# Cream cheese, slow to curd



## LFRJ (Dec 1, 2006)

I am making a batch of cream cheese from goat milk. I warmed the milk to room temp - 72 degrees or so (I don't like letting it sit out), then added the mesophilic. That was 9 and a half hours ago. It's thickened to the point of a heavy cream, but sure seems slow to achieve a curd I can strain and hang. Should I wait longer? or gently add more starter? (These were packets from New England Cheese Co, so pre-measured).

Thanks. Folks are coming to dinner tomorrow so I really want to get this stuff hanging soon!


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## suzyhomemaker09 (Sep 24, 2004)

Do you have a stand alone rennet?


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## LFRJ (Dec 1, 2006)

Yes I do. Think I should add a drop or two of diluted?


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## suzyhomemaker09 (Sep 24, 2004)

I'd try 1 or 2 drops in 1/8 cup cool water

I'm guessing you used 1 gallon of milk?

If so add the entire amount of rennet in water.
I detest the prefab culture packets...but we all had to start somewhere didn't we?


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## LFRJ (Dec 1, 2006)

Thanks Suzy. It's getting there, but painfully slow. I only used 2 quarts of fresh milk per the recipe, so I'll wait a few more hours and see if she's "catching up" to where I think it should be - it's been a full 12 hours now.

Interesting you say about the prefab packets. I'm trying to learn the whole art of cheese making, but I can't seem to find the information I need to understand the elements, and what's reacting with what. For example, starter vs. culture. Are the same? Same sometimes as in butter milk which I'm learning (I think) is both a culture AND can be used as a mesophilic for some cheeses???? I don't know. Sometimes it seems like authors either use the terms interchangeably, or don't explain the diff well enough that I'm lost and can only follow the directions without understanding the magic.

Maybe I'm just dense.

But yes, if I knew what was IN the little packets, maybe I could replicate or at least understand what makes a cheese. Yet even the well lauded Ricky Carrol, (who's recipe I'm using at the moment) simply directs one to warm the milk to room temp, then add "the little packet".


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## chewie (Jun 9, 2008)

i am very new yet to cheese making and also detest those little packets. i got myself 2 books recently that i cannot speak highly enough of! 
http://www.amazon.com/200-Easy-Home...2183/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320460972&sr=8-1 this one was from a suggestion on this forum.

http://www.amazon.com/Artisan-Chees...2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320461007&sr=1-2-spell and i LOVE this one too. it is a beautiful book, full of lots of info like are seeking, charts that tell you what's what really inspiring as to what i could do with all this milk!

and both of these books have neat recipes as how to use the cheeses you make. i think starter and culture is the same critter. thermo is for warmer types, meso for cooler, like fresh from the goat temps. then it gets a bit shady for me, as there are many versions of each and i am trying to figure it out. for example, i was having big sucess with christy's mozz recipe, then i ran out of thermo that i had been using, but found i had some thermo c. it never made one batch that was stretchy. maybe its too old, i just don'[t know. i did get a ph meter and thought i was at the right ph, and still nada. but, the flavor of whatever it turned out to be is super, and i can use it in other ways. i did however just order the stuff that worked.


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## LFRJ (Dec 1, 2006)

Thanks Chewie. So, at the 24 hour mark, I added the rennet. It still never got much past a yogurt texture, but I did hang it and it came out okay. Tangy, but never firm enough to pass for cream cheese. So, looking over the recipes, I think I ended up making chevre instead of cream cheese???? The addition of the rennet seems to be the only difference???

I think I need new books!


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## suzyhomemaker09 (Sep 24, 2004)

To be real cream cheese it has to be made from cream...
Chevre is simply soft creamy consistency cheese made from goats milk.
Cream style cheese made with whole cow's milk is often called Neufchatel.


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