One of the things I am dying to do next is learn to make hard cheese. We eat a LOT of cheese around here. It would be wonderful to have fresh, homemade cheddar to pull out of storage every now and then!
The only thing holding me back is the fact that I don’t have a cheese press. Lehman’s sells a really nice one for $269. It is beautiful, but we never have money like that to play with.
But you know me, a lack of funding isn’t gonna stop me from trying! After searching the internet for a while, I found a couple of neat tutorials on how to build your own cheese press for just a few dollars. And any of you can do this! You don’t have to have fresh milk to make cheese, store bought will do fine too. So, no excuses!
Here are a few ideas I found…
Here’s an instructional video which demonstrates just how simple (and inexpensive) building your own cheese press can be:
And here’s another good one to check out as well.
Though Mother Earth News has my favorite idea so far. What I love the most about this “how to” is that it tells how to make a block of cheese without having to buy a cheese mould.
I do want to warn that it is not recommended to use tin cans as a mould, as they can leach lead into the food from the solder.
After looking at all of these neat ideas I am so ready to build my own cheese press!! Once it’s built I’ll just need to find some rennet, and I’ll be ready to go!
Have you ever made homemade hard cheese? Have you built a cheese press, or have any tips to share?
Lehman’s sells a This one gives you a good idea as to how to construct a cheese press, though I personally wouldn’t use PVC for fear of BPA leaching out into the cheese.
A city girl learning to homestead on an acre of land in the country. Wife and homeschooling mother of four. Enjoying life, and everything that has to do with self sufficient living.
You may be relieved to know that lead is no longer used in steel cans (called “tin” cans by some folk, though tin has not been used in decades).
The canned food industry in the United States stopped using lead-soldered cans in 1991.
That’s really interesting that you posted this today. I was just reading about how to make hard cheese yesterday in a book I bought a couple of summers ago. The book is from the 70s and has instructions for building a cheese press that is exactly the same to the one pictured from Mother Earth News. It even gives instructions on how to make basic hard cheese (this recipe makes 6lbs), cottage cheese, yogurt, cream cheese, sour cream, butter, and mayonaise. Email me if you’d like a copy of the pages. The book is part of a set of books that have all kind of info you’d like. It’s called ‘The Family Creative Workshop’. Here’s a link to Amazon for them: http://www.amazon.com/Family-Creative-Workshop-24-set/dp/0884590216/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1284043729&sr=8-1
My dad gave me an old refrigerator that I use for my cheese cave. Just an idea…
Leeners at http://www.leeners.com sells all kinds of cheese supplies, including rennet. I find them to be decently priced. I haven’t made hard cheeses yet, but I’ve made mozzerella, ricota, and Creole cream cheese (it’s a New Orleans thing). Love it! Enjoy!
I like the homemade cheese press ideas. I have wanted to attempt hard cheeses for a while but don’t want to dump a pretty penny to do it. So ok now you have a cheese press but that is not even the hardest part what will you use for a cheese cave???? These are the things holding me back. Well those and time. I have thought about trying to convert our extra fridge into a cheese cave but between that the press and the fact that you have to constantly monitor the humitidy and each cheese requires a different humitity, I would need to by a bunch of new containers to put individual cheeses in and you have to turn and check the cheese so often I have not attempted it as of yet. Good luck and I will be interested to read about your start in hard cheese making. Maybe it will give me the guts to try it myself.