
Storing Fresh eggs in Lime Water
September 3, 2021
Traditional Clabber Cheese
March 23, 2022While exploring the topic of clabber cheeses I came across an American school publication from the 1970’s called Bittersweet. In its (now online) pages was this recipe. It was, it turns out, pretty much exactly what I was looking for. A hard cheese which kind of resembled shop bought block cheese that I can grate, and our daughter will actually eat it. While it is rather rich for a straight eating cheese it is good for adding to meals as a grated cheese or on anything that requires cooked cheese like pizza, cheese on toast etc. Probably also good for a cheese sauce but I haven’t tried that one yet. The reason I like it is its easy to make and even if it doesn’t work out properly can still be used as above. But also, because it doesn’t need to be aged before using and when you have limited fridge space or even no refrigeration this is the cheese to make. For me simplifying the cheese making process to only use common ingredients or simply raw milk makes sense if we are trying to be self-sufficient. All the ingredients for this cheese can come from your raw milk, apart from a little baking soda and salt which you should have in the pantry anyway.
The original article from Bittersweet – Old Time Cheese Making

Ingredients
1 1/2 gallons Fresh raw milk (approximately 6 litres)
4 Tbsps. butter (60 g)
¾ tsp baking soda
2/3 cup very thick sour cream (skimmed from milk)
1 ¼ tsp salt
Method
Set the milk in a warm place and skim off the cream when it has risen.
Leave the milk and cream in a warm place in separate containers to sour.
Taste the cream and when it is sour save 2/3 cup for use in the cheese. The rest can be used as sour cream.
Let the milk sit until it clabbers (sets) this can take 2 to 3 days. When the curd is thick and soured it is ready to cook.
(I leave the cream on the milk and scrape off once set, put the cream in the fridge and leave the milk for another day)

Heat the clabber until the pot is hot to the touch, stirring frequently to separate the whey from the curd. This simmering will take about ½ an hour. When the curd is rubbery it is time to drain off the whey.

Line a colander with a cheese cloth and pour in the curds. Allow the whey to drain out and let the curds cool a bit before squeezing out as much whey as possible, the curd should be quite dry.



Place the curds in a bowl and mix in the butter and baking soda. Press down and let it set for at least 2.5 hours or overnight.

Mix in the remaining ingredients and cook the mixture in a double boiler (or in a metal or pyrex bowl over a pot of water) stirring occasionally cook until the curds are melted.


When melted and smooth pour the cheese into a well buttered mold (like a loaf pan) and let cool. Once cool it is ready to eat, this cheese will keep well in the fridge but to cure it longer it can be covered with wax.


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