Homemade cottage cheese from store milk. How to make cheese at home

Previously, making homemade cheese was quite business as usual. Today, not every woman will decide on such a "feat", believing that this process requires a considerable investment of time. But the end result is worth it, because the result is a delicious delicacy without the presence of harmful impurities.

What kind of milk is better to use for making cheese

The main ingredient for making homemade cheese is milk. Of course, it would be better to use farm milk. If this is not possible, then you should purchase the fattest option in the store, which has a minimum shelf life. Quite original and creamy is cheese made from goat's milk.

Important! Even a small amount of antibiotics reduces the process of acid formation.

Powdered milk should not be used, as it produces cheese devoid of nutrients. It is not necessary to make a product from the milk of animals that have used antibiotics for the last 3 days. To prepare a delicious product, it is recommended to use excellent milk, since the same cheese will be prepared from low-quality milk.

On a note! To prepare ½ kg. hard cheese, you should take 4 liters. milk.

Required equipment

In order to make homemade cheese, you may need the necessary equipment. However, do not be afraid of a considerable list, since you can improvise with items that are in constant use.

1. The form. You can use a large coffee jar, after making holes in it with a nail to drain excess liquid. It is desirable that its uneven edges are outside, otherwise deformation of the product may occur. The form is lined with fabric inside, and it is lined with it on top. This fabric will help to prepare the cheese for pressing as much as possible.
2. The piston is represented by a plywood circle having a thickness of not more than 1 cm. This part presses the semi-finished product to the bottom, thereby squeezing out excess liquid. The piston helps to form the density of the product.
3. You can not only buy a press ready-made, but also make it yourself based on the volume of the mold.
4. The container should not be aluminum, as it, when interacting with curd acid, can spoil the unique taste of the cheese.

On a note! If there is no cheese mold at home, then an ordinary colander can easily replace it.

The easiest way

Homemade cheeses should be consumed immediately after production. They taste best when chilled. To prepare the simplest method, you need to take:

• 1 kg. cottage cheese;
• 1 l. milk;
• 2 eggs;
• 100 gr. butter;
• 2 hrs. salt;
• 1 tsp. soda.

Add cottage cheese to milk and put on a slow fire. As soon as the resulting whey begins to exfoliate, it should be thrown into a colander until the liquid drains completely. Then add the remaining ingredients, stir and put on fire. Keep on fire until a stretchy mass forms, about half an hour. After cooking, the product should be poured into a mold, clamped with a press, cool and refrigerate.

Important! Homemade cheeses have a shelf life of no more than 1 week, as they do not contain preservatives.

home pigtail

In order for the homemade pigtail to cook as soon as possible, you need to add whey. Slightly sour milk should be heated to 40 degrees, put pepsin.

Important! To ferment 50 liters. milk will be enough ½ gr. pepsin, if there is more of it, then the taste of the cheese will not be very pleasant.

When the resulting flakes begin to stick together, you need to increase the temperature regime to 50 degrees, while gradually crushing the pieces of cheese. Due to this, a ribbon will form, which is recommended to be pulled out of the pan and put on the table. Then cut this ribbon into a thin thread, weave it into a pigtail, rinse in cold water. To express the taste, you can smoke the finished pigtail in a smokehouse.

On a note! If you use goat's milk to make a homemade pigtail, you get a rather spicy product..

Shop milk cheese

This recipe allows you to make cheese from store-bought pasteurized milk. For its manufacture, the following composition of products is required:

• 300 gr. sour cream;
• 1.5 l. milk;
• 4 eggs;
• 2h. lies. salt.

Pour milk into a saucepan, salt and put on a slow fire. Separately, with a mixer, beat sour cream with eggs. When the milk boils, you should add the prepared mixture to it, while stirring constantly until it curdles. Then remove the pan from the heat, insist, cool, drain with a colander covered with gauze. Put a piston and a press on top, leave everything for 3 hours. Then unfold, cut. Can be served at the table.

Making homemade cheese is not such a difficult task. Having learned the basics of making this product, you can successfully use rather complex recipes, while surprising your loved ones.

My first independent experience of making homemade cheese was so successful that I could not wait to repeat it. Only one problem was embarrassing: where in the city to get milk suitable for cheese?

