Making butter and cheese
How is butter made?Buttermaking is a simple process in which soured cream is churned or whipped until it separates into butter and buttermilk. The butter is then washed repeatedly and stored.
How is cheese made?Cheesemaking is a biological process that turns milk from cows, sheep or goats into soft or hard cheese, using a cheese culture. When you leave milk in a warm place, it will naturally separate into curds and whey. When you put the curds and whey into a muslin bag, so the whey drains away, you will be left with a soft cheese. Cheesemakers use a starter, or culture – lactic-acid bacteria, from animal rennet or a microbial rennet produced by fermentation – to separate their milk.
Farmers who use their own milk to make cheese will mix evening milk with milk from the next morning: half evening and half morning milk is the traditional recipe for Cheddar.
Raw or unpasteurised milk is also preferred by many cheesemakers. “I have been making cheeses from raw cow’s and goat’s milk for the last 20 years, and most of the award-winning Irish farmhouse cheeses are raw milk cheeses,” says Hans Wieland, who gives courses in cheesemaking. Many artisan cheesemakers oppose the current drive to ban raw milk in the EU (see irishcheese.ie).
Once you have curds and whey, you begin to cut or break up the curd. The size of the curd particles determines the type of cheese you can make.
“Smaller particles will produce harder cheese such as Parmesan, while bigger particles will result in softer cheeses,” explains Wieland. The curd is then either washed, heated or simply left in the whey, depending on the type of cheese you want. Next, it is separated from the whey and packed and pressed into wooden, steel or plastic moulds.
The cheeses are left in their moulds for six to 12 hours, then washed again in a salt bath and put on a rack to dry. They are then stored on wooden boards to ripen for a minimum of three or four weeks.
Where do I sign up?Hans and Gaby Wieland run courses in cheesemaking at the Organic Centre in Rossinver, Co Leitrim (theorganiccentre.ie or 071-9854338). Their two-day courses deal with hard and soft cheeses, fresh herb cheeses, yogurt and cheese in oil. The next course is on November 5th and 6th.
Imen McDonnell and Kevin Sheridan will demonstrate how to make butter at the Theatre Royal in Waterford next Saturday, September 10th, at 12.25pm as part of the GIY Gathering (see giyireland.com). Teagasc also runs occasional cheesemaking courses for farmers who want to begin making cheese. See teagasc.ie.
