Feta Cheese

This was a semi-successful cheese making experience in the sense that it turned out tasting like feta cheese, but didn't stay the correct consistency...

1. Start by sanitizing all equipment.  This is always important when making cheese
2. Pasteurize 2 gallons milk, either at 145F for 30 minutes or at 165F for 30 sec.  Then, cool to 86^oF 
3. Add 1 packet mesophilic direct-set starter or 2 oz (1 ice cube) home-made starter.  Stir to combine.  Incubate for 1 hour at 86F by covering with a towel and/or reheating to maintain temperature
4. Add rennet: dilute ¼ rennet tablet in ¼ cup cool water or use ½ tsp. liquid rennet.  Add to milk and stir several minutes.  Incubate as in step 3 for 1 hour
5. Cut curd into ½” cubes.  Stir very gently, once every 10 minutes for one hour

    6. Drain curds: Pour gently into colander lined with cheesecloth.  Allow to drain overnight at 72F

    7. Cut drained cheese into 2-3” cubes.  Place in brine solution (1/3 cup salt in 1/2 gal water)

    8. Place in fridge at 40F for 4-5 days (will store several months)


The last step here is where it went wrong for me.  My fridge is not set at 40F because I keep other things in there besides just homemade cheese.  So, the cheese ended up sort of dissolving into the salt water and becoming a slimy mess.  It still tasted like feta cheese, yes, but it was not very pretty.  I think that the next time, I would just stop at step 6 and cube and salt the cheese rather than soaking it in brine.  I might put the cubes in olive oil too.