and natural dairy, naturally obtained, and yeast are used. Keep in mind that the character that a cheese starter has (more precisely, its origin) directly affects its taste and aroma. So you have to choose options, correlating your own tastes and preferences with classic technologies.

Cheese. Leaven. The recipe is the easiest

Half a liter of freshleave natural whole milk to sour at room (or slightly higher) temperature. Usually a day is enough at an optimum temperature of 30 degrees. We use this starter, adding it to the main raw material, in the production of homemade cheeses that do not require the use of a press.

Another option

Sourdough for homemade cheese can also be prepared with yeast. Add 1/8 stick of yeast to warm milk. We leave this mixture to wander for a day in a warm place. Then we pour out half of the milk and add fresh. We do this throughout the week. During this time, the sourdough will mature and be ready to use. We add it to the main raw material.

Abonet

This product has long been known in cheese making as a starter for homemade cheese. And in the cheese industry it is used very actively for the production of most cheeses. What is this substance? Even the ancient Greeks, according to scientific data, using the stomachs of ungulates as containers for liquids, most likely accidentally discovered the phenomenon of its effect on dairy products. Or maybe this technology was known before? In ruminants, this is the 4th section of the multichambered stomach (glandular stomach). In calves (or lambs), for example, who feed on mother's milk, a special rennet is actively produced there, which is involved in digestion - rennin. It breaks down peptides. This rennet is the first chemically isolated in the laboratory. By the way, the Dane Christian Hansen, who discovered it by s alt extraction in1874, subsequently founded a company that is still the largest manufacturer of the enzyme. The main source is the stomachs of dairy calves (age - no more than 10 days), dried and ground in a special way. Rennet is the main ingredient used in cheese making.

Process essence

When rennet is introduced into milk under certain temperature conditions, the process of rapid coagulation of milk begins - curdling. At home, using abomasum is quite easy, so there is no need to be afraid of this. We just take a tablet or extract (in the form in which it is usually sold) and dissolve in milk at room temperature (or a little higher). The effect is visible within an hour. By the way, the use of rennet is not at all necessary in the production of homemade cheeses of a soft category. It is enough to use starters from naturally sour milk. The only inconvenience is that the curdling process will take much longer. Usually - a little more than a day. During this time, the clot - the curd beginning - and whey manages to separate. But still, some people prefer to use abomasum at home to improve the taste and speed up the maturation of the cheese.

For Vegetarians

Vegetarians have a lot of questions about the use of an animal enzyme in the production of cheese. Therefore, in recent times (for example, in Europe), substitutes for rennet have been used for cheese making. Back in the 60s of the last century, the corresponding strains of fungi were isolated, which are involved in the synthesisenzyme. And since the early 90s, genetic biotechnology and rennin produced by bacteria have been used. According to unverified data, more than half of the cheese products in Europe are now produced with such substitutes. But some firms still adhere to more traditional technologies in cooking and use animal rennet.

At the pharmacy

By the way, such a starter for cheese is also suitable for home cooking of a delicious fermented milk product. The pharmacy sells pepsin. The only drawback is some high cost of the pharmacy enzyme and its deficiency. But if you have the opportunity to get this medicine, feel free to use it for the production of homemade cheeses.