Homemade Organic Cheeses

Here is a simple way to make a few soft cooked organic cheeses at home.  You will need organic milk [from cows, sheep or goats] and an acid.  A good ratio is 1 gallon of milk to 1/2 cup of acid, you can half this recipe easily. 

Heat the milk to just about boiling [about 190 degrees].  Now add a souring agent, I use lemon juice but others tell me they use vinegar.  As the milk cools the casein will start to coagulate, you'll see the the curds separate from the whey.

After draining the whey away, you have to decide, are you going to press the curds further into a farmer's cheese, rinse the curds in cold water repeatedly to pull them into the larger curds of cottage cheese or just leave the curds and have something closer to a ricotta cheese?

You did remember to save the whey right?  You could boil the whey again and try getting more ricotta "recooked" cheese.  Or just keep the whey and use it in your bread recipes.  Now, go out to your yard and get some fresh chives! Yum!