BOIL DAMMIT!!! (or, more calmly) Trying to make cheese.

Perhaps I should have not attempted to make cheese for the first time on a day when I am exceptionally tired and grumpy. Maybe the takes "...an hour or two" should have warned me off. I guess I should have thought twice when I noticed that the good folks at Sunset Magazine included NO MEASUREMENTS in their recipe. Whatever the reason, this project cannot go in the success category.

Here I am at the beginning of the process. Happily taking a photo of 1 gallon of whole milk in my pot. Heating slowly...oh so slowly. Sunset told me this part would take 3o minutes, so I gathered up some cheese-making reading material and posted myself in front of the stove to stir.

At 40 minutes, I discovered foam fishies!

Can you say "boredom"?

Finally, after one full hour of stirring, the milk came to a boil. I removed the pot from the heat and squeezed my lemon into it like a mad woman.

Then I stepped back to witness the "Fat, white curds...form immediately, floating in a greenish whey." as Sunset promised they would.

This was an underwhelming experience. A few chunks floated around on the top of the milk. I put them in the strainer hopefully thinking, "Maybe there are more curds just below the surface." No such luck. I strained the whole pot through cheese cloth, squeezed out the excess moisture, let it dry for a while and ended up with this.

Less than a cup of ricotta-like cheese. Wow! It does taste good, though. Lydia has been begging to eat it all since she had her first taste.

I had planned to save the leftover whey, but did not expect to have so much of it. When I poured it back into the gallon jug it started in, it almost filled it back up. According to what I've read, it is a good substitute for milk or water in recipes. It can even be used to boil pasta. Heck, it looks just like milk to me! Maybe the kids won't notice...

So I guess the score is cheese 1, jen 0. I will return though! With more knowledge and a better recipe, I will return!