Home made cheese

Like most of the arcane mysteries that most of humanity used to take
for granted, this one turned out to be (well, so far, anyway) more
daunting in the anticipation than in the breech.

What with online research and shopping, today's hobbyist can easily
plunge into the past and get a glimmering of what things used to be
like. Beer?.....easy. You can get anything from one time kits to to
a microbrewery at the click of a mouse. Wine?.....ditto. Cheese?

Well, it turns out that timing is critical for some things. Cheese
starts with fesh milk. Unpasteurized is better (and, according to a
potential source we spoke with, illegal to sell.....one presumes it is
also illegal to purchase), so is unhomogenized (which, in terms of
procurement, means essentially the same thing). However, there are
sources willing to part with small quantities (five gallons?!! is
"small"?) for hobbyists.....despite the fact that paranoia (or what
would be paranoia, anyway, if it wasn't entirely justified) runs high
among hobbyist producers of goat and sheep milk. But reticence isn't
the real problem. Timing is.

It seems that Becky and I chose pretty much exactly the wrong time to
be calling local producers in the hope of getting some straight from
the teat milk. This year's crop of little lambs and kids isn't due
for a couple of weeks, we were told. Evidently, mammals, being
mammals, aren't much in the habit of producing a lot of milk just
before ejecting another litter of young'uns. Makes sense, I guess.
In any case, we were told to call again in two or three weeks.

Couldn't wait that long. So, we went to the local supermarket and
bought some skim milk.....and some heavy whipping cream (the first
inexplicable mystery......why not just whole milk?) and trotted back
home to make cheese. Becky had visited a shop here in the metro area
that sells all of the necessary equipment and supplies. So, the short
version is that yeasterday we spent a whole lot of time in the kitchen
whipping up our first batch of feta, which will allegedly be ready for
consumption in about a week, and ricotta, which is made from the
pitiful remnant of milk solids left after the extraction process that
yields the main crop of feta (or whatever else one might be striving
for), and which we ate all of today. Not bad. Not bad at all.....for
ricotta.

Becky worked solo today on cutting and salting the curds that will
magically become feta in a few days. Makes a boy wish he had some
good homebrew. Makes a boy think it's time to whip up a batch of
sourdough starter. Mostly, though, makes a boy hungry.

giles

"Giles" wrote in message
...
Like most of the arcane mysteries that most of humanity used to take
for granted, this one turned out to be (well, so far, anyway) more
daunting in the anticipation than in the breech.

What with online research and shopping, today's hobbyist can easily
plunge into the past and get a glimmering of what things used to be
like. Beer?.....easy. You can get anything from one time kits to to
a microbrewery at the click of a mouse. Wine?.....ditto. Cheese?

Well, it turns out that timing is critical for some things. Cheese
starts with fesh milk. Unpasteurized is better (and, according to a
potential source we spoke with, illegal to sell.....one presumes it is
also illegal to purchase), so is unhomogenized (which, in terms of
procurement, means essentially the same thing). However, there are
sources willing to part with small quantities (five gallons?!! is
"small"?) for hobbyists.....despite the fact that paranoia (or what
would be paranoia, anyway, if it wasn't entirely justified) runs high
among hobbyist producers of goat and sheep milk. But reticence isn't
the real problem. Timing is.

It seems that Becky and I chose pretty much exactly the wrong time to
be calling local producers in the hope of getting some straight from
the teat milk. This year's crop of little lambs and kids isn't due
for a couple of weeks, we were told. Evidently, mammals, being
mammals, aren't much in the habit of producing a lot of milk just
before ejecting another litter of young'uns. Makes sense, I guess.
In any case, we were told to call again in two or three weeks.

Couldn't wait that long. So, we went to the local supermarket and
bought some skim milk.....and some heavy whipping cream (the first
inexplicable mystery......why not just whole milk?) and trotted back
home to make cheese. Becky had visited a shop here in the metro area
that sells all of the necessary equipment and supplies. So, the short
version is that yeasterday we spent a whole lot of time in the kitchen
whipping up our first batch of feta, which will allegedly be ready for
consumption in about a week, and ricotta, which is made from the
pitiful remnant of milk solids left after the extraction process that
yields the main crop of feta (or whatever else one might be striving
for), and which we ate all of today. Not bad. Not bad at all.....for
ricotta.

Becky worked solo today on cutting and salting the curds that will
magically become feta in a few days. Makes a boy wish he had some
good homebrew. Makes a boy think it's time to whip up a batch of
sourdough starter. Mostly, though, makes a boy hungry.

giles

There are many advocates of raw milk, and the case against it is strictly to
prohibit the farmer from selling to the public. gotta have that middleman,
much like a C.J. McLin's (Ohio State Rep. deceased) attempt to require
persons being cremated to be embalmed...he also ran a funeral home.

