Making Cheese,

[Lickey]

Hi, just wondered if it is possible to make your own tasty cheese in Thai, Im a bit fed up of the expensive salty cheeses in Makro and Tesco, not to mention the processed stuff, thanks for any help and advice, Lickey..

[johnh101]

http://www.ehow.com/how_2086856_make-goat-cheese.html

[LtLOS]

Actually I have made the best buffalo mozz here that just can't be beat. If you have a source for water buffalo milk, its not hard to make and only takes one ingredient that you have to import, rennet.

This site has been on the web for years and the process I used:

http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Chees...ZARELLA_jn0.HTM

Follow it to the letter and you'll get an idea of what cheese making is all about.

Hard cheeses IMHO are much more difficult due to the fact you must age them for a long time, at a fixed temp, and I've never found the time to make them. But soft cheeses are dead easy.

Here's another one you can try easily that will give you an idea of what you can do easily, not really a cheese but a quick to make dairy product with a very nice result that is hard to find or impossble to purchase here.

Creme Fraiche:

Take 1 cup whipping cream (35-36% butterfat)

Add 3 TBS buttermilk

Mix in a bowl and lightly cover with plastic wrap. Leave out at room temp for 24 hours, then refrigerate. I've never purchased the sour cream here and you'll be surprised how nice creme fraiche is and how much more flexible it is in cooking.

[JR Texas]

Actually I have made the best buffalo mozz here that just can't be beat. If you have a source for water buffalo milk, its not hard to make and only takes one ingredient that you have to import, rennet.

This site has been on the web for years and the process I used:

http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Chees...ZARELLA_jn0.HTM

Follow it to the letter and you'll get an idea of what cheese making is all about.

Hard cheeses IMHO are much more difficult due to the fact you must age them for a long time, at a fixed temp, and I've never found the time to make them. But soft cheeses are dead easy.

Here's another one you can try easily that will give you an idea of what you can do easily, not really a cheese but a quick to make dairy product with a very nice result that is hard to find or impossble to purchase here.

Creme Fraiche:

Take 1 cup whipping cream (35-36% butterfat)

Add 3 TBS buttermilk

Mix in a bowl and lightly cover with plastic wrap. Leave out at room temp for 24 hours, then refrigerate. I've never purchased the sour cream here and you'll be surprised how nice creme fraiche is and how much more flexible it is in cooking.

Is it possible AND EASY to make a soft cheddar or soft monterray jack?

[seppl04]

Actually I have made the best buffalo mozz here that just can't be beat. If you have a source for water buffalo milk, its not hard to make and only takes one ingredient that you have to import, rennet.

This site has been on the web for years and the process I used:

http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Chees...ZARELLA_jn0.HTM

Follow it to the letter and you'll get an idea of what cheese making is all about.

Hard cheeses IMHO are much more difficult due to the fact you must age them for a long time, at a fixed temp, and I've never found the time to make them. But soft cheeses are dead easy.

Here's another one you can try easily that will give you an idea of what you can do easily, not really a cheese but a quick to make dairy product with a very nice result that is hard to find or impossble to purchase here.

Creme Fraiche:

Take 1 cup whipping cream (35-36% butterfat)

Add 3 TBS buttermilk

Mix in a bowl and lightly cover with plastic wrap. Leave out at room temp for 24 hours, then refrigerate. I've never purchased the sour cream here and you'll be surprised how nice creme fraiche is and how much more flexible it is in cooking.

where can you get buttermilk here ?

thanks

Seppl

[JR Texas]

Actually I have made the best buffalo mozz here that just can't be beat. If you have a source for water buffalo milk, its not hard to make and only takes one ingredient that you have to import, rennet.

This site has been on the web for years and the process I used:

http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Chees...ZARELLA_jn0.HTM

Follow it to the letter and you'll get an idea of what cheese making is all about.

Hard cheeses IMHO are much more difficult due to the fact you must age them for a long time, at a fixed temp, and I've never found the time to make them. But soft cheeses are dead easy.

Here's another one you can try easily that will give you an idea of what you can do easily, not really a cheese but a quick to make dairy product with a very nice result that is hard to find or impossble to purchase here.

Creme Fraiche:

Take 1 cup whipping cream (35-36% butterfat)

Add 3 TBS buttermilk

Mix in a bowl and lightly cover with plastic wrap. Leave out at room temp for 24 hours, then refrigerate. I've never purchased the sour cream here and you'll be surprised how nice creme fraiche is and how much more flexible it is in cooking.

where can you get buttermilk here ?

thanks

Seppl

I saw it one time at Friendship Market in Pattaya............back to the "soft cheese" question. Hard cheese seems a bit difficult to make; soft cheese seems easier (from just reading a few things). I want the soft cheese in order to melt it on sandwiches..........any idea how to make some really good soft cheese for sandwiches?

[LtLOS]

Regarding soft cheese and flavors, these flavors come from the cultures used in the cheese, here a site that is a good example of the types involved. Making good flavorfull cheese is more art and black magic than regular cooking, and the key is time, for these flavors to develop during aging. The more flavor the longer the cheese needs to age and what types of cultures are used is a big factor. Having said that there are commercial additives used to add that bite to an aged cheese, but if you compare it against the true long aged cheese's, its a much different taste.

Here's one site that has a lot of cultures in small quantities:

http://thecheesemaker.com/cultures.htm

Specific to the question, most soft non cultured cheeses that you can make like mozz will not have a strong flavor. You may want to do a bit more searching, but I've never found any way to make a cheddar substitute using the method I described above.

Perhaps an alternative is a spread. Here's something I make that goes so quick. I use a cheddar cheese powder. I know of knowone who has these locally and I get a couple pounds via the net or when someone visits.

I use the Creme Fraiche recipe above and to make it a bit thicker add some Carolina creme cheese (cheapest here and just as good as the imported). In a food processor add the creme fraiche, perhaps some toasted onion and a small dash of liquid smoke, add a couple table spoons of the cheese powder and whip in the processor. The variations on this are endless, add roasted peppers, canned chipotle chilis and adobo, also one time made a Tom Yam version that wasnt bad. If you want in salty, add a combo of cream cheese and feta, but be carefull of salt level.

Edited November 21, 2007 by LtLOS

[LtLOS]

I get my buttermilk at foodland, its usually found with the cream in the dairy section. I find the whipping cream at foodland overpriced, as its the uht, I use the foremost in the larger milk carton style container, that I get from Lotus.

A bit off topic:

As your only using a little buttermilk, we use the rest for buttermilk pancakes on the weekend, and also for a marinade for southern fried chicken. If you've never had real southern fried chicken, that's a real treat and excuse to use up all that buttermilk.

Edited November 21, 2007 by LtLOS

[memkuk]

For those interested, I am making Boursin cheese at home here in Thailand, using very simple ingredients and methods. You can find more info on my website MaiPenArai.com. The following link will bring you straight to my Cheese page: http://maipenarai.com/?page_id=76

The Gouda cheese was made when I was still living in France. Obtaining the Rennet was my main problem to make hard cheese in Thailand. However, a friend brought some granulated Rennet, which can be kept in the freezer. So I might give that a try soon.