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I made halloumi at the weekend using this process with cows milk. The rennet I used had a best before June 2014 date on it.

The cheese came out fine and tastes good after being brined.

However when I fry the slices of halloumi the result is that the cheese is too soft (by general concensus in my house) and doesn't 'squeak' like a true halloumi should.

So my question is what might be the cause for my too soft halloumi? and what can I do to make it firmer next time?

My initial thoughts are that I could 'press' the curds more before poaching, or it could be the rennet (although they seemed to work fine). Or it could be the cows milk rather than ewes milk.

It may also be that it will firm up whilst it sits in the brine. Does anyone know if this is the case?

Any thoughts?

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You are right that you need to use pressure to get enough whey out of the curd to get a firmer cheese like halloumi.

I am surprised that the recipe you're linking to tells only to drain the curd in a sieve or cloth. Just draining the curd will give you a very loose or moist product similar to cottage cheese or quark.

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  • Thanks. It was much firmer than that, I presume because of the cooking in the whey. I'll try pressing more whey next time and see the results.
    – Sam Holder
    Oct 21, 2014 at 19:32
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I am not an expert by any means, but in my attempts at making halloumi the milk definitely made a difference. The best halloumi I've managed to make was made with 100% goat's milk, bought locally so that there was as little pasteurization as possible. I think using unpasteurized milk (if you can get it!) would yield the best results.

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  • Thanks franko. 'best' as in flavour? or in some other way? I'll be trying again with raw milk (and goats milk or a mix if I can get it) but want to know specifically what I need to do to make the resulting cheese a bit firmer when cooked (and preferably squeaky :-)). Do you think that making it with goats milk alone will result in a firmer cheese?
    – Sam Holder
    Oct 20, 2014 at 14:12
  • Well, "best" as in "all the above," really. To me, it tasted better (more like the halloumi I've bought), and the texture was firmer. I don't know if goat's milk is key for the firmness -- it might be -- but it definitely seems key for the flavor.
    – franko
    Oct 21, 2014 at 15:16

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