After a little thought, I decided that packaged milk from a local Belgorod manufacturer might well be suitable. After all, it makes a wonderful homemade yogurt. The choice fell on the milk "White City" 3.2%. Having bought 6 liter bags, I rushed home in anticipation. Six liters is the amount that fits into my largest pot without any problems.

Having heated the milk to 35 degrees, I introduced an enzyme solution into it and left it, like last time, for forty minutes until a cheese clot appeared. What was my surprise when in the pan, instead of the expected settled clot and whey, I saw milk that had not turned sour at all!

It’s probably cold in my kitchen today, so I decided and put the milk in a bowl with warm water. Another hour passed, the milk did not sour. Probably the enzyme has gone bad. I took a new one, as usual, diluted it with water and stirred it in milk. She poured warm water into the bowl again. An hour later, the milk did not sour. I decided to wait. After another two hours, the milk began to turn sour, but not to separate into a cheese clot and whey, but to bubble, while remaining a homogeneous mass. It was towards evening, and I have known since childhood that the morning is wiser than the evening.

The next morning a disappointing picture awaited me.

I expected to see a settled cheese clot, covered with whey on top. And I saw this. Bubbling dense mass with a not very pleasant smell. I thought it smelled of musty. But neither the son nor the husband felt this smell. I don’t know, maybe I imagined it because I quietly disliked the contents of the pan.

Pressed, pressed and put to ripen. The next day, it became clear that it turned out to be cottage cheese with a cheese flavor, but cheese would no longer work out of it.

But this cottage cheese turned out to be steamed dumplings with cherries!

Now I'm scratching my head, what do manufacturers add to milk so that it does not curdle?

So, accidentally and unexpectedly, I tested the milk of the Belgorod manufacturer "Bely Gorod" for the possibility of making cheese from it at home.

But a bad result is also a result. I did not stop, but went to the market, for a new portion of farm milk. And here's what I got out of it, if you are, of course, interested, read about it in the next article "Homemade cheese from farm cow's milk."

If you have ever drunk real fresh milk, dairy products from the store may seem strange to you - “powdered”, of dubious taste and quality. What is the difference between milk from under a cow and what manufacturers offer us? What “surprises” can you encounter when choosing store-bought milk? About all this - on MedAboutMe.

Milk is one of the most desired products on our table. According to consumer demand, it can only be compared with bread! This product has high nutritional properties and will appeal to both adults and children. According to experts, fresh milk is the most beneficial for health. But unfortunately, not everyone has the opportunity to purchase it. Most often you have to be content with factory milk.

On the shelves of shops there is milk for every taste and budget: fatty, nutritious and fat-free “dietary”, Mozhaisk and baked, sterilized and pasteurized, with a short shelf life and something that will not go bad for nine months. How not to get confused in all this diversity and choose for the family really useful product?

The main disadvantage industrial milk, according to consumers, is its taste. It is inferior to real fresh milk. Trying to figure out what is the reason, many consumers come to the conclusion that all store-bought milk is “powdered”. But actually it is not! The unusual taste of store-bought milk is due to other reasons.

Few people know that a farm product (what we call "homemade" or "village") and a manufactured product have a different structure. There are over 2 billion large fat globules floating in every milliliter of farm milk. While in the product from the store, these balls are broken into dust, and the size of each of them does not exceed 1 micron! Store-bought milk does not form foam when boiled, it is impossible to make butter and remove cream from it. But this is not the only reason for the change in the taste of the product!

Another point that directly affects the quality of milk is its processing. The temperature control required to make a product safe and drinkable gives the drink a taste of pasteurization. This is a forced measure, without which it is impossible to release good milk on the shelves, which will not cause poisoning and problems in the digestive tract.

What kind of milk
better?

On the label of industrial milk, you can find the inscriptions “whole” and “normalized”. Not all consumers know what they mean. Whole milk is a product of natural fat content, which ranges from 2.8 to 5%. And "normalized" milk can be made from several types of milk of different fat content: most often it is a combination of skimmed and full fat milk, brought to standard fat content - 1%, 2.5% or 3.2%.

The technology for the production of dairy products includes the mandatory processing of milk in a high temperature regime. This is necessary in order to disinfect the milk and provide it with a longer shelf life. The result is:

• pasteurized milk. It can be stored up to 15 days.
• practically sterile milk. The shelf life of such a product is 6-9 months.

What kind of milk
buy for
yogurt?

