Making butter the old-fashioned way is incredibly simple and very gratifying. It’s a great project to do with kids, too. All you need are a jar, a marble, some fresh cream, and about 20 minutes.
1. Start with about twice as much heavy whipping cream as you’ll want butter. Pour it into the jar, drop in the marble, close the lid tightly, and start shaking.
2. Check the consistency of the cream every three to four minutes. The liquid will turn into whipped cream, and then eventually you’ll see little clumps of butter forming in the jar. Keep shaking for another few minutes and then begin to strain out the liquid into another jar. This is buttermilk, which is great for use in making pancakes, waffles, biscuits, and muffins.
3. The butter is now ready, but it will store better if you wash and work it. Add ½ cup of ice cold water and continue to shake for two or three minutes. Strain out the water and repeat. When the strained water is clear, mash the butter to extract the last of the water, and strain.
4. Scoop the butter into a ramekin, mold, or wax paper.
If desired, add salt or chopped fresh herbs to your butter just before storing or serving. Butter can also be made in a food processor or blender to speed up the processing time.
Yogurt is basically fermented milk. You can make it by adding the active cultures Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bul-garicus to heated milk, which will produce lactic acid, creating yogurt’s tart flavor and thick consistency. Yogurt is simple to make and is delicious on its own, as a dessert, in baked goods, or in place of sour cream.
Yogurt is thought to have originated many centuries ago among the nomadic tribes of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. Milk stored in animal skins would acidify and coagulate. The acid helped preserve the milk from further spoilage and from the growth of pathogens (disease-causing microorganisms).
Makes 4 to 5 cups of yogurt
• 1 quart milk (cream, whole, low-fat, or skim)—In general, the higher the milk fat level in the yogurt, the creamier and smoother it will taste. Note: If you use home-produced milk it must be pasteurized before preparing yogurt. See box at the top of page 74 for tips on pasteurizing milk.
• Nonfat dry milk powder—Use 
cup powder when using whole or low-fat milk, or use 
cup powder when using skim milk. The higher the milk solids, the firmer the yogurt will be. For even more firmness, add gelatin (directions below).
• Commercial, unflavored, cultured yogurt—Use ¼ cup. Be sure the product label indicates that it contains a live culture. Also note the content of the culture. L. bulgaricus and S. thermophilus are required in yogurt, but some manufacturers may in addition add L. acidophilus or B. bifidum. The latter two are used for slight variations in flavor, but more commonly for health benefits attributed to these organisms. All culture variations will make a successful yogurt.
• 2 to 4 tablespoons sugar or honey (optional)
• 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin (optional)—For a thick, firm yogurt, swell 1 teaspoon gelatin in a little milk for 5 minutes. Add this to the milk and nonfat dry milk mixture before cooking.
• Double boiler or regular saucepan—1 to 2 quarts in capacity larger than the volume of yogurt you wish to make.
• Cooking or jelly thermometer—A thermometer that can clip to the side of the saucepan and remain in the milk works best. Accurate temperatures are critical for successful processing.
• Mixing spoon
• Yogurt containers—cups with lids or canning jars with lids.
• Incubator—a yogurt-maker, oven, heating pad, or warm spot in your kitchen. To use your oven, place yogurt containers into deep pans of 110°F water. Water should come at least halfway up the containers. Set oven temperature at lowest point to maintain water temperature at 110°F. Monitor temperature throughout incubation, making adjustments as necessary.
HOW TO PASTEURIZE RAW MILK
If you are using fresh milk that hasn’t been processed, you can pasteurize it yourself. Heat water in the bottom section of a double boiler and pour milk into the top section. Cover the milk and heat to l65°F while stirring constantly for uniform heating. Cool immediately by setting the top section of the double boiler in ice water or cold running water. Store milk in the refrigerator in clean containers until ready for making yogurt.
1. Combine ingredients and heat. Heating the milk is necessary in order to change the milk proteins so that they set together rather than form curds and whey. Do not substitute this heating step for pasteurization. Place cold, pasteurized milk in top of a double boiler and stir in nonfat dry milk powder. Adding nonfat dry milk to heated milk will cause some milk proteins to coagulate and form strings. Add sugar or honey if a sweeter, less tart yogurt is desired. Heat milk to 200°F, stirring gently, and hold for 10 minutes for thinner yogurt, or hold 20 minutes for thicker yogurt. Do not boil. Be careful and stir constantly to avoid scorching if not using a double boiler.
