Mittwoch, 20. März 2013

DYI Quark- Part two


DYI Quark- Part two
 
Well now that the milk has been fermenting for a couple of hours, let's just check the progress. See? It has set and doesn't move, when I gently tip the container
 
Now take a knife and cut a criss cross pattern right down to the bottom of the container. This will start the process of the whey separating form the solids
Wait for an hour or so,till you see the separation well. In the meantime prepare your cheescloth. If you don't have a cheesecloth a clean cotton dish towel will be just as good.
 
 
First set a sieve atop a large container and lay the cheesecloth into the sieve. Fill in the fermented milk and carefully gather up the corners of the cheesecloth and close it with a clip or rubber band. This will prevent dust or anything else from settling atop your product.
Almost immediately you will hear the whey dripping off into the bowl beneath
Leave the cheese alone and go do something useful for a change.

After a couple of hours you will see, that there is quite a lot of whey in the bowl benaeth, Carefully open the cheesecloth and have a look, whether the cheese is of the consistency you need. I like it a bit firmer, you can always dilute it with milk or cream, if it is too dry, but if for example you mix in some fruit or want to bake with it, it is better when drier.
If the cheese is the way you like it, fill it into a clean container and off into the fridge
Do not throw away the whey. It has a lot of nutrients, you can add it to bathwater, drink it, add puried fruits for taste, use it instead of the liquid in your bread baking or use it as a fertiliser in your garden. Just do not pour it down the toilet
The whey is chocablock full of nutrients, keep it. Refrigerate it, if not needed at once, or you can even freeze it


Dienstag, 19. März 2013

DYI Quark- a picture tutorial

Quark

 
For us Germans, Quark is the cheese, that gets eaten most. Whether salty or sweet, cold or used in cooking or baking, this cheese is extremely versatile. I remember going to Germany as a child and having this cheese under my jam in the mornings instead of butter. My grandmother made the most delicious cheese cake with it, flavoured Quark, similar to flavoured Joghurts, are sold in every supermaket. If only, my mother would have been able to get the cultures, we wouldn't have been limited to having Quark every four years.
 
I get my culture in Germany, as well as the rennet, using this link
 
But you can also get the cultures here
 
I promised to make a picture tutorial, the way I make Quark, this is step one
 
Get your equipment together
I use a machine, but you really don't need it, the Quark culture does not need as high a temperature as Joghurt for example. If you don't have a machine, just warm the milk to about 28-30 degrees and add the culture and rennet (Lab). Pack it well and let it ferment WITHOUT MOVING, that is important.
 
I usually put about half the milk (UHT) into the machine and add some culture (see picture), whisk it well. I heat up the other half a bit (to speed the process up) and add that together with the rennet into the room temperature milk and mix well. Do not put the culture into the part of the milk, that you are heating up on the stove, that will very effectively kill the culture. You will have to dissolve the rennt tablet in a bit of hot water, before adding it to the milk, a tablespoon of water will suffice, if you are using liquid rennet, just count the drops as reccommended by the manufacturer. I get the tablets, as they are lighter in transport (I have to lug it all the way from Germany to Shanghai and every gram counts)
 
Add enough culture as fits on the tip of a knife

sprinkle the culture onto the milk

whisk through

half a tablet of rennet is enough for a liter of milk

 
dissolve in a tablespoon of HOT water

heat up the other half of the milk
 add it to the other half
cover the container and let the milk ferment
 
 
I have added the pictures in the order I make my Quark. You will have to wait a couple of hours, before I can finish the Quark, as the milk needs to ferment. As soon as you start the fermenting process, do not move or jiggle the container. When we lived in Korea, before my machine days, I choose a spot in my appartment, where it was warm and not in the way. Sometimes I had to wait a bit longer, for the milk to reach the right consistency, but you can make Quark without the fancy machine. The Quark is ready for straining, when it congeals to a soft tofu.
 
The next steps will be shown, when my milk is ready