Beyond- Curds and Whey??

[3smoches]

Okay, I am on week 15 and we tried to make curds and whey but I might have used too much milk. Does anyone have advice for me?? It just ended up looking like thick stinky milk By the way, the day before, we made ice-cream in 5 min!!!! That was awesome... we are putting that idea away for a camping trip or something

[creativemommy]

I don't have advice for you, but curious as to what others will say as we'll be in that unit in a few weeks.

[moedertje]

I don't remember if it says to warm the milk, but I remember warming the milk and that helped.

[John'smom]

We are on the same unit this week and tried it twice. Both times it was a flop. Once was with more milk, and the second time I measure exactly 2/3 c. Anyway, I had some extra cream in the fridge, so tomorrow we're going to try making butter. It was my ds' idea.

[tjswaine]

We did this last week. All I had on hand was powdered skim milk. We mixed everything and let it sit for a lot longer than the recommended 5 mins. It probably sat there for a good 2 hours. We had small curds, but I thought if my milk had been more fatty they would have been larger.

[3smoches]

Hmmm... I am sure one of my problems was that I had skim milk. I will try warming it. John'smom, if your butter turns out, I would love to hear about it. Thanks guys!

[twoxcell]

The curds and whey did not work for us either, but we loved the ice cream.

[HappyMama]

The curds and whey didn't work here either. I tried it twice and finally just gave up.

[Joselle173]

We had the same problem - didn't do much but make it thicker; however, it was 2% milk and at the time I wondered if whole milk or even cream would've been better.

[Tansy]

when you make this cheese the curds are pretty small think ricotta cheese. Having the milk under the boiling point (very warm) and slow gentle movements in the pot. If it is stirred to much they don't form well. Also adding more acid can help... so if it looked thick and stringy you are on the right track. letting it sit also helps coagulate it.

[raceNzanesmom]

Hillbillyhousewife uses powdered milk. Alton Brown uses skim then adds cream, I think. Try Googling. Homemade curds and whey does work. Makes yummy ricotta or cottage cheese (add cream or yogurt at the end). I don't know about posting links here, let Google be your friend.

[Carrie]

Ladies,

We do get this one to work here, but it makes a huge difference how fatty your milk is. So, if you're using skim milk, it likely won't work. We have gotten very small curds with 1 % milk, but 2% or whole milk works better. You almost have to scrape the curds off the paper towel to see them, and they are definitely more like ricotta cheese. This recipe is only making a very small amount to show kiddos the process behind making curds and separating them from the whey. Hope that helps!

Blessings,
Carrie

[3smoches]

Thanks Carrie! I figured it was my skim milk I was so glad to actually find out what Curds and Whey was... all I knew was that Little Miss Muffet ate it, but didnt exactly know what it was We will definately give it another try!

[my3sons]

We used 2%, and it made small curds that my ds loved to add salt to and eat! The curds were quite small, but still, curds they were. I imagine they'd be bigger with whole milk. That actually is a good lesson too - that the amount of fat in the milk determines the amount or size of the curds. I always go for the "teachable moment" on the rare occasion something doesn't turn out quite right. I figure that mimics real life anyway. After all, Ford needed to get to the Model T before he finally got it right. Prototypes "A" through "S", well, they were no curds to small curds before he figured out how to make the big curds, right?!?

In Christ,
Julie

[John'smom]

, we used 2% milk. Since we weren't successful, like I said my ds suggested that we make butter. Love that he thought of it on his own. Anyway, 3 smoches, we did make butter today and you can see it here.