I have a Cheese Book. Maybe you do too. Mine is in its fourth year. In my Cheese Book I write the process for every wheel of cheese I make. The year. The date. The weather. What the cow is eating. The funny things that happen along the way that will influence the cheese. Who is living in the house. The state of the milk, the cut, the turns. And things like that. So when I eat a cheese I can look back to the day I made it.
I took this dawn shot a few moments ago. Almost time to start work. 
This is the entry in the Cheese Book yesterday. Although technically the Cheese Book is for the documenting the hard cheeses. But I thought I would try a fresh cheese that we could eat straight away and note how I made it, in case it was good.
Farmers Cheese. Number 1.
June 20, 2012. Wednesday. Hot, bloody windy, interminable wind. When will the wind stop. One teenager. John working. 89F in the kitchen.
Daisy Milk. The first Daisy cheese. All morning work done, cleaned up. White cheese pinny.
10 am Heated 2 gallons of fresh warm milk to 95F. It was already at 80. Added 1 cup home made smarty tarty yoghurt. Plus 1/2 rennet tablet dissolved in 1/4 cup of cool water. Lots of stirring.
10.50 Left covered for 30 minutes. Good clean break.
Cut the curd and left for about 30 minutes to drop. Should have been 15 minutes but lady wanted to look at Charlotte. She will ask around.
Slowly Heat up to 120. Stirring and chopping. Used the thermometer until it was 113 then got distracted by Minty getting lost. Again. That sheep will not flock. Cooked for 35 minutes.
Drained, hung to drip for an hour. Added 1/2 tsp salt. Mushed it in. 92F in the kitchen.
Wrapped in cheese cloth and into bowl as mold and weighed down with old iron on top of plate, set in fridge. Now I have to get the peacocks out of the garage. I forgot to close the doors and they are using it as a bell to amplify their raucousness.
And after that I lost my camera and found it again after dusk.
Last Entry. Chilled by evening. Sliced. Tasteless and squeaky. It can keep for a week, might be better after a few days. May not have cooked it hot enough or long enough.
Good morning. Our John liked the cheese as a snack with pickled radishes and thinly sliced fresh red onion. He eats a lot of cheese when he snacks after work. So I would like to get this right. First I shall consult with the Master of Cheese over at The Bartolini Kitchens as to why this one is squeaky. Then today I shall take a look at his cream cheese recipe. Maybe that is the answer to a fresh snack cheese.
Have a lovely day. We will. If it stays dry we are going to cut the Haymaker Paddock today. There is a 30% chance of rain in the forecast today but you know what that means. (sad face laughter!). So we will wait until all the stringless rain clouds have blown past then cut. Daisy is still giving so much milk I have to empty the bucket half way through then start again. Wish the delivery man would come up my drive with the new bigger bucket!
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
86 responses to “Farmers Cheese”
In my next life I am going to request to be somewhere in your physical sphere. You are my heroine! 😀
now i am wondering what you will come back as! c
Tee-hee, maybe a cow! Nah, they’ve got a pretty bad rap in most of the world. Hrmmm … more likely a dog! 😀
I love to fry cheese to save it when getting old, a bit yellow and smelly.
with garlic, marjolaine and pinch of salt and pepper, yummie
AHA! I LOVE fried cheese! This one fried up ok too! c
“Master of Cheese”? Thanks for the shout-out, Celi, but you’re too kind.
I don’t know what you mean by squeaky cheese — and I admit that, knowing it very well might cost me my new title. The lack of flavor caught my attention. Your yogurt should have given it a good taste. Was it really fresh and alive? If the milk was heated much higher than 95˚, that may have killed the bacteria. It could be, like you said, that it will get more flavor as it ages a bit. The yogurt bacteria will have had a chance to work its magic. I hope so. It sure does look good, though.
I never even considered maintaining a cheese book but, then again, who wants to read a tear-stained tome, anyway. You see, in the beginning, I wasn’t the care-free cheese maker that you know today. Quite the contrary and, believe me, I threw away an awful lot of ruined dairy.
I’ve gotta run. Had a busy day and now I’ve got a full day’s worth of posts & comments to address. Hope you’re having a great day & can enjoy this cooler evening!
The cool has heated up!.. sad.. I guess the blog is your cheese book! c
I love cheese hidden in dishes as a surprise…like a quinoa casserole with a layer of sharper cheese in the middle along with lengths of banana. Then honey dripped over the top layer of quinoa generously sprinkled with cinnamon. An Indonesian doctor made up this recipe to encourage his children to eat quinoa.
And how is it you have 30 hours in your day?
I am useless at maths! You know i have never eaten quinoa.. maybe he should have been my dad, it sounds awesome!
I love quinoa because it is a grain full of protein. Some people eat it as a breakfast cereal, but I like it with various entrees – especially a stir fry.
i kept thinking about squeeky cheese today and i finally realized, the farmer cheese i get here is squeeky. so maybe it is just something with farmer cheese? are you about to cool down? we are supposed to but i will believe it when it happens. still no rain at all in the forecast!
we cooled down for ten minutes and got a 5 minute shower then it heated right up again but I will take whatever i can get! c
You’re getting the same intense pink sunrises as Sydney has the last 2 days. Great cheese book, great cheese from what I see anyway. I went over to the Bartolini kitchens – lovely food & great roses. I’m looking forward to admiring him also 🙂
Morning ella dee, the sunrise is such a special time of day! c
You never stop to amaze me!
Squeaky cheese? I bet it still tastes delicious!
Our squeaky cheese is a gallon heated to between 170-190F (depends on how distracted I get with 5 kids!) and add about 1/3 cup of vinegar or lemon juice. Let sit for about 10 minutes and pour into a cloth to drain for a bit. It depends on how dry you want it. Some salt and pepper and the kids eat it warm. Doesn’t last long around here. Pretty neutral tasting and is great in stuff like taco meat to make it stretch. We’ve been without milk for about 4 weeks and have 2-3 to go. Can’t wait for that cow to freshen! She looks like she’s going to pop! I need to buy rennet and try some other cheeses. What breed is your cow? I’ve been meaning to ask.
she is an Ayrshire, about 1500 pounds and tall.. a big girl.. her milk is lovely..any tips about milk and milking are most welcome.. i have to go to NZ in december and am not sure what i am going to do about Daisy as far as the milking goes.. c
Reminds me of cheese curds in Wisconsin. We always called them squeaky cheese. I’m always so impressed by homemade cheese. So cool!
Love the cheese book, spiced and peppered with farmy events.