How to Make Homemade Cheese (2024)

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Learn how to make cheese with this simple recipe for homemade cheese. I use it to make a version of Mexican queso fresco and the same recipe for homemade ricotta cheese.

Submitted bySUNFLOWER71

Updated on November 13, 2023

Tested by

Allrecipes Test Kitchen

The Allrecipes Test Kitchen staff are a team of culinary pros who make and vet recipes using only equipment you'd find in a home kitchen. Staff credentials vary but include training at the Culinary Institute of America; kitchen stints in fine dining restaurants; and countless hours in the test kitchen itself.

How to Make Homemade Cheese (1)

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Ingredients

  • 1 gallon whole milk

  • ¼ cup white vinegar

  • 1 pinch salt

Directions

  1. Gather all ingredients.

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  2. Heat milk in a large pot until the temperature reaches 195 degrees F (90 degrees C), stirring constantly to prevent scorching on the bottom.

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  3. Remove from the heat and stir in vinegar. Let stand for 10 minutes.

  4. Line a mesh strainer with cheesecloth and set over a large bowl.

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  5. Stir salt into milk; pour through the prepared strainer. Let curds strain for 1 hour. The milk should separate into a white solid part and a yellowish liquid (whey). Discard the whey.

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  6. Pat cheese into a ball and remove the cheesecloth.

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  7. Wrap in plastic and store in the refrigerator until ready to use. Fresh cheese will usually last about 1 week.

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Recipe Tip

You can use apple cider vinegar instead of white vinegar.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)

98Calories
5g Fat
7g Carbs
5g Protein
Nutrition Facts
Servings Per Recipe24
Calories98
% Daily Value *
Total Fat5g7%
Saturated Fat3g15%
Cholesterol16mg5%
Sodium65mg3%
Total Carbohydrate7g3%
Total Sugars7g
Protein5g10%
Calcium184mg14%
Potassium233mg5%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

** Nutrient information is not available for all ingredients. Amount is based on available nutrient data.

(-) Information is not currently available for this nutrient. If you are following a medically restrictive diet, please consult your doctor or registered dietitian before preparing this recipe for personal consumption.

Powered by the ESHA Research Database © 2018, ESHA Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved

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How to Make Homemade Cheese (2024)

FAQs

What ingredients are used to make cheese? ›

To sum up, cheese is made with four basic cheese ingredients: milk, starter culture, coagulant, and salt. How these ingredients are combined determines how strong or mild the flavor will be.

Which cheese is the easiest to make? ›

Cream Cheese

One of the easiest and tastiest cheeses to make! The best part is that you'll only need three simple ingredients that you probably already have at home: whole milk, salt, and lemon juice.

Is homemade cheese hard to make? ›

Making cheese at home is incredibly easy and requires only a few ingredients and no specialized equipment, just a sauce pan, colander, and some cheese cloth. Turns out, subtle variations on a pretty basic theme produce all kinds of wonderful homemade cheeses.

What kind of milk do you use to make cheese? ›

Jess: Most cheeses, with a few specific exceptions, are made with whole milk. This can mean pasteurized milk from the grocery store, or raw milk fresh off the farm. The only milk that should not be used for cheesemaking is ULTRAPASTEURIZED milk.

What are the 3 main components of cheese? ›

There are three main components for making cheese: the milk, a coagulant, and bacterial cultures. Cheese is made mostly of milk, whether from cows, sheep, goats, buffalo or a blend of these milks. A coagulant is a substance added to milk to help solids form out of the liquid portion.

How is easy cheese made? ›

Cheese proteins that have denatured during processing are reestablished using melting salts. Sodium citrate and sodium phosphate are the main emulsifiers used in Easy Cheese to sequester calcium in cheddar cheese. This occurrence hydrates and solubilizes the casein, causing it to swell with water.

Is it cheaper to make your own cheese? ›

Depending on the type of cheese you prefer, making your own cheese is less expensive than purchasing it from your local supermarket because you don't have to factor in the manufacturing, packaging, marketing, and freight costs.

What cheese is the fastest to make? ›

Mozzarella, however, is one of the simplest, fastest cheeses to make, so it is great for first-time cheesemakers like me. I'm just lucky that it's also one of my favorites.

What is the oldest cheese to make? ›

Archaeological evidence for making cheese in Egypt goes back about 5,000 years. In 2018, archeologists from Cairo University and the University of Catania reported the discovery of the oldest known cheese from Egypt. Discovered in the Saqqara necropolis, it is around 3200 years old.

How do people make fake cheese? ›

An imitation or synthetic cheese product is produced by reacting an acid precipitated casein with a basic calcium salt to produce a calcium caseinate solution, adding acid to adjust the pH of the calcium caseinate solution, forming a curd of the calcium caseinate by treatment with a coagulating enzyme and admixing the ...

How to make science cheese? ›

The basic steps in cheesemaking are: adding beneficial bacteria to milk, coagulating the milk into a soft white substance called curd, and pressing and cutting curd into the finished cheese shape. But to get a delicious final product, the milk must be at the right temperature and the right pH at the right time.

How to make fat free cheese? ›

To make fat-free cheese, then, it's simply a matter of removing the fat from the milk and then using the fat-free milk to make the cheese.

How is cheese made in 4 steps? ›

Here's how cheese is made in 4 easy steps.
  1. Step 1: splitting milk into curds & whey. The watery part of milk that remains after the formation of curds. ...
  2. Step 2: Draining the curd. ...
  3. Step 3: Brining and coating cheese. ...
  4. Step 4: Ripening cheese. ...
  5. 9 Essential Amino Acids | Food Sources to Find Them.
Apr 16, 2021

What are the ingredients in process cheese? ›

Ingredients: Contains natural cheeses or enzyme modified cheeses, emulsifying agents (<3 % w/w), acidulants (vinegar, lactic acid, citric acid, acetic acid, phosphopric acid), milkfat (from cream, anhydrous milkfat or dehydrated cream; <5% w/w), water, salt, colors, spices, flavorings, mold inhibitors1 (sorbic acid, ...

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