2. Cool and inoculate. Place the top of the double boiler in cold water to cool milk rapidly to 112 to 115°F Remove 1 cup of the warm milk and blend it with the yogurt starter culture. Add this to the rest of the warm milk. The temperature of the mixture should now be 110 to 112°F
3. Incubate. Pour immediately into clean, warm containers; cover and place in prepared incubator. Close the incubator and incubate about 4 to 7 hours at 110°F. ± 5°F Yogurt should set firm when the proper acid level is achieved (pH 4.6). Incubating yogurt for several hours past the time after the yogurt has set will produce more acidity. This will result in a more tart or acidic flavor and eventually cause the whey to separate.
4. Refrigerate. Rapid cooling stops the development of acid. Yogurt will keep for about ten to twenty-one days if held in the refrigerator at 40°F or lower.
Set yogurt: A solid set where the yogurt firms in a container and is not disturbed.
Stirred yogurt: Yogurt made in a large container then spooned or otherwise dispensed into secondary serving containers. The consistency of the “set” is broken and the texture is less firm than set yogurt. This is the most popular form of commercial yogurt.
Drinking yogurt: Stirred yogurt into which additional milk and flavors are mixed. Add fruit or fruit syrups to taste. Mix in milk to achieve the desired thickness. The shelf life of this product is four to ten days, since the pH is raised by the addition of fresh milk. Some whey separation will occur and is natural. Commercial products recommend a thorough shaking before consumption.
Fruit yogurt: Fruit, fruit syrups, or pie filling can be added to the yogurt. Place them on top, on bottom, or stir them into the yogurt.
• If milk forms some clumps or strings during the heating step, some milk proteins may have jelled. Take the solids out with a slotted spoon or, in difficult cases, after cooking, pour the milk mixture through a clean colander or cheesecloth before inoculation.
• When yogurt fails to coagulate (set) properly, it’s because the pH is not low enough. Milk proteins will coagulate when the pH has dropped to 4.6. This is done by the culture growing and producing acids. Adding culture to very hot milk (+115°F) can kill bacteria. Use a thermometer to carefully control temperature.
• If yogurt takes too long to make, it may be because the temperature is off. Too hot or too cold of an incubation temperature can slow down culture growth. Use a thermometer to carefully control temperature.
• If yogurt just isn’t working, it may be because the starter culture was of poor quality. Use a fresh, recently purchased culture from the grocery store each time you make yogurt.
• If yogurt tastes or smells bad, it’s likely because the starter culture is contaminated. Obtain new culture for the next batch.
• Yogurt has overset or incubated too long. Refrigerate yogurt immediately after a firm coagulum has formed.
• If yogurt tastes a little odd, it could be due to overheating or boiling of the milk. Use a thermometer to carefully control temperature.
• When whey collects on the surface of the yogurt, it’s called syneresis. Some syneresis is natural. Excessive separation of whey, however, can be caused by incubating yogurt too long or by agitating the yogurt while it is setting.
• Always pasteurize milk or use commercially pasteurized milk to make yogurt.
• Discard batches that fail to set properly, especially those due to culture errors.
• Yogurt generally has a ten- to twenty-one-day shelf life when made and stored properly in the refrigerator below 40°F.
• Always use clean and sanitized equipment and containers to ensure a long shelf life for your yogurt. Clean equipment and containers in hot water with detergent, then rinse well. Allow to air dry.
There are endless varieties of cheese you :an make, but they all fall into two main :ategories: soft and hard. Soft cheeses (like :ream cheese) are easier to make because ;hey don’t require a cheese press. The curds in hard cheeses (like cheddar) are pressed together to form a solid block or wheel, which requires more time and effort, but hard cheeses will keep longer than soft cheeses, and generally have a much stronger flavor.
Cheese is basically curdled milk and is made by adding an enzyme (typically rennet) to milk, allowing curds to form, heating the mixture, straining out the whey, and finally pressing the curds together. Cheeses such as queso fresco or queso bianco (traditionally eaten in Latin American countries) and paneer (traditionally eaten in India) are made with an acid such as vinegar or lemon juice instead of bacterial cultures or rennet.
You can use any kind of milk to make cheese, including cow’s milk, goat’s milk, sheep’s milk, and even buffalo’s milk (used for traditional mozzarella). For the richest flavor, try to get raw milk from a local farmer. If you don’t know of one near you, visit www.real-milk.com/where.html for a listing of raw milk suppliers in your state. You can use homogenized milk, but it will produce weaker curds and a milder flavor. If your milk is pasteurized, you’ll need to “ripen” it by heating it in a double boiler until it reaches 86°F and then adding 1 cup of unpasteurized, preservative-free cultured buttermilk per gallon of milk and letting it stand 30 minutes to three hours (the longer you leave it, the sharper the flavor will be). If you cannot find unpasteurized buttermilk, diluting 
teaspoon calcium chloride (available from online cheesemaker suppliers) in ¼ cup of water and adding it to your milk will create a similar effect.
