Homemade Farmer's Cheese

Start making your own cheese at the comfort of your home. Nothing compares with homemade cheese and this farmer's cheese recipe is easy to make delivers goodness. Just give it a try and you will definitely be in love with the outcome. You will love how versatile this cheese is and how many recipes this can be incorporated in, both sweet and savoury. I will list a few recipes below, just look for these to get some ideas.

What is farmer's cheese?

Farmer's cheese is a mild white fresh cheese. It is not aged, nor pressed, it is really easy to make at home in small batches for the real freshness this can deliver.  Farmer's cheese has a crumbly texture and the flavour is quite subtle. True homemade deliciousness.

The beauty of making fresh homemade cheese is that it can be made at home all throughout the year, using nice organic fresh milk. If you happen to have a farm nearby and get some fresh milk is a real bonus 🥳

How to make farmer's cheese?

Easily made at home, it will make you feel like a true domestic goddess or a king of course! A bit like when making your own homemade sausages 😉

Homemade farmer's cheese, anything homemade from scratch is the best.

There are two ways of making this delicious homemade farmer's cheese:

• The quick way - involves acidifying the milk - this can be achieved by adding an acidic ingredient such as fresh lemon juice, rennet or vinegar. All you need to do is to add lemon juice or vinegar to the milk and it will almost instantaneously curdle.

• The longer way - is allowing the milk to naturally ferment and this process can take 2-3 days depending on ambient and mainly temperature. All that is needed is to add the milk to a mud or ceramic pot, add some natural cottage cheese mix and allow it to curdle. Check it every 8 hours to see when it will be ready. Ideally is to wait until you get to see the whey and it is clearly separated. Just like this in this picture.

What I need to make farmer's cheese?

To make this homemade farmers cheese you will only need:

• a little patience (a couple of days or so)
• a mud pot ( if you are to let it ferment naturally) or any ceramic dish - nothing metallic should be used
• cheesecloth (a clean kitchen towel will work too) - this will be needed to strain the cheese
• wooden spatula or spoon - used to mix

Also, before you start, check to make sure you have a cheesecloth and a fab quality milk to hand.

What milk to use for fresh homemade farmer's cheese?

Whole milk or full fat pasteurized is the best option if you ask me especially for the beginner cheese makers to work with.

If you want to reduce the fat percentage and thus want to make a low-fat cheese version a 2% fat pasteurized milk will also yield a fabulous result . Try with both but the higher the fat percentage, the better the curd will be as well as the taste. Going low on the fat percentage will compromise the outcome with an impact on the creaminess and the flavour of the cheese. Of course, if you have to lower the fat percentage, some people's diet requires so and have to make the cheese a low-fat one feel free to do so, it will work well. The cheese will be less creamy and more crumbly but still good.

If you need to make it less than 2% fat, collect the little fat layer that accumulates at the top of the milk.

I do not recommend using ultra-pasteurized (boiled) milk as this will not work well in cheesemaking because the proteins would have been undermined, the calcium will not bond the way it should and therefore will not deliver a good curd.

Alternative ad-ons

This is fresh and made from scratch cheese so feel free to customize it by adding your own favourite ingredients like:

• fresh or dried herbs ( parsley, dill, mint, dried Italian mixed herbs - mixe those with the curd or just top or sprinkle them on top of the finished farmer cheese;
• olive oil 
• red pepper flakes or plain freshly ground black pepper or other spices such as cayenne pepper, or cumin - wonderful particularly when making amazing dips for crackers or crudites.

How can I serve farmer's cheese?

Homemade farmer's cheese is really versatile; this type of cheese can be served

• with bread or on crackers
• crumbled on salads
• can make a superb stuffed pasta shells
• makes a great cheese choice to a delicious lasagna;
• blended with a cream cheese, a creamy Greek style yoghurt and a ricotta to make a fab dip
• always a fab alternative for mascarpone or ricotta cheese when smooth texture isn't required.

How to make farmer's cheese (tvorog) - the traditional way

This is how my grandma used to make it. My mom is still using this method of making farmer’s cheese. This method can take up to three days, but the steps are easy and the outcome is simply wonderful. Needless to mention you will feel like a real ninja after you’ve made your own cheese!

As I mentioned, I will emphasize again, please use organic milk for the best-tasting cheese (you can buy reduced in price organic milk, milk that is about to expire just for this).

You can use this farmer's cheese to make pancakes or a superb souffle Keep the yellowish liquid called whey, to make bread.

Day 1:

1. Allow the milk and buttermilk or yogurt to come to room temperature on the counter - this takes approximately 5 hours.

2. Pour milk and buttermilk into a large mud or ceramic pot. Cover and place in a warm sunny corner of the kitchen or in the oven at approximately 40˚C or 110˚F for 1 hour or so. The milk should be lukewarm.

3. Remove from the oven if using an oven and place in a warm place (a sunny corner in direct sun is best)  and allow it to sit for 18-36 hours. Avoid stirring it.

Day 2:

4. To speed things up especially if your kitchen isn't the warmest place, place on the stove again over low heat (uncovered) for 30 minutes or until it has warmed well. Do Not Stir! The heat should be really on the lowest possible as high temperatures destroy nutrients and protein.

5. Remove from the heat and place in a hot corner again for another 18-24 hours.

Day 3:

6. Place again on low heat for 40 minutes (uncovered) or until hot but do not bring to boiling point. The cheese will separate nicely from the whey. Turn off the heat and allow it to sit covered for 1 hour or so.

7. Place the cheesecloth over a large colander or set inside a large bowl. Pour the cheese mixture in the colander over the cheesecloth.

8. Tie a knot on the cheesecloth and hang it over your kitchen faucet for literally 8-10 hours, or even longer for a really dry cheese. You may also place it on a chopping board and place another hardwood chopping board over it. Place something heavy (2-3 kg or 4-6lbs) over the top.

9. Remove the cheese after 10 or so hours and use it to make something delicious with it or just refrigerate it in an air tight container or in a ceramic bowl covered with cling film.

Tips:

• If you live in a nice and super hot country or you are making this farmer's cheese in the summer period, even here in the UK, you will not even need to heat the milk at all. Just place in the sun covered in a mud pot and that will suffice.
• I make it this way in the summer - always without a fail and it is delicious.
• There is no need to measure the ingredients approximate measurements (eye-balled) will work fine.
• You will need roughly 1 heaped teaspoon of yoghurt or soured cream per 1 cup (250 ml) of milk.
• Do not use UHT (Ultra-Pasteurized or long life) milk. It won’t work, guaranteed! It will turn bitter.
• If you’re using fresh, raw milk - no sour milk is necessary.

This is my favourite method to make farmer's cheese when I am not in a rush to making it quicker. The lemon version is quick and it only takes a few hours instead of days.

FAQs:

Some recipes to make using farmer's cheese:

• Ricotta pancakes with pineapple and rum
• Feta and ricotta cheese with spinach and dill filo wraps
• Cream cheese and pesto bruschetta with fresh basil flowers
• Creamy cucumber, fennel & yogurt dip
• Semolina and Ricotta Cheese Soufflé