If you love homemade yogurt enriched with live bacteria and make it with store-bought milk, buy unfiltered pasteurized yogurt. In terms of its composition and quality characteristics, it is closest to raw milk. And remember: yogurt will not work from sterilized and ultra-pasteurized milk. Such milk does not sour!

Only a deaf person has never heard of antibiotics in milk today. This topic is being actively discussed by the media, the best experts are invited to comment: people want to know if there can really be antibiotics in milk, and what can it threaten them with?

Indeed, the world community has cause for concern. In the treatment of major cattle are often used, but during the illness of the animal, the regulatory documentation prescribes to keep the cattle in quarantine. The latter should be maintained for some time after recovery - until the antibiotics are removed from the animal's body naturally. However, not all manufacturers adhere to necessary conditions security! And then laboratory tests find antibiotic substances in the dairy product. But, fortunately, these occurrences are rare.

Expert comment

Antibiotics are substances of natural or semi-synthetic origin that inhibit the growth of living cells. Simultaneously with the treatment of people with inflammatory diseases, animals are also given antibiotics. The milk of a cow that has been given antibiotics should be quarantined, but due to economic disadvantage, producers often do not do this, but put the milk into production.

It is impossible for buyers to determine whether there are antibiotics in milk without laboratory research. By themselves, these substances are not harmful to the human body, but their accumulation can lead to the inactivity of similar antibiotics. That is, a person uses similar antibiotics, and they do not work.

How to recognize milk with antibiotics? You can leave pure milk in a glass for 4-5 hours with the addition of sour cream. Natural milk will turn into yogurt, and yogurt will not work from milk with antibiotics. Antibiotics cannot be neutralized. If you have found that your milk contains antibiotics, then you should refuse these products.

If pasteurized milk does not turn sour, in most cases this indicates the content of antibiotic substances in it. But don't blame the manufacturer if you're dealing with pasteurized filtered milk! Manufacturers seal this product using nitrogen. Therefore, at the end of the expiration date, milk does not turn sour, but becomes “carbonated”.

It is impossible to determine the quality of milk "by eye", so consumers have to trust their taste and personal feeling. Many do not believe in the benefits of milk with a long shelf life, believing that everything that is stored for more than two weeks is “solid chemistry”. In fact, the expiration date and the "naturalness" of milk are not synonymous. Manufacturers have many ways to extend the shelf life of the drink, while the feedstock can be anything.

Moreover, it is even more profitable for the manufacturer to produce low-quality milk with a short shelf life, people buy up such a product faster, - says Olga Soklova, researcher, expert of Roskontrol. So don't rely solely on this marker! Compliance of products with GOST and the availability of evidence of quality and safety - these are the markers that indicate milk that is good for health!

Roskontrol experts conducted a study of pasteurized milk of 16 well-known brands. The main goal was to find out if there is counterfeit on the shelves - milk with potentially dangerous additives (starch, chalk, soda and soap). Among other criteria for assessing the quality of the product, it was taken into account whether vegetable fats, and does the milk comply with GOST standards? According to the results of the study, the products of the Prostokvashino, Amka, Molochnaya Rechka, Our Farm, Yasny Lug, Vologda, Lianozovskoye, and Big Mug brands turned out to be the best.

Be healthy! Drink quality food!

A few memories: in the USSR, milk was sold on tap for 28 kopecks per liter, they carried it in cans and noticed that cream quickly accumulated on the surface of the milk. They could be removed with a spoon and eaten, or added to coffee. And when the milk was boiled (this was necessary, because the draft was not sterile), then a film always formed on the surface.

If the milk was yesterday's, when boiled, it curdled - turned into white flakes and clots floating in the water. At this point, it could be thrown into a colander lined with gauze. It was tied in a knot and hung up so that the remaining water would drain from the clot. As a result, the most delicate home-made cottage cheese was obtained.

Even yogurt was often made from milk at home, and butter was whipped from cream. Why are such tricks impossible with milk, which is sold today in stores and markets?

Milky Way

To understand the features of modern milk, you need to imagine what happens to it on the way from a cow to a store. Firstly, today milk is necessarily subjected to heat treatment - pasteurized (heated to 60-80 C and kept at this temperature from half an hour to an hour) or sterilized (heated over 100 C).

