i am searching for a recipe for my daughter who is married to a mexican man and she wants to make cheese and she knows some of the ingredients but not all… and cant find them to buy them either so i am looking for a store online… anyone know anything about this? thanks in advance.
For 1 pound of cheese:
1 gallon of milk (raw milk if you can find it.)
1 rennet tablet **
2 tablespoons of water
Salt to taste
** These tablets are usually sold at Hispanic Stores. And the price range is 50 cents each. Or you could buy liquid rennet online and use it according to the manufacture instructions. You can also made cheese using one tablespoon of white vinegar when rennet is not available. So no excuse, you can make it.
Heat the milk to about 110F , if you do not have a candy thermometer you can test the milk by placing a small drop in your hand, the milk is ready when you can barely stand the heat of it.
While the milk is heating, dissolve the rennet tablet with the 2 tablespoon of water.
Once the milk is at the temperature needed add the rennet stir thoroughly for about 5 seconds and let the mixture rest for about 1 hour or less depending of the type of rennet used. The curds will start to form. It could form a solid mass that won’t stick to your fingers and will be separated from the whey. Used a knife to cut the curds in small pieces.
Place the curds in a cheese cloth over a large bowl or container to catch the drips. Take the 4 corners of the cheese cloth and form a bag with it.
Put some pressure in the cheese cloth to drain as much liquid as possible. Open the bag add the salt. Stir the curds with your hands or if you prefer place it in your food processor to form a fine and crumbly mixture. Optional: At this time you could add finely chopped Epazote Herb leaves, jalapeño pepper or Red Bell pepper to give the cheese a different flavor.
Place it back in the cheese cloth and hang until the cheese if firm and slightly drained. About 1 and 1/2 hour. Unwrap and let it rest for one more hour. Refrigerate it after this time.
You can also place the curds into round molds and leave them to drain. Leave them for the same time as above and turn over when completely drained.
With the leftover whey, you could make “Requeson” , ricotta cheese. Just heat the drained whey over a low heat and let it simmer until a new set of firm curds forms and drain using the cheese cloth.
Thank you. She was talking of an ingredient that started with an x or ex, i couldnt find anything about that… maybe she was mistaken?
Maybe she meant "Epazote ". It is an herb usually found in Mexican markets.