Homemade cheese mold

We were given a gallon of milk and we didn't have proper cheese molds yet to drain the curds. There is a local potter who is willing to make pottery molds, but that didn't solve our immediate problem of no mold and milk that needed to be used. I was also thinking of using this little basket that I made out of pin cherry bark last summer, but it is pretty small and filled with acorns that I didn't get around to ground into flour.



So I made two molds by drilling holes in yogurt containers. I used a 3/16th inch drill bit and cleaned the holes with my jack knife. In about 10 minutes I had two perfectly good molds that are probably made out of the same plastic as the one you would buy from a cheese making supplier.

nice piece, now what?

Well, we un-molded the cheeses and they turned out really well.



We salted them, and left them to dry for 24 hrs. They are now aging in our fridge.

We followed the excellent instructions in David Asher's book. (This is the book I wish I owned 5 years ago when I tried making cheese first)

Thanks for sharing Adrien: I'm deep into digesting david's book ... by far the most awesome book on non traditional cheese making. We recently located raw A-2- A-2 milk and the wife can eat dairy for the first time in years. Cream, she's making butter and we are both reading david's book and are about to embark on learning to make cheeses ! I'm even considering building a wood smoker to do smoked cheeses ! Which is interesting as I never even considered building a smoker for our hams or for elk roasts but boy oh boy smoked blue cheese is great , I can only imagine how good homemade natural smoked blue cheese will be !!

My question was not meant to appear glib, Mr Lapointe, but there is much happening between yogurt container cheese molds and cheese; I would like to read Mr Asher's book regarding making cheese. Regards (I live in Oaxaca; a land of great biodiversity and where maiz was first domesticated. Isla, permies?)

Asher's book has been fantastic. I use it several times a week.

I have a cheese press I made with two 3kilo honey buckets, one with holes in it, the other I pour hot whey into for weight.

I hope to get to pottery class this fall and learn how to make some molds out of clay. In the meantime, I was wondering how hard it would be to weave some. Asher shows us woven baskets used as cheese molds.

What comes after we put the curds in the mold?

I usually leave the cheese for 24 to 36 hours, flipping a few times to try to make an even shape.

Take them out of the mold and generously salt the outside of the cheese according to the recipe. Place cheese on a sushi mat on a rack, over a bowl for a few hours, up to 48 hours, so that the whey can continue to drain. The cheese is ready to eat now as fresh cheese and keeps about a week in the fridge. Or I can put it in whey like fetta, or allow mold to grow on it like bree, or several other options.

R Ranson wrote:In the meantime, I was wondering how hard it would be to weave some. Asher shows us woven baskets used as cheese molds.

Weaving my little bark basket in the picture was really straight forward, except for finishing the edge. That was my first attempt at weaving a basket. My next project (when I find time) is to get a black ash log and make a splint basket.

Perhaps something like this.

Terracotta -- does anyone use terracotta cheese molds?  Use a little terracotta pot, pour water on it while drilling small holes?  I saw some vintage French cheese molds that were terracotta, and was thinking this might work.

r ranson...did you ever get to a pottery class to make cheese molds?  Wondering how they would hold up to the weight required for a cheddar make.  I'm in David Asher's online class right now and dreaming of being able to move away from the plastic molds I've been using.  I did attend a basket weaving class to make a cheese mold using juncus....so fun, great for chevre but that won't hold up to any weight.