But the main difference between modern milk and classical milk is related to its structure. Under a microscope, milk from a cow looks like an emulsion of fat in water: in each milliliter of milk, there are more than 2 billion large fat globules ranging in size from 1 to 10 microns each. If such milk is left alone, it will begin to make cream by itself. The balls will float to the surface, since fat is lighter than water, and stick together. The resulting fatty film is cream. You just need to remove it, and that's it - the cream is ready.

Today, milk is necessarily homogenized: it is thoroughly mixed so that all fat globules are almost crushed into dust - their size becomes no more than 1 micron. As a result, such milk does not separate and does not form cream. These balls of dust do not float and remain in the water column. Such milk is called homogenized. If you try to beat it into butter, it won't work.

Why doesn't it sour?

Modern milk is practically sterile: the lactic acid bacteria that cause milk to turn sour are killed. Thanks to this, it can be stored in bags and bottles for months without spoiling. If you open such a package, then it is more likely to go rancid or rancid (and not sour!). In the first case, the destruction (rotting) of the protein will occur in it under the action of bacteria from the air. In the second - the oxidation of milk fats. This process is called rancidity, since the substances formed from fats have just such an aroma and taste.

Soviet milk was not sterile. Although it was also subjected to pasteurization, but even after it, lactic acid bacteria were not killed. Over time, they came to life and fermented milk, turning milk sugar into lactic acid - as a result, curdled milk was formed. And if a spoonful of kefir was added to the sour milk, homemade kefir was obtained. Now this method will not work: and here the reason is kefir. The fact is that dry starters are used today for the production of kefir and other fermented milk products, and they differ from Soviet ones. New starter cultures are usually designed for a single use, and when re-introduced, they are no longer active, especially towards the end of the kefir's shelf life.

Not for cottage cheese

You can still make cottage cheese from modern milk. How? It is better to take not ordinary, but the so-called "selected milk" for this. It is sold in plastic bottles, marked "whole". This suggests that the milk has a natural fat content, not normalized to 3.2% or 1%, but the one that was immediately "from under the cow" - usually from 3.4 to 6%. And this is not sterile milk, it is only pasteurized. Therefore, it is much better suited for cooking cottage cheese and dairy products at home.

Sourdough can be made from natural sour cream. Dissolve 2 tablespoons in half a glass of lukewarm milk. Pouring this starter into a liter of slightly warm milk (temperature about 36-4 C), you need to stir constantly so that it dissolves well. Close the resulting mixture and put in a warm place. You can use a yogurt maker. Curdling can last 6-12 hours. The curd clot is considered ready if it does not collapse when you try to move it away from the wall of the dish with the tip of a knife. The serum must be carefully drained so as not to damage the clot. Then, with a long knife, cut the clot to its entire depth (so that the knife reaches the bottom of the dish). Ideally, if the cut lines form a grid of about 1.5-2 centimeters in size on the surface of the clot. Put a colander in 3-4 layers of gauze, and throw a clot on it. Tie the ends of the gauze and hang the curd to drain.

There is another secret trick that improves the quality of cottage cheese and speeds up the process. Rennet can be added to the milk immediately after the starter has been introduced. They are sold in specialized online stores. Instead, you can use Abomin tablets (these are the same enzymes). For a liter of milk, dissolve 2-4 tablets in half a glass of lukewarm water.

How to choose milk and dairy products

Dairy products are the basis of nutrition and accompany a person from the first days of life. Therefore, it is precisely the choice of this type of product that must be approached most carefully so that they bring maximum benefit.

On May 01, 2014, the Technical Regulations of the Customs Union "On the safety of milk and dairy products" TR TS 033/2013 dated 09.10.2013 No. 67 came into force, which was developed in order to protect human life and health, prevent actions that mislead milk consumers and dairy products regarding their purpose and safety.

The technical regulation identifies more than 100 types of dairy products, which are grouped into 3 main groups: dairy products, dairy compound products and milk-containing products.

What is what?

Milk product:

non-dairy fat and protein are not used;
may contain components necessary for milk processing.

Example: drinking milk, sour cream, cottage cheese.

Dairy compound product:

produced from milk or its constituents;
is made from dairy products and non-dairy components that are not added to replace milk constituents;
milk should be more than 50%;
in ice cream and sweet products of milk processing should be more than 40%.