"Herdsharing" is legal in Ohio. You sign a long time contract for a farmer
to manage your livestock. Not smoke and mirrors. And, that gives you the
right to collect the milk of your portion of the herd.

john

On Mon, 22 Mar 2010 10:01:56 -0700, "John B"
wrote:


"Giles" wrote in message
...
Like most of the arcane mysteries that most of humanity used to take
for granted, this one turned out to be (well, so far, anyway) more
daunting in the anticipation than in the breech.

What with online research and shopping, today's hobbyist can easily
plunge into the past and get a glimmering of what things used to be
like. Beer?.....easy. You can get anything from one time kits to to
a microbrewery at the click of a mouse. Wine?.....ditto. Cheese?

Well, it turns out that timing is critical for some things. Cheese
starts with fesh milk. Unpasteurized is better (and, according to a
potential source we spoke with, illegal to sell.....one presumes it is
also illegal to purchase), so is unhomogenized (which, in terms of
procurement, means essentially the same thing). However, there are
sources willing to part with small quantities (five gallons?!! is
"small"?) for hobbyists.....despite the fact that paranoia (or what
would be paranoia, anyway, if it wasn't entirely justified) runs high
among hobbyist producers of goat and sheep milk. But reticence isn't
the real problem. Timing is.

It seems that Becky and I chose pretty much exactly the wrong time to
be calling local producers in the hope of getting some straight from
the teat milk. This year's crop of little lambs and kids isn't due
for a couple of weeks, we were told. Evidently, mammals, being
mammals, aren't much in the habit of producing a lot of milk just
before ejecting another litter of young'uns. Makes sense, I guess.
In any case, we were told to call again in two or three weeks.

Couldn't wait that long. So, we went to the local supermarket and
bought some skim milk.....and some heavy whipping cream (the first
inexplicable mystery......why not just whole milk?) and trotted back
home to make cheese. Becky had visited a shop here in the metro area
that sells all of the necessary equipment and supplies. So, the short
version is that yeasterday we spent a whole lot of time in the kitchen
whipping up our first batch of feta, which will allegedly be ready for
consumption in about a week, and ricotta, which is made from the
pitiful remnant of milk solids left after the extraction process that
yields the main crop of feta (or whatever else one might be striving
for), and which we ate all of today. Not bad. Not bad at all.....for
ricotta.

Becky worked solo today on cutting and salting the curds that will
magically become feta in a few days. Makes a boy wish he had some
good homebrew. Makes a boy think it's time to whip up a batch of
sourdough starter. Mostly, though, makes a boy hungry.

giles

There are many advocates of raw milk, and the case against it is strictly to
prohibit the farmer from selling to the public. gotta have that middleman,
much like a C.J. McLin's (Ohio State Rep. deceased) attempt to require
persons being cremated to be embalmed...he also ran a funeral home.

"Herdsharing" is legal in Ohio. You sign a long time contract for a farmer
to manage your livestock. Not smoke and mirrors. And, that gives you the
right to collect the milk of your portion of the herd.

john



http://www.clickondetroit.com/money/...80/detail.html

I should note that I was brought up on raw milk as were most of the
neighbor kids. When we had our own kids I sort of expected that they,
like me and most of the kids I knew, would suffer three, four or more
bouts of "stomach flu" every year. Surprise surprise, its actually
been pretty rare for our kids to get the pukes and/or ****s. Is it
because the milk they drink is pasteurized? There is absolutely no way
to tell. But I have to say, my suspicions run in that direction. That
isn't to say that Giles is wrong to look for raw milk for his cheese.
I'm guessing that the processing will take out any milk borne
pathogens in the milk. And, co-incidentally, there is a bill making
its way through the Wisconsin legislature to legalize raw milk sales
in the State. Fine. But I won't be buying any.

Geo.

On 3/22/2010 10:01 AM, John B wrote:
wrote in message
...
Like most of the arcane mysteries that most of humanity used to take
for granted, this one turned out to be (well, so far, anyway) more
daunting in the anticipation than in the breech.

What with online research and shopping, today's hobbyist can easily
plunge into the past and get a glimmering of what things used to be
like. Beer?.....easy. You can get anything from one time kits to to
a microbrewery at the click of a mouse. Wine?.....ditto. Cheese?

Well, it turns out that timing is critical for some things. Cheese
starts with fesh milk. Unpasteurized is better (and, according to a
potential source we spoke with, illegal to sell.....one presumes it is
also illegal to purchase),
snip

giles

There are many advocates of raw milk, and the case against it is strictly to
prohibit the farmer from selling to the public. gotta have that middleman,
much like a C.J. McLin's (Ohio State Rep. deceased) attempt to require
persons being cremated to be embalmed...he also ran a funeral home.

"Herdsharing" is legal in Ohio. You sign a long time contract for a farmer
to manage your livestock. Not smoke and mirrors. And, that gives you the
right to collect the milk of your portion of the herd.

john



Ah... well.. maybe, maybe not.