Rennet (also called rennin or chymosin) is sold online at cheesemaking sites in tablet or liquid form. You may also be able to find Junket rennet tablets near the pudding and gelatin in your grocery store. One teaspoon of liquid rennet is the equivalent of one rennet tablet, which is enough to turn 5 gallons of milk into cheese (estimate four drops of liquid rennet per gallon of milk). Microbial rennet is a vegetarian alternative that is available for purchase online.
It’s important to keep your hands clean and all equipment sterile when making cheese.
1. Wash hands and all equipment with soapy detergent before and after use.
2. Rinse all equipment with clean water, removing all soapy residue.
3. Boil all cheesemaking equipment between uses.
4. For best quality cheese, use new cheesecloth each time you make cheese. (Sterilize cheesecloth by first washing, then boiling.)
5. Squeaky clean is clean. If you can feel a residue on the equipment, it is not clean.
This soft cheese has a flavor similar to sour cream and a texture like cream cheese. A pint of yogurt will yield approximately ¼ pound of cheese. The yogurt cheese has a shelf life of approximately seven to fourteen days when wrapped and placed in the refrigerator and kept at less than 40°F. Add a little salt and pepper and chopped fresh herbs for variety.
1. Line a large strainer or colander with cheesecloth.
2. Place the lined strainer over a bowl and pour in plain, whole-milk yogurt. Do not use yogurt made with the addition of gelatin, as gelatin will inhibit whey separation.
3. Let yogurt drain overnight, covered with plastic wrap. Empty the whey from the bowl.
4. Fill a strong plastic storage bag with some water, seal, and place over the cheese to weigh it down. Let the cheese stand another eight hours and then enjoy!
Queso blanco is a white, semihard cheese made without culture or rennet. It is eaten fresh and may be flavored with peppers, herbs, and spices. It is considered a “frying cheese,” meaning it does not melt and may be deep-fried or grilled. Queso blanco is best eaten fresh, so try this small recipe the first time you make it. If it disappears quickly, next time double or triple the recipe. This recipe will yield about ½ cup of cheese.
• 2 cups milk
• 4 teaspoons white vinegar
• Salt
• Minced jalapeno, black pepper, chives, or other herbs to taste
1. Heat milk to 176°F for 20 minutes.
2. Add vinegar slowly to the hot milk until the whey is semiclear and the curd particles begin to form stretchy clumps. Stir for 5 to 10 minutes. When it’s ready, you should be able to stretch a piece of curd about 1/3 inch before it breaks.
3. Allow to cool, and strain off the whey by filtering through a cheesecloth-lined colander or a cloth bag.
4. Work in salt and spices to taste.
5. Press the curd in a mold or simply leave in a ball.
6. Queso blanco may keep for several weeks if stored in a refrigerator, but is best eaten fresh.
Making ricotta is very similar to making queso blanco, though it takes a bit longer. Start the cheese in the morning for use at dinner, or make a day ahead. Use it in lasagna, in desserts, or all on its own.
This press works for both making cider and for pressing cheese. The apple press part is a scissors jack (found at an auto parts store) mounted to one of the top timbers. The opposite end is a grinder, made up of two oak rollers. Stainless steel screws serve as teeth to mash the apples, which are then strained in the mesh-lined bucket. You can then press the apples on the opposite end.
The cheese press is a wooden arm mounted across the two top timbers. Another arm goes straight down into the cheese mold. A water-filled jug is hung from the end. The pressure is varied by adding or subtracting water from the jug.
• 1 gallon milk
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• cup plus 1 teaspoon white vinegar
1. Pour milk into a large pot, add salt, and heat slowly while stirring until the milk reaches 180°F.
2. Remove from heat and add vinegar. Stir for 1 minute as curds begin to form.
3. Cover and allow to sit undisturbed for 2 hours.
4. Pour mixture into a colander lined with cheesecloth, and allow to drain for 2 or more hours.
5. Store in a sealed container for up to a week.
This mild cheese will make your homemade pizza especially delicious. Or slice it and eat with fresh tomatoes and basil from the garden. Fresh cheese can be stored in salt water but must be eaten within two days.
• 1 gallon 2% milk
• ¼ cup fresh, plain yogurt (see recipe on page 150)
• One tablet rennet or 1 teaspoon liquid rennet dissolved in ½ cup tap water
• Brine: use 2 pounds of salt per gallon of water
1. Heat milk to 90°F and add yogurt. Stir slowly for 15 minutes while keeping the temperature constant.
2. Add rennet mixture and stir for 3 to 5 minutes.
MAKE YOUR OWN SIMPLE CHEESE PRESS
1. Remove both ends of a large coffee can or thoroughly cleaned paint can, saving one end.
2. Use an awl or a hammer and long nail to pierce the sides in several places, piercing from the inside out.
3. Place the can on a cooling rack inside a larger basin. Leave the bottom of the can in place.
4. Use a saw to cut a ¾-inch-thick circle of wood to create a “cheese follower.” It should be small enough in diameter to fit easily in the can. Place cheese curds in the can, and top with the cheese follower. Place several bricks wrapped in cloth or foil on top of the cheese follower to weigh down curds.
