Bulk Cheese Purchase

When we were in Indiana this past Monday we went to an Amish Bulk Food Store.   This was the biggest bulk food store we have ever been to.  It would take a good half day or more to go up and down every isle and look at everything.  We were there for a couple special items and CHEESE.  Buying cheese in bulk saves so much money.  We cut it in chunks, vacuum seal it and then freeze it until we are ready for some.  Amish areas always have huge varieties of cheese and most have samples.  Of course there were samples of almost every cheese they sold and I tasted almost all of them.
We picked up small chunks of the following cheese:
Yogurt Cheese, Horseradish Cheese, Salsa Cheese, Cheese and Salami and Pepperoni Cheese.
We got 2 lbs of Amish Creamery Cheese, 6 lbs of the following: Baby Swiss, Smoked Baby Swiss, Smoked Mozzarella, Mild Cheddar and 12 lbs of Colby.
Prices for bulk cheese is a lot cheaper than small packages.  The cheddar was $1.99 #, Colby $3.15 #, smoked mozzarella and baby swiss was $4,49 # and the most expensive was the smoked baby swiss at $4.89 #.  If you would get any of the above cheese at a deli you would pay $2+ more a pound.
We also picked up 5 lbs of deli sliced smoked ham at $1.99 # and 6 lbs of smoked turkey at $1.99 #.  We packaged the ham and turkey in one pound packages and also that is how we packed the cheese.

Side parking lot and side of the bulk food store.

More of the side parking lot and side of the bulk food store.

1st basket of cheese going in the freezer.

The ham and turkey packed and in the freezer.

The Colby and Mild Cheddar before cutting.

2nd basket waiting to go in the freezer.

3rd basket ready to go in the freezer.

Cheese and Butter

I used about 5 gallons of milk this morning and made some mozzarella cheese and took some of the cream and made butter.  It doesn't take that long to make the stuff but it takes longer to clean up and wash everything.  I use my two 4 gallon stainless steel pots to make the cheese and then I have the two 4 gallon buckets that we use to get the milk, then the 2 1/2 gallon glass jar for the butter churn and then a zillion other items.  Every thing is washed in bleach water by hand to make sure it is all sanitized.  When using raw milk you can't be too careful and if you knew me I am kind of a clean freak.
My husband is stopping at my daughter's (Renee's) house after work to pick up some fresh veggies she picked this morning from her garden.  She is so nice to share her garden goodies with me.  She is sending me some peas, already shucked, green beans that I think she has already snapped and some zucchini.  I know she's not grating the  zucchini but I will do that and freeze it in packages of 2 cups each so I can use it to make zucchini bread.
Later, take care. 

Ham and Cheese Roll

I had 2 gallons of milk that I made up into mozzarella cheese this morning.  While it was sitting waiting for it to curdle I thought I would do something different with it and make some mozzarella cheese and ham roll ups.  When it was ready to be put in containers I took and cut it in half, patted it flat and added some black forest ham  on top of it, rolled it up and put it back in the bowl and stuck it in the microwave for about 15 seconds.  Just enough time for the cheese to melt a little to seal it into a roll.  I then cut it in half and wrapped in Saran Wrap and put it in the fridge to cool.  I will confess I did slice a small piece and put it on a cracker to test.  It is very good.  Next time I'll cut down on the amount of ham but otherwise this is something I will make again.  This would be perfect to serve at holiday times or as a snack.  Here is the recipe I use to make mozzarella cheese, I have no idea where I got it.

Mozzarella Cheese

1 gallon of whole milk, raw or store bought (I use partially skim milk because I separate the raw milk to get the cream to make butter)

1 1/2 tsp citric acid dissolved in 1/2 cup cool water

Rennet, follow the directions on your rennet as how much to use per gallon of milk.  I use animal rennet that I send for and I use 1/16 of a tsp for 1-3 gallons of milk

1 tsp sea or kosher salt

Place the milk in a large heavy bottomed stock pot.  Heat to 55 degrees F.  Add the citric acid /water solution and stir to mix, gently stir once in a while to keep the milk from scorching on the bottom of the pan..  When it reaches 90 degrees F add the rennet solution, stir to mix and continue heating until it reaches 105 degrees F.  Remove from the heat and check for curd.  When the milk has fully curdled and separated from the whey drain in a cheese cloth lined colander.

