Recipe: Excess school milk? Make farmers cheese!

Pizza topped with farmers cheese made from 1% milk about to expire.

During the closure due to COVID-19, the school is providing breakfast and lunch to-go for all students, regardless of income, which we are VERY grateful for. This includes generous amounts of milk. If your kids, like mine, don’t like to drink milk but do like to eat cheese, and you have found yourself with excess milk, this recipe is for you!

All you need is:

• half gallon milk (or 8 school milk cartons)
• 1/4 cup of white vinegar (other types of vinegar or lemon juice will work),
• salt
• cheese cloth (a clean dish towel will work but only if it hasn’t been washed with scented detergent or fabric softener which will change the taste of your cheese)

Step 1.

Add half a gallon of milk to a saucepan. If your milk is very close to the expiration date, smell it before you add it to the pan. Don’t use sour milk.

Step 2. Heat to 200 F. If you do not have a thermometer, heat until it just starts to boil. Remove from heat.

Step 3. Add 1/4 cup vinegar. Stir. Let it sit for 5 min. It should separate into chunky white curds and watery yellow whey. If it does not, add a tablespoon more vinegar, stir and let it sit a few more minutes.

Step 4. Set a colander over a mixing bowl. Line the colander with 4 layers of cheesecloth (or a clean dish towel). Pour the curds and whey into the colander. Sprinkle curds with salt.

Step 5. Tie the edges of the cheesecloth into a bundle and hang off of a spoon over the mixing bowl of whey. Let it drip for a while.

Step 6. Twist the cheesecloth tightly, forcing the curds into a ball. Set in strainer and set something heavy on it to press even more liquid out. Leave for an hour at least.

Step 7. Unwrap and you should have a solid ball of cheese you can cut and eat or cook with!

Notes about farmers cheese: It does not melt and stretch like mozzarella but does get soft and chewy when heated. Farmers cheese works well in Indian recipes in place of paneer or Greek fry cheese. It is great on tacos. It is also good eaten fresh with crackers. Save the whey! The whey still has protein in it and can be added to baked goods and soup stocks in place of water to boost protein in those dishes.

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.