Butter

 Making butter is simple, fun, and the finished product is delicious!

Start by letting the cream rise to the top of the milk, and skim with a ladle. Add cream to a blender, turn on high for about 5-7 minutes. When you start to see golden yellow clumps in a whitish liquid, this is your butter/butter milk. Stop the blender.

Next, you will want to separate the butter from the buttermilk; I just use a regular tea towel set over a bowl. This allows me to catch the butter milk (for pancakes-the best you will ever taste!), and leave you with the butter in the towel.

Next, you will rinse the butter. Set it on either a cutting board or a plate and run it under cold water, all the while working it with a wooden spoon or spatula. The point here is to rinse as much/all of the butter milk out of the butter. Doing this will help the butter to stay fresher, longer.

When water runs clear, pat butter with either a paper towel or another tea towel.

Depending on how you like your butter, you can add a pinch of salt. Beware! Because the butter is in essence an oil at this point, salt goes a LONG way. I've over salted mine before, and could only use it for cooking.

Make sure you store it in a container that has a tight lid, as you don't want off flavors to develop while its sitting in the fridge.

Farmer Cheese
 

This is a simple cheese that is quickly crafted and delicious to eat!! I prefer to make this with goat milk, but it can easily be crafted with cow, sheep or any other farm fresh milk you have on hand. This recipe is adapted from one that was offered to me by herbalist Susun Weed.

• warm 1 gallon of milk to 80-90 degrees (you can add fresh whey from your previous batch of cheese as a culture-to every one. gallon of milk you would add 1 quart of whey: This is not necessary, but if you are using raw milk it will add flavor to your cheese)
• add 13 drops of rennet to each gallon of milk plus a squirt for good luck.
• let stand until the entire mass is solid (the texture of tofu). This will take approximately 45 minutes to one hour)
• cut the mass all the way through in a grid pattern (blocks should be approximately ½")
• slowly heat to 100 degrees (increase heat 2 degrees every 5 minutes) This will take approximately ½ hour. The curds will shrink noticeably as you stir. The whey will increase in quantity as the curds shrink.
• separate the curds and whey and place in a bowl. Add salt (slightly over salting to taste-as much of the salt will be lost while draining. At this time you can also add garlic and/or herbs)
• pour the curds into a cheesecloth-lined colander, which is over a bowl or bucket to catch the whey.
• knot one corner of the cloth around the other three corners and hand the bag of curds to drain for one hour (I often hang the bag above of my sink or with a wood spoon over a large pot or bucket). If you are making 5 gallons worth of cheese you will hang your cheese for 12-24 hours and this will be sufficient pressing.
• for 1-4 pounds of cheese-after one-hour pour the drained curds into a bowl, break them up gently into walnut size pieces
• place curds into a clean cheesecloth and place into a press. If you do not have a cheese press-you can place the cheese on a plate tie a bandana around the cheese and place between two plates. Place a heavy object/s-clean bricks, containers of water, cast iron pot etc. on top and press for 12-24 hours.
• eat and enjoy!! Place unused portion in the refrigerator for up to a week
   

Kefir cheese:
 

• 2 litres raw milk.
• 1 cup of kefir grains
• 1 teaspoon Celtic sea salt.
• Unbleached linen, 600mm square.
• Colander or hook to hang the linen bag.
• Cheese moulds 10cm wide x 8 cm deep.
• Plastic rack.
   

Directions:
 

Kefir the milk then remove the kefir grains. (Kefir Recipe)

Line a bowl with a piece of unbleached linen. Tip the kefir into the linen and tie up the corners with a piece of string. Hang the bag of kefir over a bowl from a stick supported by the backs of two chairs, or hang it from a rafter or a suitable hook. Alternatively line a colander with linen and support the colander over a bowl. Leave for 24 hours for the whey to drain through. The result will be cream cheese in the linen and kefir whey in the bowl.. The result will be cream cheese in the linen and kefir whey in the bowl.. Store some of the kefir whey in a refrigerator ready for use in other recipes.

Untie the linen and mix in Celtic sea salt with the cream cheese then spoon the cream cheese into the cheese moulds. Place the cheese moulds on plastic mesh so that more of the whey can drain away. You may wish to put a cloth under the plastic mesh in order to soak up some of the whey.

After a few days, the cheese should dry enough for it to be removed from the moulds and placed directly upon a plastic rack. Turn the cheese daily.

