Fromage Blanc

Remember that fresh milk I scored at the Swiss Connection?    After I skimmed the cream off both gallons and made the mascarpone, I made a batch of fromage blanc with the rest of one gallon of the milk.   Because I was using raw milk, I made the cheese as soon as I got home.   

Fromage blanc is a very fresh, mild, soft creamy cheese.  You don't have to age it at all, which makes K2 very very happy.

I got the fromage blanc culture from Ricki, where I get all my cultures.  It is a direct set cheese, which means you warm up the milk, stir in the culture and in the morning, you're ready to drain it and eat it.

Here are the steps:

• Warm the milk to 86 degrees.
• Stir in the culture.
• Keep in warm place overnight. [We keep ours in a cooler full of old towels.  That's where we batch our yogurt, too.]
• In the morning, pour the curd into a colander lined with cheesecloth.  Tie the cloth up and hang it to drain.  If you don't have a place to hang it, you  can just twist/wind the ends of the cloth tightly so that there's pressure on the cheese and let it sit that way.   It'll be fine.
• When it has drained for an hour put the cheese in a bowl.  The longer you drain it, the drier and milder it will be.
• Salt it if you like.   We use kosher or sea salt.
• It's ready to eat right now!    Great with fruit, eggs, by the spoonful....