Leave the curds in the mould, turning it occasionally over the next 2-4 hours, till whey stops dripping. This step can be done in a quiet spot in the kitchen or in the refrigerator. Cheese making kits usually come with all you need to make delicious cheese. All you’ll need to provide is fresh milk. The most important pieces or ingredients to look out for are rennet, cheese salt, citric acid, moulds and a cheese cloth (or two!). Many sets come with seasoning, herbs and spices to enhance the flavour of your cheese. Put the drained curds in a bowl and break it up with your fingers in walnut size chunks and mix in the salt What you will get is a basic set of ingredients and equipment similar to that used by farmers and professional cheese makers to mix up a number of soft and hard cheeses. There is no citric acid or vinegar to expedite curd formation. Only all-natural mesophilic and thermophilic cultures, granulated vegetarian rennet, and calcium chloride, which will come in handy should you use pasteurized milk. The number of included ingredients will suffice for making up to 53 lbs of cheese, which is impressive. Just choose a recipe from the booklet, get some milk, and you are ready to go. Moorlands cheese making kits include products made from food standard, durable materials, which looked after, will last a lifetime.

As the name suggests, its aimed at cheese enthusiasts who get excited by hard cheese in particular. Therefore, instead of any soft cheese moulds the kit contains a hard mould, with follower. The follower sits on top of the curds, during pressing, applying a steady pressure. Right off the bat, we need to say that this kit is rather basic and includes no additional tools and molds. However, it doesn't mean you won't be able to make cheese with it. If you've got a couple of pots and spoons, the rest will be easy. What we like about this cheese making kit is that it's not expensive but includes enough ingredients to make up to 30 gallons of produce, cheese or butter, depending on your needs. The kit has a lot of ingredients using which you can make most famous cheese types such as Mascarpone, Ricotta, Mozzarella, Goat cheese etc. Plus, the kit contains a booklet with soft cheese recipes, so, if you run out of ideas, you'll be able to test new recipes. Cheese making kits don’t last forever, but they do tend to have a surprisingly long shelf life. If you’re planning on saving your cheese making for a rainy afternoon, opt for one with a longer shelf life. Some may last over a year! ConclusionWant to try your hand at home cheese making, yet, are not sure you’ll succeed? Start with a beginner kit from Standing Stone Farm, created with first-time cheesemaker needs in mind. What sets this kit apart is that it's designed for making soft cheeses, which are the easiest to make. This makes it a go-to choice for those who love soft types or are eager to get the ropes of cheese making process. Cut the cheese into cubes (apx 2 cm) and put them in a jar and cover it by the acid brine and put it in the fridge. It will be ready to eat in a couple of days. The kind of homemade cheese kit you select will depend upon what one kind of cheese you would like to make. Many of these kits pull double duty and can be used for more than one kind of cheese, so consider what cheese groupings appeal to you the most. Mozzarella and ricotta can be made using many of the same kits. There are several kits that contain all the tools and ingredients for camembert, brie and blue cheese in one, making a truly versatile kit. Soft and hard cheese making kits contain the supplies needed to make several kinds of cheese, making them a good choice for more experienced cheesemakers who want more variety in their kit's capabilities. Affordable Cheesemaking So, having tried simple cheeses we were ready to move on to the more complicated hard-cheese kit. All hard cheeses are made in basically the same way – you heat milk, add a curdling or setting agent (citric acid or rennet), cut the curds, drain the curds, and press the cheese. It's amazing that from this basic recipe you can get everything from rubbery American-style cheese to pecorino, mostly just by adjusting the temperatures you heat the curds to and the amount of pressure you apply to the resulting cheese. We tried Havarti (a semi-soft Danish cheese) and red Leicester.

Warm the milk to 30 ºC. Add the culture (100 ml of the prepared mother culture, instructions in the envelope). Stir and cover and allow the milk to ripen for 45-60 minutes.

Each recipe shows the subtle changes that can be be made to ingredients and methods with the result of producing entirely different cheeses.