Super Easy Feta Cheese

This is a recipe that was given to me by a friend (thank you Cheryl!). It looked
so easy to make that I thought it was to much to believe. So of course I had to
make it!
It turned out great!! I took pictures of the process so that if it did turn out
I could show you just how easy cheese making can be!! I buy my cheese
cultures and my cheese salt from Leeners
http://leeners.com/ This is a great company to do business with.
Here is the recipe:
Super Easy Feta Cheese
1 gallon goats milk (any milk would work, I used
raw goats milk)
¼ c cultured buttermilk- this must be real cultured buttermilk or 1/8 t.
Mesophilic A culture (I use direct set cultures that I buy from
Leeners and that is what the pictures show)
¼ c water
20 drops vegetable rennet
Also:
Salt (cheese salt works best)
herbs, dried or fresh, your choice (dill, basil, oregano, chives, thyme)
Olive oil
Start with 1 gallon of milk

Heat the milk to 70 degrees (about room temp. I am not sure you have to do that, but felt room temp would be better than cold milk).

Add the buttermilk or Mesophilic A culture and stir.


Into the ¼ cup of water add 20 drops of vegetable rennet and stir. Add this to
the milk and stir.


Let this sit for 2 hours. After 2 hours, stir slowly and carefully to break up the curds.

Drain this for 8 to 10 hours (overnight is handy). Below you will see pics of how I do this. I use an old pillow case (works better than cheesecloth) that I have washed and bleached and shoestrings that have been washed and bleached to hang my cheese.






Here it is after 8 hours. You can see the bag of cheese is much smaller and there is much more whey in the bowl

Here is what was in the bag:

cut the cheese into chunks.

Layer pieces of cheese, salt and herbs in a quart jar.


View from the top:

Cover with olive oil making sure no cheese is above the level of the oil.

Turn jar several times a day. This is ready to eat
in 3 days.

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