Commercial cheese makers do so in a dairy, a room with washable walls and floor, tables that are easily treated and cleaned and wear clothing that is not only cleaned, protective and usually boiled but is specifically designed for use in cheese making.
No other persons use the dairy, and no one can enter without the correct precautions. If the cheese maker is ill, no cheese is made.
But we make cheese in kitchens used by lots of people. Some of them have entered the room having been working in the garden, or other dirty places, pets enter and are usually fed in the kitchen, washing usually happens of items such as pots, pans and clothes.
There are usually rubbish bins in the kitchen and towels for pot drying and hand drying hanging on hooks. The kitchen is not always the cleanest room in the house by a long way.
When we make cheese any microbe we don’t want in will grow just as happily as the ones we do want. It is really important that cheese making sessions are done in the cleanest place you can muster.
Everything should be sterilised either using boiling water or an appropriate sterilising fluid. Try to buy a lab coat for making cheese, or at least wear an apron. Make sure your hair is out of the way and that your hands, arms, face and hair are clean.
Your utensils should be sterile - all of them, and the pots you are making cheese with should be sterile too. Don’t go poking your fingers in the milk and do not stand over it, breathing into it.
Equipment
Of course, like everything, there is a long list of things to buy for cheese making. But actually you don’t really need it all. Cheese making is at least 5000 years old, and they didn’t have lots of prehistoric kit!
First of all you need a big pan, capable of holding a gallon of milk. A heavy bottomed pan is best, so your heating doesn’t burn the milk.
A good thermometer is important so you can accurately set the temperature of the various stages of cheese production. I find a probe thermometer best, that is easily cleanable.
That’s it really, in terms of must buy items!
Cheesecloth is a good thing to buy, for separating curds from whey, but you can use a sterilised cotton pillow or shirt if needs be. You need to ensure small strands of cotton do not get into the cheese, which form a site of possible infection.
Cheese presses are not cheap, and for most cheese I use a couple of cutting boards, or a cake tin with a floating bottom. However, this is not good for some cheeses that need heavier pressing. For all the cheeses in this series you need not buy a press.
A maturing box is a useful thing, but you can use a plastic box with holes in the lid, and cheese mats, for standing cheese while it drains can be replaced with sterile chopsticks, or a plate.
Next Month: The processes of cheese making.