From the journal Dairy Science (1999 Dec, 82:12):
"Bulk tank milk from 131 dairy herds in eastern South
Dakota and western Minnesota were examined for
coliforms and noncoliform bacteria. Coliforms were
detected in 62.3% of bulk tank milk samples... noncoliform
bacteria were observed in 76.3% of bulk tank milk."

So, salmonellosis, campylobacteriosis, brucellosis, yersiniosis,
listeriosis, staphylococcal enterotoxin poisoning, streptococcal
infections, tuberculosis, E. Coli 0157:H7, whatever..... Do a little
research and you may modify your thinking about raw cow's milk.

Then there is Johne's disease that studies say infect somewhere around
8% of America's herds....and which is very hard to diagnose in younger
animals without testing...and maybe that is where people get Crohn's
disease, and maybe it's not. Don't know. I know about Crohn's because a
friends sister-in-law (who was a raw milk advocate) was diagnosed with
Crohn's and after a few years of misery committed suicide.... Conrad (my
friend) is convinced that what she had was a human form of Johne's. All
the science I've looked at suggests this can't be true, but......


The 'all natural is best' thinking can get a person into serious trouble
sometimes.....

\s

--
TANSTAAFL

"georgecleveland" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 22 Mar 2010 10:01:56 -0700, "John B"
wrote:


"Giles" wrote in message
...
Like most of the arcane mysteries that most of humanity used to take
for granted, this one turned out to be (well, so far, anyway) more
daunting in the anticipation than in the breech.

What with online research and shopping, today's hobbyist can easily
plunge into the past and get a glimmering of what things used to be
like. Beer?.....easy. You can get anything from one time kits to to
a microbrewery at the click of a mouse. Wine?.....ditto. Cheese?

Well, it turns out that timing is critical for some things. Cheese
starts with fesh milk. Unpasteurized is better (and, according to a
potential source we spoke with, illegal to sell.....one presumes it is
also illegal to purchase), so is unhomogenized (which, in terms of
procurement, means essentially the same thing). However, there are
sources willing to part with small quantities (five gallons?!! is
"small"?) for hobbyists.....despite the fact that paranoia (or what
would be paranoia, anyway, if it wasn't entirely justified) runs high
among hobbyist producers of goat and sheep milk. But reticence isn't
the real problem. Timing is.

It seems that Becky and I chose pretty much exactly the wrong time to
be calling local producers in the hope of getting some straight from
the teat milk. This year's crop of little lambs and kids isn't due
for a couple of weeks, we were told. Evidently, mammals, being
mammals, aren't much in the habit of producing a lot of milk just
before ejecting another litter of young'uns. Makes sense, I guess.
In any case, we were told to call again in two or three weeks.

Couldn't wait that long. So, we went to the local supermarket and
bought some skim milk.....and some heavy whipping cream (the first
inexplicable mystery......why not just whole milk?) and trotted back
home to make cheese. Becky had visited a shop here in the metro area
that sells all of the necessary equipment and supplies. So, the short
version is that yeasterday we spent a whole lot of time in the kitchen
whipping up our first batch of feta, which will allegedly be ready for
consumption in about a week, and ricotta, which is made from the
pitiful remnant of milk solids left after the extraction process that
yields the main crop of feta (or whatever else one might be striving
for), and which we ate all of today. Not bad. Not bad at all.....for
ricotta.

Becky worked solo today on cutting and salting the curds that will
magically become feta in a few days. Makes a boy wish he had some
good homebrew. Makes a boy think it's time to whip up a batch of
sourdough starter. Mostly, though, makes a boy hungry.

giles

There are many advocates of raw milk, and the case against it is strictly
to
prohibit the farmer from selling to the public. gotta have that
middleman,
much like a C.J. McLin's (Ohio State Rep. deceased) attempt to require
persons being cremated to be embalmed...he also ran a funeral home.

"Herdsharing" is legal in Ohio. You sign a long time contract for a farmer
to manage your livestock. Not smoke and mirrors. And, that gives you the
right to collect the milk of your portion of the herd.

john



http://www.clickondetroit.com/money/...80/detail.html

I should note that I was brought up on raw milk as were most of the
neighbor kids. When we had our own kids I sort of expected that they,
like me and most of the kids I knew, would suffer three, four or more
bouts of "stomach flu" every year. Surprise surprise, its actually
been pretty rare for our kids to get the pukes and/or ****s. Is it
because the milk they drink is pasteurized? There is absolutely no way
to tell. But I have to say, my suspicions run in that direction. That
isn't to say that Giles is wrong to look for raw milk for his cheese.
I'm guessing that the processing will take out any milk borne
pathogens in the milk. And, co-incidentally, there is a bill making
its way through the Wisconsin legislature to legalize raw milk sales
in the State. Fine. But I won't be buying any.

