[Cheese] Subbing pastuerized milk + culture for raw milk?

[Jack Schmidling]

Tim Weatherwax wrote:
> Hello all, I'm also new to cheese making.  I do have access to fresh cows
> milk and was wondering where to get recipes for fresh milk?  Also, at what
> temp do I pasteurize and how long?  

There are many combinations of time and temp that will do the job but if 
you must pasturize your fresh milk, I find it most convenient to bring 
it to about 150F and let it cool with a lid on overnight. By morning it 
will be about right for starting.

This is contrary to most recommendations but this has never stopped me 
from experimenting in the past and it works fine for me.

Unless you suspect problems with your milk source or make only soft 
cheeses, I would suggest you not pasturize at all.  Your cheese will 
have much more character after long aging than if made from pasturized milk.

> Brian, Since store bought milk is homogenized, wouldn't that make it come
> out with very small curds?

Homogenized milk causes texture problems in hard cheeses but makes 
decent soft cheese.  The fix is to use reduced fat milk and add cream to 
make up.  Using homogenized cream does not seem to have the same effect.

js

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