Lactose Free Quark

Lactose-Free Quark - Made In a Bottle

This is a fun way to make a soft cheese with minimal equipment. In summer even the thermometer is optional.

This cheese can also be made in a stainless steel pot.

Ingredients

  • One or two litres of lactose-free milk, in a bottle.
  • One or two teaspoons of sugar per litre of lactose-free milk.
  • Two drops of calcium chloride per litre of milk, diluted in 1 tablespoon of demineralised, or non-chlorinated water, if required.
  • One dose of Mesophilic Soft Curd Starter Culture

During our testing, we used Zymil Lactose-Free Milk and raw sugar.

Equipment:

  • Cheese thermometer.
  • One 90cm square of tight weave cloth for making cheese.
  • Large stainless steel or enamel colander.
  • Piece of string.
  • Somewhere to hang your cheese to drain.

Directions

  1. Pour out 1/4 to 1/2 cup of milk from your milk bottle.
  2. Add one to two teaspoons of sugar into the milk.*
  3. Place the bottle of milk into a pot of hot water to heat to approximately 31° C.
  4. Add calcium chloride solution, and culture, close the bottle and gently shake.
  5. Keep the bottle warm (over 22° C) for 24 hours.
    You have now successfully made Buttermilk, which can be stored in the refrigerator.
  6. Line a colander with your cheese making cloth. Gently pour the quark into the lined colander and allow to drain for a few minutes. Tie the corners of the cloth together to form a bag, and hang using the string, to drain for 12 hours, or until your cheese is the desired consistency. Remove the cheese from the cloth and place in an airtight container and store in the fridge.

* The amount of sugar used can be ascertained by trial. The sugar is needed as food for the culture, this is in place of the lactose, which is a dairy sugar. Not enough sugar and the culture will starve, too much sugar and the excess sugar will sweeten the cheese, hiding the lovely tang expected of a good quark.

For a firmer cheese try placing the bag between two cheese boards, after it has drained for 12 hours. The weight of the boards alone will press some additional whey from the cheese. How long you press the cheese between the boards, and whether you use a small weight on top of the board, will be determined by your personal taste in regards to the texture you are trying to create.

 

 

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