Basic Ingredients for Cheesepalooza
Rennet:
- It can be purchased as liquid which usually has a 1 year shelf life and must be kept in the fridge, or in tablet or powder; powder and tablet rennet can be stored in the freezer for several years. Most companies sell tablet/powdered rennet in set batches; if you are worried they won’t use all of it, purchase the smallest amount they sell and go from there, or purchase with a group and divide it.
- One bottle of liquid rennet will do for the whole year and then some
Distilled Water:
- It does not matter where you get it as long as it is not chlorinated; a bottle of Evian will do; I purchase it in 4L jugs at Superstore, a mega store in Edmonton
Non-Iodized Salt:
- It does not matter where you get it as long as it is non-iodized; it is important to read the label as some companies will add anti-caking/clumping agents, you don’t want that. Ian buys “pickling salt” at Bulk Barn, a mega store in Edmonton: 1 kg lasts a good year
Citric Acid:
- This can be bought at brewing supply stores in the Untied States, or at Bulk Barn or Bosch Kitchen Centre in Edmonton
Calcium Chloride Solution (CaCL)
- You can buy this in 30% solution from various cheese making supply companies, or, if you can find “Pickle Crisp” by Bernardin which can be picked up at certain grocery stores you can buy it and make your own 30% solution as it is pure CaCl
- 30 grams Pickle Crips + 70 grams of distilled water = 30% Solution by weight.
- Note: you do not use CaCl if you are using raw milk and do not have to use it if you are using pasteurised milk, but you will get a weaker curd set without it
Cultures (Mesophilic and Thermophilic)
- Most of these come in packages of freeze dried culture
- Each package contains enough to inoculate/start 100 to 500 litres of milk
- One package of culture should do you for the duration of the challenges
- Making a Mother Culture of each would be beneficial to help extend the culture and it must be stored in the freezer. (List coming on which cultures) Think of a mother culture as similar to a sour dough starter.
Substitutes:
- Mesophilic Culture – Active Cultured Buttermilk (Store bought buttermilk)
- Thermophilic Culutre – Active Culture Yogurt (Store bought Yogurt)
Ripening Additives
This includes molds for Camembert/Brie, Blue Cheeses
B. Linens for some of the washed rind
Propionc Shermani for Jarlesberg
Lipase for parmesan
They will all come in set amounts, usually in small packages; again you can do a group purchase and split.
Substitutes:
B. Linens/White Mold/Blue Mold:
Take the rind from a cheese you bought or a sample of blue cheese and put it with some distilled water in a blender or food processor and blend until you have a slurry; you then add the slurry to your milk when the directions call for you to add to the mold or b linnens etc. Ian has a post here about it called “Do you like that rind? Want to have it on your cheese?”
As far as I know there are no substitutes for Propionc Shermani.
Note: If you use raw milk you do not need to add lipase; it is in the milk already. It is destroyed by pasteurization.