Example: cottage cheese with pieces of fruit, yoghurt with crispy flakes.

produced from milk or its constituents;
made from dairy products;
it is possible to replace milk fat with a substitute by no more than 50%;
it is possible to use protein of non-dairy origin with a mass fraction of milk solids of at least 20%.

Example: melted cheese, sour cream.

Butter from cow's milk:

milk product or dairy composite product on an emulsifiable fat basis;
the predominant constituent is milk fat derived from cow's milk, dairy products or by-products of milk processing.

Butter:

butter from cow's milk;
the mass fraction of fat is not less than 50%.

We study the packaging - what to look for?

Before buying milk or other types of dairy products, Rospotrebnadzor experts recommend carefully studying the packaging. It should contain the following information:

Name of milk or dairy products. The name of the product must be indicated on the front side of the package using a font of at least 3.2 mm, and on containers with a volume or weight of less than 100 ml (g) at least 2.8 mm.

The name and location of the product manufacturer is the legal address, including the country or place of origin of the product. Also on the packaging there must be the name of the organization authorized by the manufacturer to accept claims from consumers in the territory of the Customs Union.

Trademark (brand) if available.

Net weight.

The composition of the product with an indication of its components.

Mass fraction of fat, indicated as a percentage. The exception is fat-free products of milk processing, cheese, raw products, processed cheeses, processed cheese products. Also on the packaging for cheese, cheese products, processed cheese, processed cheese products, the mass fraction of fat in dry matter (in percent) must be indicated.

The mass fraction of milk fat (as a percentage of the fat phase) is indicated on the packaging of milk-containing products.

The shelf life of a product is the period after which food product considered unsuitable for its intended use. The expiration date is indicated after the words "best before", "use by", "use by":

! - For products with a shelf life of up to 72 hours - hour, day, month.

! - For products with a shelf life of 72 hours to 30 days - day, month, year.

! - For non-perishable products (including canned food) - month, year.

Product storage conditions. Storage conditions after opening the package must be specified if the quality and safety of the product changes.

Designation of the standard or technical document of the manufacturer, in accordance with which the product of milk processing is produced.

Also, the information placed on the packaging may reflect additional information regarding the quality features of the product. For example, information about the use of a milk fat substitute should be included in the name of the type of milk-containing product on the front of the consumer package. For example, “sour cream product with milk fat substitute”, “Cheese with milk fat substitute”.

Do not buy dairy products from random sellers, but only from specialized retailers provided with the necessary refrigeration equipment to maintain the quality and safety of dairy products.

When choosing a product, always pay attention to the integrity of the packaging. If it is violated, the goods cannot be bought.

Carefully study the product information, as the composition of the product does not always correspond to its name. Keep in mind that yogurt and yogurt product, cottage cheese and curd product, cheese and cheese product are dairy products of different quality and composition.

Take a close look appearance product, if you see mold, sourness, fermentation, mucus, windiness, return the product to the seller.

Before buying a dairy product, check the date of manufacture and expiration date.

Do not buy milk, cottage cheese, cheeses if they were stored without refrigeration;

Do not purchase a product if the product information is illegible or in too small print.

Consumer Rights

If you have any doubts about the quality and safety of dairy products, you have the right to demand from the seller documents confirming the compliance of the product with the stated requirements.

Such a document is a declaration or certificate of conformity of the goods, contained in the form of information in the shipping documentation (waybill) for each item of goods, indicating their registration numbers, validity periods, information about the bodies that issued or registered them.

If there is data on the details of the certificate or declaration, their reliability and authenticity can be checked on the website of the Federal Accreditation Service (Rosakkreditatsiya).

What to do if you bought low-quality products?

All claims regarding the shortcomings of dairy products are made only during the expiration date. If you bought a low-quality product, then you have the right to:

Demand the replacement of a defective product with a product of good quality.

Request a commensurate reduction in the purchase price.

Demand the return of the amount paid for the goods, that is, refuse to fulfill the contract of sale. In this case, the seller does not have the right to withhold the amount by which the cost of the goods has decreased due to the full or partial use of the goods, the loss of the presentation of the product, or other similar circumstances.

Reference

Milk fat substitute is a product with a fat content of at least 99%, which replaces milk fat in products, made from unmodified or modified vegetable oils with or without food additives.

Gross- the total weight of the goods or product, including packaging.
Net- the weight of something without packaging. That is, how much the product itself weighs without packaging.