Feta

I made a batch of Feta cheese yesterday. I love Feta.

I have made it a few other times using Ricki Carroll's recipe in Home Cheesemaking.

This time I decided to try using her recipe but substituting yogurt as the mesophilic starter. I read that in a really old recipe from the 1970's.

Instead of the feta turning out into a nice curd with a clean break, it turned out kinda weird. The curds were defiantly formed, but they were cracked and broken.

I cut it as best I could and let it sit for an hour, as it said in the recipe. Since it was getting late, I decided to let it drain in the fridge overnight instead of 4 hours as it said to do in the recipe.

This morning I tried to cut the curd, but it just crumbled. Hmmmm...... this looks very much like the feta that I have seen in the store!

Crumbly feta just right for putting on a salad. It will ripen in the fridge for 4-5 days, if I can keep from 'taste testing!'

So, from now on if I want feta that looks like store-bought feta I will use yogurt as the starter instead of the 'normal' mesophilic starter. If I want softer, cubed feta, then I'll use the mesophilic starter asked for in the recipe.