Artisan Cheesemaking: Crescenza

Today's homemade artisan cheese is:

Crescenza.

This is an Italian cheese that is eaten fresh, rather than aging it to obtain the flavor. It is very similar in most respects to the Ranchero-type of Mexican fresh cheese. It takes a few hours to make, most of which are just spent watching the whey drain off. It's a little more exciting than watching paint dry...

This is a white, softer cheese with a very creamy, slightly salted taste. It has a pretty high melting point, and is fantastic in Chile Rellenos. It's pretty easy, really, and doesn't require a whole lot of specialty stuff. Unless you count the Aroma B mesophilic culture, the calcium chloride and the rennet. ha ha. But seriously, this is very simple cheese to make, requiring little effort. Most of the time honestly is spent waiting while it drains.

This particular cheese process doesn't require the careful attention to temperature the way other cheeses do; except at the beginning, when you have to very slowly bring the temperature up to 90 degrees F. Add the culture, let it rest 30-40 minutes to ripen, then add the calcium chloride (diluted in a little non-chlorinated water), stir well, then the rennet (also diluted in a scant amount of non-chlorinated water). Let it set out at room temp for about an hour, then cut the curd (the milk has become a rather solid-looking mass that is floating on water) in 1" squares... let them rest a while, then stir them slowly for a couple of minutes. If you leave it be for a bit, the cut curds will sink to the bottom. Remove enough of the milky-clear whey liquid off the top so you can see the curds and then start packing them into your cloth-lined mold. Be sure you have that mold in a colander or on a rack with a good-sized dish beneath; a lot of whey (several cups worth) will be slowly draining/dripping out. Be sure that the cloth you line the mold with is damp before you put the curds in!

Wait about 3 hours. Lift the cloth with the partially-drained curds carefully out of the mold by picking up the four corners of the cloth and making it like a little sack. Set the sack of curds down and open it carefully. Flip the now semi-soft (almost squishy but not quite) molded curds gently, placing it back onto the cloth where it had been, then lift it and carefully put it back into the mold. Let it continue draining on this side for a further 3 hours.

Prepare salt brine, about 1 cup salt to 6 cups of very cool (not ice cold) spring or distilled water. NOT city water that has chlorine in it. Immerse your 6-hours drained, molded cheese curd into the salt brine. Leave it an hour, then flip it over gently. After another hour, take it out, setting it on a cheese mat. Pat it dry and let it rest for an hour or two to continue drying out. When it's dry to the touch, wrap it as air-tight as possible and put it in the refrigerator... or use it immediately. It keeps for up to a month if it's kept sealed tightly.

It is a lot of fun to make. It truly does seem like alchemy or magic or some great scientific skill to watch this white liquid we call milk turn into something solid and fragrant and useful. I can barely wait to try the next type of cheese... probably tomorrow!