Making Fromage Blanc

Fromage Blanc is one of my favorite cheeses to make because it is relatively simple to make and it tastes delicious. It can be made with both raw milk or whole milk. The textures are different as well as the taste.

To make Fromage Blanc with whole milk, you will need a gallon of whole milk and a pot large enough to hold the milk, cheese culture for soft cheese (MA4011/4002), liquid rennet and 1/4 cup of water. A digital thermometer is helpful, but an accurate analog one works just as well.

Add four drops of rennet to 1/4 cup of water. Heat the milk to 75 degrees F, then remove it from the heat. Add 1/4 teaspoon of culture and sprinkle it into the milk. Set the timer for four minutes, then stir the milk twenty times. Add the diluted rennet, cover the pot and set it aside.

Over time, the curd will separate from the whey.

For the next step, you will need garlic powder, onion powder, chives, cheese molds, and fine cheese cloth. The inside of a salad spinner works well as a platform on which the molds can sit and drain.

When the curds have hardened and the whey is clear, drain as much of you can of the whey from the curds. Add chives, garlic powder and onion powder. Stir it thoroughly.

Line the cheese molds with cheese cloth--the finer the better.

Set the basket from the salad spinner upside down in a pot and set the cheese molds upon it. Ladle the curds into the cheese molds until both are full.

Ladle the curds into the molds until they are full.

Cover the pot and set it aside. Check the pot throughout the day. As the whey drains from the molds, continue adding more curds until you have transferred all the curds from the cooking pot into the molds. When you are finished, you will see the whey in the bottom of the pot.

Cover the molds and turn them upside down so that the cheese can drain from the top down. Setting them on a baking rack that spans a pot works well. After the curds have drained, remove the cheese from the mold and set them on plates or the container of your choice.

Fromage Blanc is wonderful on crackers, bread, or bagels, mixed with pasta to make a white sauce, in soups and stews. Eat and enjoy!

Note: Many thanks to Barbara Skapa, the Cheese-Maker (http://www.mainecheeseguild.org/map/echoridge.html).