If that’s cheese, it smells good

One step in the process of making feta cheese is to hang the curds for a day or so while the whey drains.  This is feta hanging to the right. And below x 3.  I made a batch recently.  Successfully, even.

 

 

At hour 12 or so, the cheesecloth and its contents begin to smell a bit like cat puke.  Probably any small animal’s puke…or even my sophomore year roommate’s after 3/4 of a bottle of kiwi flavored Mad Dog 20/20.  Point being, the smell is a bit foul if you don’t know the source.  According to my significant other, when you realize the odor is coming from cheese, it still doesn’t exactly smell good but it no longer makes you want to wretch.

After a day of draining, you cut up the curds into blocks to cure at room temperature for another couple days.  Somewhere during this stretch, it begins to smell like delicious cheese, but not until you lift the lid a couple times to check on it, recoiling visibly as if you just retrieved from the back of the fridge last month’s leftovers.  At the 72 hour mark, it really does smell good and is ready to sit in a brine solution to develop flavor.  This jar is going to wait four weeks before opening.

To get started in cheese theory 101 (and 102 & 103), I recommend checking out this book called American Farmstead Cheese: The Complete Guide to Making and Selling Artisan Cheesesby Paul Kindstedt.  No recipes in there but textbook facts and guidance. For example, your brining solution and cheese should be the same temperature for maximum salt absorption and to minimize the risk of subpar or sketchy cheese.  Go to Dairyconnection for help with supplies and recipes.  Great service from these folks.

I made this batch with two gallons of whole cow’s milk and one quart of goat milk.  Traditionally sheep and/or goat is used in feta but I didn’t have that readily available so I, as usual, went into guerilla culinary mode and made do with a recipe deviation.  Ha, you can’t stop me.  I’m wild.