Neufchatel Cheese

I have recently taken on a new hobby of Cheese Making. I have realized a few things while I have taken this new hobby on. 1- It is messy. 2- Cheese making is a long process. 3- It is incredibly satisfying to enjoy your own home made cheese.

Neufchatel was originally made in the town of Neufchatel in Normandy, France. Americans tend to enjoy this cheese fresh. The French prefer it ripened with a white surface mold. This cheese really has a nice silky richness to it. And I, personally, found it to taste great seasoned as a cheese spread.

Here is how I made the cheese.

Combine 1 gallon of whole milk and 1 pint of heavy cream. Heat the milk until it comes up to 80 degrees.

After the milk has come up to 80 degrees, add one packet of Mesophilic Direct Set Starter. Then turn off the stove.

Now you need to prepare the rennet. I use Animal Rennet. You need to take 3-5 drops of rennet and place it in 1/3 cup of cool, un-chlorinated water. You will then add 1 teaspoon of the diluted rennet into your milk mixture. Stir the rennet in with a slow up and down motion.

Now you will want to cover the milk mixture and let it sit undisturbed at room temperature for 12-18 hours or until a thick curd has formed. (It will look a little like yogurt.)

Now it is time to pour the curd into a strainer lined with cheese cloth. DO NOT JUST POUR THE WHEY DOWN THE DRAIN!!! Keep that whey for ricotta cheese. I do my best to always use everything to its fullest. Plus- 2 cheeses from 1 gallon of milk? YES, thank you!

Now you will pull the corners and sides of the cheese cloth up so you can tie them together. I used a rubber band for this part. The rubber band doesn’t touch the cheese, so it won’t change the flavor.

This is the part where I have to get creative. You will need to hang the bag of of cheese in a pot and place it in the refrigerator for 6-12 hours or until the bag stops dripping the whey.

After the hang time, now you get to unwrap your cheese. Isn’t it beautiful?

Now you will take a cheese mold and line it with cheese cloth. The traditional mold is supposed to be heart shaped, but I just use my cylinder mold.

Now the art of stacking comes into play. So I decided to be lazy and just use this method. I have a cheese press, but the thought of dragging it out exhausted me. Let me tell ya, being lazy doesn’t always work. With just a little vibration and the whole thing came toppling over. And when Tomithy and I jumped out of the way, Tom kicked the dogs water bowl and we had water EVERYWHERE!!!! It makes for a great story… but what a mess.

So here we have the cheese press set up and pressing the cheese. Press the little bit of access whey is removed. The longer your press the cheese, the dryer it will be. I pressed my cheese for about 2 hours.

And here is our finished cheese. It gave me about 1 pound of cheese. It is so silky and it has a slight tang. I hope you enjoy this cheese as much as my family has.