Homemade Farmers Cheese

Farmers cheese is one of the easiest cheeses to make and is so customizable with all the potential things you can dress it up with to suit your personal taste! This is a great activity to do with children to get them involved in the kitchen. Watching the milk magically turn into cheese is a fun process to observe.

I am a Middle School Special Education teacher and through the COVID lockdown I published a daily video to encourage my students to find something awesome to do each day. The attached Youtube video is what I had posted one day for my students. Several of my students did make the cheese and it made for some great conversations.

For the teachers and homeschoolers out there there is an extensive list of scientific and mathematics skills that are being reinforced and observed with this activity, along with easy extension activities that would hit upon language arts and social studies skills.

-Heat Source

-Heavy bottom pot

-A second pot (optional if you want to save the whey when draining)

-Cullender

-Cooking Thermometer

-Cheese Cloth

-Stirring Tool

-Measuring Cups and Spoons

-Whole Milk (1/2 Gallon)

-Vinegar (1/4 cup)

-Salt (1 teaspoon, to taste)

-Spices of choice (I used Italian Seasoning and Garlic)

Carefully heat the 1/2 gallon of milk to 190 degrees fahrenheit using a medium heat. Keep your thermometer close by to constantly check your temperature. You are going to want to make sure you keep an eye on it and keep stirring. Milk likes to scorch on the bottom of a pan quickly. Using a pan with a heavy bottom can help prevent this.

When you reach 190 degrees you will then add 1/4 cup of vinegar. Turn off the heat and mix in the vinegar. You will then let it sit undisturbed for 10-15 minutes. Almost immediately you will notice the milk start to seperate into the curds (the milk solids) and whey (the liquid).

Just before I drain off the whey I will add in my seasoning. You may lose some when you drain, but at this stage it is easy to thoroughly mix the seasoning into the curds. There is an opportunity later to add more seasoning and salt to the cheese, you could wait until then to put the seasoning in as well.

The whey is commonly just discarded, however it can be saved and used for other things as it contains beneficial vitamins. I've read it can used in bread making, however I have never personally tried it.

You will want to line a cullender with a cheesecloth to catch the curds when you drain the whey. Make sure to leave plenty of overhang outside of the cullender, you will need this to gather up when it comes time to squeeze out the whey. This can be done in a sink, or if you wish to save the whey you would set your cullender inside another pot. Carefully pour your soon to be cheese over the cheesecloth as you don't want to have the cloth slip away from around the cullender.

Let the whey drain out, then you will gather up the ends of your cheesecloth and squeeze out as much whey as you can.

Once you have squeezed out all the whey you think you can get out, open up the cheese cloth and break up the cheese ball you have made. At this point you will add salt to taste (around 1 teaspoon). You can also add more seasoning or even things like bits of pepperoni or fruit, whatever you can think of. Give it a good mixing and then gather up your cheesecloth again and give it a good squeeze, you will find that more whey comes out.

You will want to keep the cheese ball tied up tightly in the cheesecloth and refrigerate it until it has cooled and hardened. I keep it in the cullender over a dish as you may find that more whey comes out as it cools.

Enjoy your homemade cheese! Hopefully you have shared the fun of making this with someone else, that time in the kitchen with family and friends can be powerful and build lasting memories, not to mention all the learning that can take place!

As I had mentioned before, this was part of my Do Something Awesome daily videos I posted for my students to keep them engaged in the early days of the COVID lockdowns.