How to Craft Your Own Cheese

When purchasing milk at the store, you likely check the expiration date. It's not because it might spoil, but to ensure you use it before it expires. But imagine if you could buy an entire gallon without worrying about finishing it within a week? Making your own cheese eliminates the need to discard milk. Instead, you transform that wholesome dairy into a delightful, preserved treat.

Cheese is essentially milk that has undergone fermentation, a process that significantly extends its shelf life. Heat-resistant bacteria produce acid when milk is heated, preventing the growth of harmful bacteria. This acid allows the milk to last much longer than the typical week, with cheese lasting from months to even years. Cheese-making likely began thousands of years ago, possibly by accident in hot climates where milk naturally congealed into yogurt and eventually matured into cheese. Since cows and goats only produced milk seasonally, cheese-making became a method for preserving excess milk for year-round consumption. The delicious taste of cheese was a fortunate bonus.

Cheese making is easier than it sounds, though some practice is needed. Fortunately, it doesn’t require a large investment in equipment, making it accessible to almost anyone. The only tricky tool you'll need is a cheese press, but you can create one from items you already have at home if you prefer not to buy one.

In this guide, we will walk you through the steps of making a simple hard cheese. The method we'll be using is based on lessons from David Fankhauser, a biochemistry professor at the University of Cincinnati.

Let’s begin by gathering all the necessary ingredients and supplies, and preparing the milk.

Getting Started -- Cheese Making Equipment and Ingredients

We’re going to make 1 pound (0.45 kilograms) of hard cheese, similar to a Colby or mild white cheddar. (Fun fact: all cheese is naturally white—orange and yellow cheeses have color added.) In simple terms, we’ll warm the milk, introduce an enzyme called rennet (either from the stomach of a cow or goat, or for vegetarian cheese, from mold), and press the milk mixture into a block.

Here’s what you’ll need to get started:

Equipment

*Sterilize using boiling water

Ingredients

Once you have everything ready, it’s time to start making your cheese. The first step is surprisingly simple (and somewhat counterintuitive): Let the milk sit out.

1. Inoculate and incubate: Pour the gallon of milk into the sterilized pot. Heat it on the stove until it reaches 68°F (20°C). Stir in the buttermilk or yogurt starter. Mix well, cover, and remove from heat. Let it sit for an hour (or up to several hours).

2. Warm: Place the pot back on the stove. Heat the milk to 86°F (30°C) and maintain that temperature.

3. Coagulate: Dissolve 1/4 tablet of rennet in 1/4 cup of cold water. Add the diluted rennet to the warmed milk and stir thoroughly for about 30 seconds. Let the mixture sit undisturbed for one hour, keeping the temperature steady at 86°F.

After one hour, check to see if your milk has reached the right consistency to proceed.

Making a Break: Separating the Cheese

At this point, your milk should have coagulated enough to be cut into cubes. You’ll know it’s ready if you get a clean break when you test it.

4. Break: Insert your finger into the curd (the gelled milk). When you remove your finger, the curd should split cleanly around it, leaving a gap where your finger was. If it remains too liquid and doesn’t break properly, let it rest for another hour before trying again.

5. Cut: After the curd breaks cleanly, use a long knife to cut the curd. Insert the knife to the bottom of the pot and slice the curd into a grid of 0.5-inch (1.25-centimeter) cubes. Allow the cubes to sit for a few minutes.

6. Set: While gently warming the curd to 98°F (37°C), stir the mixture using your hand. Reach to the bottom, lift the curd, and stir gently. Avoid squeezing, just mix. Continue stirring until the temperature reaches 98°F and the curd has the texture of scrambled eggs. Once done, remove the pot from the heat.

7. Separate: The curd should have settled at the bottom of the pot, with whey floating on top. If the curd hasn't sunk, there could be contamination. Refer to Basic Cheese Making for troubleshooting. Pour off some whey, then transfer the curds to a strainer to drain the remaining whey. Put the curds in a bowl.

8. Salt: Add 2 teaspoons of non-iodized salt (avoid iodine as it can turn the cheese green) and mix thoroughly with your hands. Drain off any remaining whey that rises to the surface.

Your curd mixture, now salted, is ready to be transformed into real cheese. This is accomplished by pressing it.

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Finding a Cure: Pressing and Aging the Cheese

­Now it's time to grab your store-bought or homemade cheese press, or if you prefer, create your own simple version (it will work perfectly for this process).

9. Press: To make your cheese press, place the cleaned can inside the stainless steel pot and line the can with a sterilized handkerchief. Pour the salted curd into the cloth-lined can, folding the cloth over the top of the curd. Place one end of the can on top and apply pressure. Put a heavy jar on top of the press, securing the jar with a rubber band that wraps around the entire setup, from the top of the jar to the bottom of the pot. Leave the press as is for around 12 hours.

10. Cure: After 12 hours, remove the pressed curd from the can and unwrap it. Salt all the surfaces and wrap it in a fresh cloth. Store it in the refrigerator, changing the cloth daily, for one to two weeks or until a rind develops and the cheese feels dry to the touch. Congratulations, you've made your very own block of homemade cheese.

If you're planning to use your cheese for grilled cheese sandwiches or cheese sauce soon, you're finished. But if you're looking to age your cheese for months, you'll need to wax it. Cheese-making wax is available at cheese supply stores. Melt the wax and dip the cheese into it, allowing the wax to form a protective shell. You can remelt the wax and reuse it multiple times.

What you've just created is a basic cheese, made with simple equipment. But this process is essentially how you'd make nearly any cheese. The differences come down to variations in factors like the type of milk used, the temperatures, how much stirring is done, and how long you let it sit and cure. For example, goat cheese is made with goat's milk, while lighter cheeses might use skim milk. Cottage cheese isn't cured at all, whereas Swiss cheese can be aged for years to develop its signature sharp flavor. If you're interested in exploring more, check out the cheese recipes on the next page, where you can try making everything from sharp Swiss to Gouda, feta, or a smooth, creamy brie.