Appomattox News

Yes, curds and whey, just like the stuff Little Miss Muffett was eating when the spider sat down beside her! I always thought that sounded pretty gross when I was a child, sort of like eating something better reserved for the hogs. However, once I figured out she was eating cheese, it sounded better - except for the spider part.

Fortunately, spiders have almost nothing to do with cheese making. About the only place one can expect to find a spider in connection with cheese is in the aging cave, and then only if one actually is lucky enough to have a genuine cave. Most of us who age cheese have to make do with the veggie bin in the fridge or a wine cooler. Caves in Appomattox being in short supply, we find the fridge works well.

But I digress, the point of this week’s column is to share a nifty homemade cheese recipe that anyone can make and that requires no special equipment or ingredients. The cheese produced can be eaten fresh or pressed into a mold and aged for a different kind of cheese. You can use any kind of milk - goat, cow, sheep, mare, water buffalo - but it has to be fresh from the udder, raw, not pasteurized, and not homogenized.

Yes, I know that it is illegal to sell raw milk in Virginia, and that is a rotten shame. It is so much better tasting and better for you than the stuff that comes in containers from the grocery store. However, as everyone who runs a dairy knows,, there are tricks to proper handling and storage, and it is possible to contaminate milk if one is not scrupulous about cleanliness.

So, we are going to assume that you or your friends have your own milk-producing critter(s) so you won’t get caught snooping around the county for raw milk. Milk your critter, taking all appropriate precautions to keep the milk clean and wholesome. Put the milk in a container with a piece of plastic wrap over the top then screw down the lid. Place the container in a sunny spot, in your oven with the light on, or just on the counter top.

Leave it strictly alone.

In a few days - or as little as 24 hours depending on the temperature - you will notice that there is a dense layer of curds on top of a watery whey layer. You have made cheese!

Now strain this carefully through some muslin or a clean old pillowcase or your jelly bag and allow to drain until it stops dripping. Save the whey for the hens, dogs, or cats, as it is very nutritious. You can use it instead of water or milk in baking too.

The white curds that remain then can be salted to taste and eaten fresh as the best cottage cheese you have ever tasted. Or you can press the salted curds into a can with the ends cut out to form a disk of cheese. This then can be aged in the veggie bin, turning daily, until it becomes like cheddar. Or, you can crumble a tiny bit of blue cheese in while you are mixing in the salt and after a span of weeks you will have another blue cheese, even better than the one from the grocery.

What you have made is called lactic cheese or clabber. This cheese has been made for centuries, both here and in Europe. The Scots who settled in this part of Virginia brought this trick with them and many of their descendants continue to make cheese this way today.

Most home cheese makers buy cultures and mold spores from specialty stores to make their cheeses. And, there is nothing wrong with that - I do it myself. However, when one is lucky enough to have raw milk, it is unnecessary. All the friendly bugs that we have to add in to store milk are present in raw milk. All you have to do is let them get warm and they will work their magic, free of charge.

Categories: Columns, Living Along the Appomattox
Tags: clabber, curds and whey, lactic cheese, Little Miss Muffett