After culturing the cheese at 20C for about 1 week, wrap it in grease proof paper and transfer it to a 15C refrigerator where it may be left to mature for 2- 3 weeks. If you do not have a 15C refrigerator then just put it in a kitchen refrigerator. Check the cheese every few days to view and smell its progress, and to replace the paper as it soaks up moisture, otherwise the cheese will stick to the paper. Once the cheese is dry enough wrap it in air proof paper (cheese or butter paper if you can find it) to stop further drying. When the cheese is mature then refrigerate at 3C. The cheese is ready to eat when it pleases your taste bud
 

Camembert cheese:
 

• 2 litres raw milk.
• 1 teaspoon Celtic sea salt.
• Unbleached linen, 600mm square.
• Colander or hook to hang the linen bag.
• Cheese moulds 10cm wide x 8 cm deep.
• White mould culture.
• Plastic rack.
   

Directions:
 

Pour the milk into a glass bowl and cover with a cloth held in place with an elastic band. After 24 hours gently stir in the cream that has risen to the top. 24 hours later the milk should have set into curds and whey. This process of naturally souring the milk is known as clabbering.

Line a bowl with a piece of unbleached linen. Gently mix the curds and whey together with a fork then pour it into the linen lined bowl. Tie up the corners with a piece of string. Hang the bag of curd over a bowl from a stick supported by the backs of two chairs, or hang it from a rafter or a suitable hook. Alternatively line a colander with linen and support the colander over a bowl. Leave for 24 hours for the whey to drain through. The result will be cream cheese in the linen and whey in the bowl. You may wish to store some of the whey in a refrigerator ready for use in other recipes, though kefir whey is probably preferable to clabbered whey.

Untie the linen and mix in Celtic sea salt with the cream cheese then spoon the cream cheese into the cheese moulds. Place the cheese mould on plastic mesh so that more of the whey can drain away. You may wish to put a cloth under the plastic mesh in order to soak up some of the whey.

Add a few white mould spores to the top of each of the cheese moulds. After a few days the mould should have grown a little over the top surface of the cheese and the cheese should be dry enough for it to be removed from the moulds and placed directly upon a plastic rack.

The air inside your cheese incubator needs a fairly high humidity to encourage mycelial growth of the camembert culture but also needs to be dry enough for the cheese to dry a little. Turn the cheese daily to encourage the mould to grow on each side of the cheese and to prevent the cheese from sticking to the rack.

I should mention here that some recipes call for clabbering the milk, draining it, then rubbing salt into the rind and then after a few days spraying the blocks of cheese with water that contains some of the camembert culture. The choices that you make will be determined by your resources and by the amount of time that you can devote to your cheese making pursuit.

After culturing the cheese at 20C for about 1 week, wrap it in grease proof paper and transfer it to a 15C refrigerator where it should be left to mature for 2- 3 weeks. If you do not have a 15C refrigerator then just put it in a kitchen refrigerator. Check the cheese every few days to view and smell its progress, and to replace the paper as it soaks up moisture, otherwise the cheese will stick to the paper. Once the cheese is dry enough wrap it in air proof paper (cheese or butter paper if you can find it) to stop further drying. When the cheese is mature then refrigerate at 3C. The cheese is ready to eat when it pleases your taste buds.

Cottage Cheese / Cheese Curds
(Fias Co Farm Style)
Ingredients:

• 2-3 gallons goat milk (or cow milk) (I use raw, unpasteurized milk)
• 1/4 tsp. mesophilic DVI Culture "MM"* or 4 oz. Mesophilic culture or 1 Cup. Buttermilk
• 1/2 tsp. Liquid rennet (I use double strength vegetable rennet), dissolved in 1/4 C. wate
• 1-2 T. kosher salt

*The DVI cultures I use are EZAL cultures from France purchased from The Dairy Connection.
 

Bring the milk to 86° (90° for cow milk) and add the mesophilic culture. Stir well and let set, to ripen, for 1 hour. Add the rennet and stir briskly for 15 seconds. Cover the pot and let the milk set for 45 minutes, or until you get a clean break. Hold the milk at a temperature of 86° (90° for cow milk) for the entire time.

Cut the curds into 1/2" pieces with a stainless steel knife. This always seem to be the trickiest part of cheese making, but take your time, and don't worry if all the curds are cut to exactly 1/2". After you have cut the curds, do not stir them yet. Let them rest, undisturbed for 10 minutes (5 minutes for cow milk).

Now you can stir the curds gently and cut any that you had missed. What you are doing here is making the size cottage cheese curd/lump you like. Raise the temperature of the curds to 95° (99° for cow milk) over the next 20 minutes, stirring occasionally so the curds do not stick together. Let the curds settle for 5 minutes, undisturbed.

