The Lost Art of Cheese Making

You all know my affinity for “Vintage Skills”. Today’s vintage skill is cheese making.

Cheese making has been a time-honored art on the homestead since homesteading began. If you had a dairy animal and more milk than your family could consume, then hard cheeses were a good way to preserve food for the future. Many of the hard cheeses did not require refrigeration; perfect for a homesteader of the past!

I actually gave this a try myself this past March.

When I had a good supply of raw milk available I made cheese and butter. It is work but the results are so worth it!

I was a little more than a little nervous about trying cheese making so I bought a kit I found on Amazon.com with good reviews. I am so glad I did! This lovely little kit included everything but the milk! Then it walked me through each step of the mozzarella making process.

When it was completed I had an awesome mound of cheese, the size of a softball.

However, to be honest, the texture didn’t seem quite right and it need A LOT more salt; but it was edible. It must have been good because it didn’t stay around long. 😉

I do hope to try again when the weather here in Phoenix cools down a bit.

I’d also like to give their 8 cheese kit a try – but don’t forget the wax! I’ll be sure to include my girls in the next venture. Not only for the home ec credit but there is quite a bit of science in the process as well.