I have this recipe for cheese curds that I want to try: http://www.ehow.com/how_5106352_make-cheese-curds-poutine.html, but it specifically calls for raw milk which is near to impossible to get here. I make yogurt with pasteurized milk and it works no problem, but does cheese somehow work differently?
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Apparently pasteurization is not an issue - just made the yummiest tasting ricotta - which should be curds by tomorrow. And ehow may not be a "source of reliable information" TFD, but it's the best recipe I found, and it tastes great!– dewdleMay 12, 2011 at 4:20
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recipe could be fine, plenty on ehow is. It just how they get that information, and supporting it with links. Enjoy– TFDMay 14, 2011 at 21:30
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3 Answers
ehow is not a source of reliable information. It is a content farm, and therefore most of it's articles are effectively screen scraped (either by hand or using 'bots). People get paid to make content, but there is no peer review process
There are plenty of other sources on the web including this site :-) that explain the cheese curd (paneer) process, and that you can use pasteurized or even milk powder with perfect results
Raw milk is NOT a requirement to make curds, and in a blind test is not identifiable. The taste is affected by the fat content and the cows diet. How well you extract just the whey will also affect texture and taste
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This is true. Pasteurization does not harm cheese making. Homogenization does make a difference and sometimes calcium chloride is added to homogenized milk to strengthen the structure or the curd. May 12, 2011 at 14:19
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While I agree with most of this, pasteurization does change the milk, and will have an affect on the resultant cheese. I'll believe if all you're after is curd the results could be hard to distinguish, but in a full-grown, aged cheese, the differences are quite apparent.– ScivitriMay 12, 2011 at 18:22
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1@Scivitri this post is all about cheese curds, not matured cheese. Anyway, I live in a country where we have real milk (free range grass chomping cows) and pasteurized and unpasteurized cheeses, there is NO observable difference other than marketing and price, how typical :-). Cheese usually tastes better when correctly aged, it's as simple as that– TFDMay 12, 2011 at 21:25
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As do I. I grew up working on dairy farms, and have worked in cheese production. As I said, I agree with most of your points; and I understand this question is principally about curd. I simply wanted to correct an impression your answer could give about aged cheese. The nature of the milk used has a distinct effect on the result. But you can look at worldchampioncheese.org/_apps/contest_results if you want; Baby Swiss is specificially swiss made from pasteurized milk, and types which are broken up by mold are dependent on the milk. If professional judges care, it matters.– ScivitriMay 13, 2011 at 5:14
What they probably meant to say is not to use ultra-pasteurized milk (aka UHT). UHT milk won't form proper curds, they come out small, grainy and unpleasant. I learned of this when I bought a cheesemaking kit, and actually experienced it by mistake in my excitement to try a new toy.
answered May 12, 2011 at 5:14
I have found that pasteurized milk will make excellent curds as long as the milk is not ultra-pasteurized (UHT). I use non-homogenized whole milk that has only been Vat or Batch pasteurized.That pasteurization process does not kill the bacteria necessary for proper curdling or coagulation of the milk. This type of milk produces the same quality of curds as does using raw milk. This type of milk can be purchased at any health foods store.