Drain the the whey until it in level with the curds (about 1/2-3/4 of the whey). Add enough cold water to lower the temp to 85°. Stir as you add the water. Now, leave the curds in this cheese 85° water/whey for for 10 minutes, stirring with your hand occasionally so that the curds don't stick together.

Pour the curds into a colander and let drain. Carefully stir occasionally so it dose not stick together (too badly). After about 1/2 hour, you can carefully separate/break up the curds into a bowl and salt to taste. Cover and let sit in the fridge at least 2 days. The curds may be "squeaky" at first, but with the aging, they loose their squeak".

This is a "dry" cottage cheese, if you like it "wet", you may add some cream to it.

Custard Pudding
Serves 4
 

• 3 eggs
• 1 3/4 cups soured, raw milk
• 1/4 cup Rapadura or maple syrup (maple syrup gives a kind of "flan" taste)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
   

Whip together in baking dish. Cook at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes or until knife or toothpick comes out clean. Cool, serve.
 

Traditional British White Sauce
Makes 2 cups
 

• 2 cups soured milk
• 2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
• 2 tablespoons Rapadura
• 1 1/2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons brandy
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
   

Gently heat 1 1/2 cups of soured milk over medium heat but do not allow to boil. Mix Rapadura and arrowroot powder together. Add remaining 1/2 cup of cold, soured milk to rapadura-arrowroot mixture to make a paste. Mix this paste with the heated milk and cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring constantly. Add butter, brandy, and vanilla while cooking. Add a bit of cold, soured milk after sauce is cooked to keep skin from forming on top.
 

Hint: This is a delicious topping for fruit, homemade cobbler, or fruit pie.
 

Milk-Based Baby Formula
Makes 36 ounces
 

Our milk-based formula takes account of the fact that human milk is richer in whey, lactose, vitamin C, niacin, and long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids compared to cow's milk but leaner in casein (milk protein). The addition of gelatin to cow's milk formula will make it more digestible for the infant. Use only truly expeller-expressed oils in the formula recipes, otherwise they may lack vitamin E.
 

The ideal milk for baby, if he cannot be breastfed, is clean, whole raw milk from old-fashioned cows, certified free of disease, that feed on green pasture. For sources of good quality milk, see www.realmilk.com or contact a local chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation.
 

If the only choice available to you is commercial milk, choose whole milk, preferably organic and unhomogenized, and culture it with a piima or kefir culture to restore enzymes (available from G.E.M. Cultures 253-588-2922 or http://www.gemcultures.com).
 

• 2 cups whole milk, preferably unprocessed milk from pasture-fed cows
• 1/4 cup homemade liquid whey (See recipe for whey, below) Note: Do NOT use whey from making cheese--it will cause the formula to curdle. Use only homemade whey made from yoghurt, kefir or separated raw milk.
• 4 tablespoons lactose*
• 1/4 teaspoon bifidobacterium infantis**
• 2 or more tablespoons good quality cream (not ultrapasteurized), more if you are using milk from Holstein cows
• 1 teaspoon regular dose cod liver oil or 1/2 teaspoon high-vitamin cod liver oil*
• 1 teaspoon expeller-expressed sunflower oil*
• 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil*
• 2 teaspoons coconut oil*
• 2 teaspoons Frontier brand nutritional yeast flakes*
• 2 teaspoons gelatin*
• 1 7/8 cups filtered water
• 1/4 teaspoon acerola powder*
   

*Available from Radiant Life 888-593-8333, www.radiantlifecatalog.com
 

**Available from Natren 866-462-8736, www.natren.com, or Radiant Life 888-593-8333, www.radiantlifecatalog.com.

Add gelatin to water and heat gently until gelatin is dissolved. Place all ingredients in a very clean glass or stainless steel container and mix well. To serve, pour 6 to 8 ounces into a very clean glass bottle, attach nipple and set in a pan of simmering water. Heat until warm but not hot to the touch, shake bottle well and feed baby. (Never, never heat formula in a microwave oven!) Note: If you are using the Lact-Aid, mix all ingredients well in a blender.)
 

Homemade Whey
About 5 cups
 

Homemade whey is easy to make from good quality plain yoghurt, or from raw or cultured milk. You will need a large strainer that rests over a bowl.
 

If you are using yoghurt, place 2 quarts in the strainer lined with a tea towel. Cover with a plate and leave at room temperature overnight. The whey will drip out into the bowl. Place whey in clean glass jars and store in the refrigerator.