Prepper's Cheesemaking

If you've read the comments to my "Chèvre" and "Cardoon for Vegetable Rennet" blog posts, then you know we've been discussing alternatives to buying rennet and cheese cultures. The following is a relevant excerpt from chapter 7 of my Prepper's Livestock Handbook. Chapter 7 contains off-grid ways to process, make, preserve, and store eggs, milk, butter, cheese, and meat. Cheese is the traditional way to preserve milk, so here are a number of alternative ideas for making and storing cheese.

Cheese

Sustainable cultures. These can be substituted for commercial thermophilic and mesophilic starters. Commonly used are kefir, yogurt, whey, cultured buttermilk, and soured raw milk. In general, use 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 cup per gallon of milk. If your cheese is too bland for your taste, increase the amount of culture in your next batch. If your cheese tastes too sour, decrease it.

Natural rennets. Animal rennets are made from the stomach of a calf or kid, where enzymes curdle liquid milk into soft, digestible curds. See “How to Make Calf or Kid Rennet” under Resources for how to make your own. Plant rennets are made from plants that will curdle milk: thistle, cardoon, ground ivy, sheep sorrel, butterwort leaves, mallow, yarrow, teasel, knapweed, perennial ryegrass, narrowleaf plantain, henbit, shepherd’s purse, kudzu, globe artichoke, Jerusalem artichoke flowers, Irish moss, and safflower are examples. To make the rennet, gather and dehydrate any of the above. Make a strong tea by boiling a handful of the plant matter in 2 cups of water. Use 1⁄2 cup of tea per 1⁄2 gallon of milk. Results may vary!

Fig sap. The white latex-like sap from figs will also curdle milk. It only takes a few drops per quart of milk, and makes a soft, spreadable cheese.

Calcium chloride. This is often recommended when using pasteurized milk for making cheese. In raw milk the calcium is correctly balanced, so calcium chloride is not necessary.

Preserving cheese. If cheese is a way to preserve milk, then how do we preserve cheese? Cheeses that aren’t eaten fresh can be waxed, bandaged, or stored in oil or brine. The idea is to keep the cheese from becoming contaminated by airborne bacteria and fungi that might change your cheese in undesirable ways.

Waxing. The most common way to preserve cheese. Cheeses are coated with melted wax and then aged. Beeswax is an alternative to commercial cheese wax. If you find beeswax too brittle and prone to cracking, coconut oil or vegetable shortening can be added to melted beeswax to increase pliability:

• 13.5 ounces melted beeswax 
• 2.5 ounces oil or shortening 

Waxed cheeses are typically aged 60 days or longer at 50 to 60°F (10 to 15°C) and 75 to 95 percent humidity.

Bandaging. Another option for aging and storing cheese. Several layers of cotton cloth are cut in rounds for the top and bottom of the cheese wheel, and strips cut for the sides. The bandage is coated with butter or lard and then aged the same as waxed cheeses.

Oil submersion. Used for soft cheeses. The cheeses are submerged in extra-virgin olive oil and kept in a cool root cellar or refrigerator. Herbs such as rosemary, thyme, bay leaves, savory, oregano, peppercorns, and garlic may be added to the oil for flavoring. The herbed oil may later be used for salads and sauteing.

Cold storage. Cold storage, such as a root cellar or cheese cave, can be used to store cheese without refrigeration.

• Cured, uncut cheeses can be stored until it’s time to consume them. 
• Cut cheeses will keep longest if kept as cold as possible. Cut off mold as it develops and feed it to the pigs, chickens, or compost. The rest of the cheese is still good. 
• Natural rinded cheeses will need to be examined periodically for growth of molds. 
• Moldy spots can be scrubbed with vinegar and salt to remove the mold. 
• Waxed cheeses need to be turned about once a week to keep the natural moisture within the cheese from settling on the bottom. 
• Brine- or oil-kept cheeses must be checked periodically to make sure they remain submerged. 

Freezing. Generally not recommended for cheese, because freezing alters the texture and causes the cheese to be crumbly. It still has good flavor, however, and is acceptable for cooking. Some cheeses such as grated mozzarella and paneer, freeze very well.

Bibliography: 
Tate, Leigh, Prepper's Livestock Handbook, Berkeley, CA: Ulysses Press, 2018

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The last section of the chapter, "Off-Grid Storage of Eggs, Milk, and Meat," discusses non-electric alternatives for refrigeration and freezing. For a prepper, these are the best ways to not lose what we've worked so hard to preserve and store. The appendix on Resources offers links to the tools mentioned in the chapter and further detail on various topics.

I think this is an important topic, because it greatly expands the prepper pantry with alternatives to canned and dehydrated protein foods. Especially since homemade is usually much cheaper than ready-made.

More information about Prepper's Livestock Handbook, including a list of chapters and charts, can be found here.

Prepper's Cheesemaking © July 2019 by

Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com

Cardoon for Vegetable Rennet

In the comments of my last post (Chèvre) there was some discussion about vegetable rennet, so I wanted to show you my cardoon. Two years ago I planted some, because I was told they can be used to make a vegetable rennet for making cheese. They are perennials so last year they just grew and established themselves. This year they bloomed.

Cardoon is a relative of the globe artichoke.

To make rennet the purple stamens are collected and dried.