Put the drained curds in a microwave safe bowl and heat on high for 1 minute.  Remove and drain any whey and knead the curds in the bowl to distribute the heat.  This is where you need a good pair of rubber gloves.  Add the salt and return to microwave and heat for 35 seconds, drain any whey, knead, return to microwave for the 3rd time for 35 seconds.  Remove, drain, knead; at this point the cheese will be shinny and taffy like.  Knead until it is shinny and elastic, form into whatever shape you want, wrap and put in the fridge.  This will keep at least one week in the fridge. 

I remove the cheese from the covered container after 24 hours, put it in a vacuum seal bag and remove the air and put it in the freezer.  I have kept cheese in the freezer for several months without any change of flavor or consistency.  When I am ready to use it I just thaw it.

I never just make 1 gallon at a time, if I am going to make a mess in the kitchen I might as well make a big one.  The pans I use to make cheese in will hold 4 gallons each and this is usually how big of batch I make at a time.  You will need to adjust the amount of time you put it in the microwave but you will know after making it a couple of times what it should look and feel like.

Cheese patted out.

Cheese with the ham.

All rolled up and ready for the microwave.

Out of the microwave.

All rolled and ready to be wrapped.

Taste sample, it had to be done.

Ready for the fridge.

Linking this to Homestead Barn Hop.

 

Cheese out of the Press, Yard Work Done

Took the cheese out of the press first thing this morning and now it is sitting out and will be for several days so it can dry.  I will turn it over a couple times a day so it can dry evenly.   Went in to town to pay our property taxes that I almost forgot to pay (due today) and then came home and started the yard work.  4 1/2 hours later it is all done.  My arms are really hurting from running the weed eater.  Usually I do the mowing and my husband does the weed whacking but I figured since he works and I don't I should do it.  This is the first time in years that I have done this and all I can say is I need guards to go on my legs.  We have a lot of trim work and there is gravel on the sides of the driveway and that stuff hurts when it hits your legs.  I have at least 50 bruises on my legs now and a couple spots it broke the skin.  I watered the gardens and the trees today, I sure hope this no rain thing ends soon.  I picked 7 small tomatoes, 1 green pepper, 1 banana pepper, 3 onions and some lettuce today.  The garden despite the lack of rain is doing very good.  Last year we hardly got any peppers and so far this year I've picked 3 and it is only the 5th of June.  I have at least a dozen more peppers on my plants right now and lots of blooms.

Colby Cheese drying.

Garden pickings for the day.

Raspberry Jam and Cheddar Cheese Day

Started my day making 2 batches of Colby cheese.  The recipe for the cheese is on the link below, this stuff is so good.  In between stirring, cutting the curd and waiting I made some raspberry jam with the raspberries we picked yesterday.  I got 4 pints, 13 ea 1/2 pints and 1 pint that is in the fridge.  I also made some more butter and got 11 oz put in the freezer. 
So for lunch Brandon and I had a piece of homemade bread with fresh homemade butter and raspberry jam, OMG life doesn't get much better than that.  When thing got cleaned up I made another mess and used the rest of the berries and made a cobbler which boiled all over the oven and made biscuits and chicken a la king for supper.  Looks like I will be cleaning the oven before I can use it again, not fun. 

http://www.leeners.com/cheese/recipes/colby-cheese.shtml

Everything set up and ready for Brandon and I to put the jam in the jars.

Butter churn churning some cream.

The jam, the back left jar is what Brandon and I sampled for lunch.

The 2 batches of Colby in the presses.  The plastic bags on top have weights in them and I put the weights in the plastic bags to keep any dirt that might be on them off of the press.  These presses are ones my husband made me, the pans that the pvc pipes sit in have holes in the front seam so the whey can drain off.  Nothing fancy but they work perfect.  The only thing we had to purchase was the pvc pipes and found the wood at Menard's in the discount bin.