Geo.

Odd isn't it...you can eat game....deer...birds and what not....but approach
the Dairy Industry...check out a dvd called "food"

On Mon, 22 Mar 2010 23:26:00 -0700, "John B"
wrote:


"georgecleveland" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 22 Mar 2010 10:01:56 -0700, "John B"
wrote:


"Giles" wrote in message
...
Like most of the arcane mysteries that most of humanity used to take
for granted, this one turned out to be (well, so far, anyway) more
daunting in the anticipation than in the breech.

What with online research and shopping, today's hobbyist can easily
plunge into the past and get a glimmering of what things used to be
like. Beer?.....easy. You can get anything from one time kits to to
a microbrewery at the click of a mouse. Wine?.....ditto. Cheese?

Well, it turns out that timing is critical for some things. Cheese
starts with fesh milk. Unpasteurized is better (and, according to a
potential source we spoke with, illegal to sell.....one presumes it is
also illegal to purchase), so is unhomogenized (which, in terms of
procurement, means essentially the same thing). However, there are
sources willing to part with small quantities (five gallons?!! is
"small"?) for hobbyists.....despite the fact that paranoia (or what
would be paranoia, anyway, if it wasn't entirely justified) runs high
among hobbyist producers of goat and sheep milk. But reticence isn't
the real problem. Timing is.

It seems that Becky and I chose pretty much exactly the wrong time to
be calling local producers in the hope of getting some straight from
the teat milk. This year's crop of little lambs and kids isn't due
for a couple of weeks, we were told. Evidently, mammals, being
mammals, aren't much in the habit of producing a lot of milk just
before ejecting another litter of young'uns. Makes sense, I guess.
In any case, we were told to call again in two or three weeks.

Couldn't wait that long. So, we went to the local supermarket and
bought some skim milk.....and some heavy whipping cream (the first
inexplicable mystery......why not just whole milk?) and trotted back
home to make cheese. Becky had visited a shop here in the metro area
that sells all of the necessary equipment and supplies. So, the short
version is that yeasterday we spent a whole lot of time in the kitchen
whipping up our first batch of feta, which will allegedly be ready for
consumption in about a week, and ricotta, which is made from the
pitiful remnant of milk solids left after the extraction process that
yields the main crop of feta (or whatever else one might be striving
for), and which we ate all of today. Not bad. Not bad at all.....for
ricotta.

Becky worked solo today on cutting and salting the curds that will
magically become feta in a few days. Makes a boy wish he had some
good homebrew. Makes a boy think it's time to whip up a batch of
sourdough starter. Mostly, though, makes a boy hungry.

giles

There are many advocates of raw milk, and the case against it is strictly
to
prohibit the farmer from selling to the public. gotta have that
middleman,
much like a C.J. McLin's (Ohio State Rep. deceased) attempt to require
persons being cremated to be embalmed...he also ran a funeral home.

"Herdsharing" is legal in Ohio. You sign a long time contract for a farmer
to manage your livestock. Not smoke and mirrors. And, that gives you the
right to collect the milk of your portion of the herd.

john



http://www.clickondetroit.com/money/...80/detail.html

I should note that I was brought up on raw milk as were most of the
neighbor kids. When we had our own kids I sort of expected that they,
like me and most of the kids I knew, would suffer three, four or more
bouts of "stomach flu" every year. Surprise surprise, its actually
been pretty rare for our kids to get the pukes and/or ****s. Is it
because the milk they drink is pasteurized? There is absolutely no way
to tell. But I have to say, my suspicions run in that direction. That
isn't to say that Giles is wrong to look for raw milk for his cheese.
I'm guessing that the processing will take out any milk borne
pathogens in the milk. And, co-incidentally, there is a bill making
its way through the Wisconsin legislature to legalize raw milk sales
in the State. Fine. But I won't be buying any.

Geo.

Odd isn't it...you can eat game....deer...birds and what not....but approach
the Dairy Industry...check out a dvd called "food"


But game and wild birds don't stand in their own **** for 24 hours a
day, 365 days a year. It was a little bit better when they were
pastured but even then they had to be brought in to be milked and they
love to **** and poop while they are on the milking machine. That's 14
years of hands on experience talking there. Even today, with pipeline
milking parlors and what not cutting down on milks exposure to air and
its contaniments, 65% of raw milk has coliform bacteria in it.

Pasteurizatioin just heats up milk long enough to kill the bacteria.
The only change in the nutritional value of the milk is a lessening of
vitamins A and C, neither of which are found in milk, raw or
pasteurized, in large amounts. Pasteurization is a reasonable
precaution to take and it doesn't affect a milk product's ability to
be classified as organic.

But like I said, if you want to drink it, go ahead. Just don't offer
me any.

Geo.