After I took this picture I learned that if the stamens are cut off the
flowers while still on the plant, they'll regrow for another cutting.

Spread out on a clean kitchen towel to dry. 

As I've been collecting and drying the stamens, I've been doing some research. Apparently, cardoon rennet is used to make specific cheeses. The ones in Portugal are called cardo cheeses: Azeitão, Nisa, and Serra da Estrela to name some of the popular ones. But I've been having trouble finding actual recipes for them. I've found a couple of videos, but they are more tourist demonstrations rather than how-to classes.

For using cardoon rennet, I'm finding varying instructions. One source says to use about 5 tablespoons of dried, powered cardoon stamens to make the tea for a gallon of milk. Another source says 1 to 2.5 grams per litre of milk, and still another says 1 gm for 2 litres milk. Quite a difference, and I suppose it has to do with the specific cheese being made. No matter, if I want to use it routinely as rennet, it's going to take way more cardoon plants than the half-dozen I've got. Hopefully, I'll have enough for an experiment. As far as growing it for a steady supply for cheesemaking, forget it. I can't see myself growing an acre of cardoon plants just for that.

All is not lost, however, because cardoon leaf stalks can be eaten as a vegetable too. Very popular in Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal. They tend to be bitter in flavor, so commonly the leaves are pulled together and tied in a bundle to blanch them before harvesting. I wasn't thinking about using them that way earlier, and now the plants are probably too late in this season's maturity. So that will be for next year.

Once I harvest and dry enough stamens, I'll make a cardoon solution and give it a try. And I confess I'm curious. Has anyone traveled to Portugal and tried some of these intriguing cheeses? Or maybe a Portuguese blog visitor can give me more information?

Cardoon is from a long list of plants that will curdle milk for making cheese. I've been collecting other things to try for vegetable rennet too. More on those later.

Cardoon for Vegetable Rennet © June 2019

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com

Fig Sap Cheese

Something I've been wanting to experiment with for awhile is making my own vegetable rennets. There are a number of plants which have traditionally been used to make cheese, and I think being skilled in some of these is a good preparedness plan. With fig season about done for us, I decided to start my experiments by using fig sap as rennet!

The sap of figs is a natural latex substance containing a form of rennin or chymosin, an enzyme that separates the milk solids from the liquid, i.e., Little Miss Muffet's curds and whey. Chymosin is primarily found in the stomach of newborn ruminants, such as calves and kids, where the curds are a more digestible solid for them than the liquid milk. Cheese makers have used animal rennet for millennia to make cheese.

Rennin is found in smaller quantities and different forms in some plants. Figs for example.

Fig trees have a latex-like sap that contains a natural rennet.
NOTE: If you are sensitive to latex, wear gloves!

Green figs are picked in the morning when the enzymes and sap flow are highest. It takes only a very small amount of the sap to make cheese. To experiment, I worked with 1-quart quantities of raw goat milk.

• 1 quart milk
• 3/8 tsp citric acid dissolved in 1/8 cup filtered or well water (i.e. not chlorinated)
• several drops of fig sap

Mix citric acid into milk, heat to 90°F (32°C), and stir in the fig sap.

This is a 1/64 tsp measuring spoon with two drops of fig sap.

Let sit until clean break (that's where you can slice the curds cleanly with a knife). According to an article at cheesemaking.com, the milk should curdle in about 12 hours. Mine still wasn't set after 24 hours and I was going to feed it to the chickens but got distracted. When I got back to it three hours later, I did indeed have curds and whey! I drained the whey and worked in 1/4 tsp sea salt.

I use a cotton kitchen towel instead of cheese cloth.

I took a timid taste and knew I was on to something here! It had the texture of cream cheese with the taste of sour cream. It was only a small sample, but I experimented with several ways to use it. Spread on crackers, mixed with ranch dressing for chip dip, melted in a bit of milk for Stroganoff-like noodles, and my favorite...

Better than cream cheese and jelly.

For the next batch I doubled the fig sap, got a clean break in about 21 hours, and ended up with a slightly firmer, milder flavor cheese. Still delicious but different. And so easy!

There are a number of plants that have been used to make cheese. Here is the list I've collected: thistle, cardoon, ground ivy, sheep sorrel, butterwort leaves, mallow, yarrow, teasel, knapweed, perennial ryegrass, narrowleaf plantain, henbit, shepherd's purse, kudzu, globe artichoke, Jerusalem artichoke flowers, papaya, caper, Irish moss, pumpkin, kiwi fruit, ginger, safflower, and paw paw. Not a lot of examples of cheese actually made with most of these, mind you, so I have no idea what kind of results most of these would give.

Some are said to also affect flavor, which may or may or may not be acceptable, but I'm guessing this is somewhat subjective. Thistle rennets in particular, are said to make cheese bitter as it ages. On the other hand, I've read that isn't the case with goat milk! I'll have to experiment with the plants I have growing locally and see which cheeses we like best; then not worry about the rest.

Soft cheeses don't keep as well as hard, aged cheeses, so small batches are good for just the two of us. Especially in summer when our temperatures are too warm for hard cheese curing. I save that for when the weather is cooler.

I also read that a clean fig branch can be used as a source of sap too - simply use it to stir the milk. I will have to try that one after our fig harvest is done. There are directions here for doing that.

Fig Sap Cheese © August 2017 by Leigh

at http://www.5acresandadream.com/