5. Once the cheese is fully pressed, remove the bricks and bottom of the can. Use the cheese follower to push the cheese out of the can.
3. Cover, remove from heat, and allow to stand until coagulated, about 30 minutes.
4. Cut curd into ¼-inch cubes. Allow to stand for 15 minutes with occasional stirring.
5. Return to heat and slowly increase temperature to 118°F over a period of 45 minutes. Hold this temperature for an additional 15 minutes.
6. Drain off the whey by transferring the mixture to a cheesecloth-lined colander. Use a spoon to press the liquid out of the curds. Transfer the mat of curd to a flat pan that can be kept warm in a low oven. Do not cut mat, but turn it over every 15 minutes for a 2-hour period. Mat should be tight when finished.
7. Cut the mat into long strips 1 to 2 inches wide and place in hot water (180°F). Using wooden spoons, tumble and stretch it under water until it becomes elastic, about 15 minutes.
8. Remove curd from hot water and shape it by hand into a ball or a loaf, kneading in the salt. Place cheese in cold water (40°F) for approximately 1 hour.
9. Store in a solution of 2 teaspoons salt to 1 cup water.
Cheddar is a New England and Wisconsin favorite. The longer you age it, the sharper the flavor will be. Try a slice with a wedge of homemade apple pie.
• 1 gallon milk
• ¼ cup buttermilk
• 1 tablet rennet, or 1 teaspoon liquid rennet
• ½ teaspoons salt
1. Combine milk and buttermilk and allow the mixture to ripen overnight.
2. The next day, heat milk to 90°F in a double boiler and add rennet.
3. After about 45 minutes, cut curds into small cubes and let sit 15 minutes.
4. Heat very slowly to 100°F and cook for about an hour or until a cooled piece of curd will keep its shape when squeezed.
5. Drain curds and rinse out the double boiler.
6. Place a rack lined with cheesecloth inside the double boiler and spread the curds on the cloth. Cover and reheat at about 98°F for 30 to 40 minutes. The curds will become one solid mass.
7. Remove the curds, cut them into 1-inch wide strips, and return them to the pan. Turn the strips every 15 to 20 minutes for one hour.
8. Cut the strips into cubes and mix in salt.
9. Let the curds stand for 10 minutes, place them in cheesecloth, and press in a cheese press with 15 pounds for 10 minutes, then with 30 pounds for an hour.
10. Remove the cheese from the press, unwrap it, dip in warm water, and fill in any cracks.
11. Wrap again in cheesecloth and press with 40 pounds for twenty-four hours.
12. Remove from the press and let the cheese dry about five days in a cool, well-ventilated area, turning the cheese twice a day and wiping it with a clean cloth. When a hard skin has formed, rub with oil or seal with wax. You can eat the cheese after six weeks, but for the strongest flavor, allow cheese to age for six months or more.
• 1-pound coffee can
• 3-pound coffee can
• Duct tape
• Ice
• 1 cup salt
HOMEMADE CRACKERS
Crackers are very easy to make and can be varied endlessly by adding seasonings of your choice. Try sprinkling a coarse sea salt and dried Oregano or cinnamon and sugar over the crackers just before baking. Serve with homemade cheese.
• ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cups whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup warm water
• cup olive oil
• Herbs, spices, or coarse sea salt as desired
1. Stir together the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add the water and olive oil and knead until dough is elastic and not too sticky (about 5 minutes in an electric mixer with a dough attachment or 10 minutes by hand).
2. Allow dough to rest at room temperature for about half an hour. Preheat oven to 450°F.
3. Flour a clean, dry surface and roll dough to about 1/8 inch thick. Cut into squares and place on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle with desired topping. Bake for about 5 minutes or until crackers are golden brown.
• 2 cups half and half
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
1. Mix all the ingredients in the 1-pound coffee can. Cover the lid with duct tape to ensure it is tightly sealed.
2. Place the smaller can inside the larger can and fill the space between the two with ice and salt.
3. Cover the large can and seal with duct tape. Roll the can back and forth for 15 minutes. To reduce noise, place a towel on your working surface, or work on a rug.
4. Dump out ice and water. Stir contents of small can. Store ice cream in a glass or plastic container (if you leave it in the can it may take on a metallic flavor).
If desired, add cocoa powder, coffee granules, crushed peppermint sticks or other candy, or fruit.