On Sunday I picked up four gallons of raw, whole, unhomogenized, unpasteurized milk directly from a local farmer. It costs $6 a gallon, which if you've done any research into how much raw milk costs will realize it's a very fair price. So, all in all to make about a pound (1 pound 1 ounce for the last loaf) of cheese from a gallon of milk costs the following:
Store bought
- $1.99-3.50 for a gallon of conventional milk
- $0.50 for buttermilk to innoculate
- $0.25 for rennet
- $0.75 for wax
Raw milk
- $6 for a gallon of raw milk
- $0.50 for buttermilk to innoculate
- $0.25 for rennet
- $0.75 for wax
I do suspect that the raw milk loaves are going to taste better. I whipped one up last night, and the curds were yellower and much, much easier to work with. It was actually night and day, raw milk rules.
Hey mister -
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of rennet are you using? Have you thought about using a vegetarian rennet? As a veg (which I'm sure you suspected), I'd love to see if there's any difference in the process and final results with the two difference kinds.
By the way, I totally love kitchen experiments that allow you to make your own ingredients. I regularly make my own yogurt and peanut butter, and when I lived in the US and was jonsing for pressed cottage cheese (salt free), I made my own farmer cheese.
I'm actually using vegetarian rennet in all these batches. I've used both, and my burned-out palate can't taste the difference between the two, and the gelling properties of both are great. I've read that some snobs can taste the difference, but I feel the flavor contribution is so low on the list as to mostly be inconsequential. Now, where it would make a difference is if you used way, way, way too much--that can make it taste funny :)
ReplyDeleteOh, and Portland rocks, lived off of 36th and Powell for a couple years.
ReplyDeleteJeremy--Thats very cool that you are trying to use raw milk now. There are probably two things that can happen--your cheese will indeed be much better. Or at first it may be worse. I say this, because your new raw material is much more variable and demanding that the standardized/pasturized/homogenized milk you have been using. This will create new challenges for you. But I'm sure you'll figure it out quickly and the cheese will turn out great. I'm excited to see the results.
ReplyDeleteFantastic! Thanks for the detailed response. The Saturday Farmers' Market is starting up here again in 2 weeks, and there are some local cheeses that I've been missing since Fall... I'd love to figure out how to make the incredibly creamy Havarti that I can't get enough of; I regularly spend $6-8 on a 2-3oz slice, so having a whole pound to myself would be heavenly.
ReplyDeleteSo it looks like the functional difference between Havarti and a standard cheddar are:
ReplyDelete* Havarti, according to US tariffs (Part 177 of the Customs Regulations (19 CFR 177)) is 35% fat, and 45% moisture, while cheddar is 30%/39% respectively
* Havarti is pressed at about a quarter the weight of cheddar
* Havarti is more aggressively washed than cheddar
* The cheese is brined, washed, and discouraged from forming a real rind
All in all, I may have accidentally made a loaf of it with #11 (which hasn't been posted yet).
Oh, that's excellent! You're making me want to try out making hard cheese even more now.
ReplyDelete