The feta, curing at room temperature on the kitchen counter, stinks to the high heavens. It's gorgeous. Yeah, laugh about that. But make some, too, and then disagree. ;) The labna is sort of half-made, ie. the yogurt has turned into cheese, but I'm pondering a need for more oil or a spoonful of cream, as it's a bit too crumbly, so I stuck it in the fridge to allow me a night to ponder the next step. I was going to post that 30-minute mozzarella tonight, but writing was more important. That said, if you want to attempt making it, you need decent rennet, which is NOT the one you find in the grocery store. So, while I'm procrastinating typing up the recipe, go and find yourself some good rennet. Google 'cheesemaking supplies' and you'll find something. I personally prefer cheesemaking.com's concentrated, non-gmo, vegetarian rennet, but that's me. You'll also need non-homogenised and non-ultrapasteurized milk. There are some sources in every state. If you have a Fresh Market, try it; they have glass-bottled Jersey cows' milk that's only pasteurised. Or try your local health food store. Even better, find a dairy farm, tell them your dog/cat/chickens are in desperate need of raw milk and buy it from there. Alternatively, purchase calcium chloride to make the milk pretend it wasn't ultra-pasteurized or homogenized. If you really want to get into it, here is a good recipe for traditional mozzarella.

Over the weekend, I had a go at culturing my own yogurt without cultures so to speak. I purchased a small tub of authentic Greek yogurt. It worked fine. Was a bit whey-heavy, but I know what the problem is (should have used less milk), so here is an attempt at encouraging you:

one quart milk
one small tub of Greek yogurt (the ingredients should be: milk, two or three bacteria; non-fat or full-fat, any fat content is fine)

Heat milk to 116F. Add tub of yogurt. Stir well. Hold at 116 (+ about 2 degrees/ - about 10 is fine; if it doesn't thicken at all four hours later, up the temperature to about 120; if it thickens before that, reduce temp to about 110/100) for a good five to six hours. A few hours later you should have a good quart of Greek yogurt.

You can do the same, by the way, with creme fraiche. All you need for that is about a tablespoon of creme fraiche, add it to half a pint of half and half (or single cream in the UK) and leave at room temperature for 6-12 hours. In Europe, it's probably not worth it, but here in Memphis, a small tub (about 4 ounces) of creme fraiche set you back about $7, so saving that last spoonful and purchasing some half-and-half surely brings down the cost. It also works with sour cream.

Right. Lucius, mushrooms, and a contra bass are calling.

The feta sits in little blocks in a box, now salted, and despite the fairly tight-fitting lid, it gives off whiffs of that feta smell. The smell will gradually become stronger over the next three days before it's ready to go into the brine. And my suffering will increase accordingly because I wantz it now. After that, it'll be another two weeks before I can even taste it and at least three to four weeks before it develops its full flavour. I need to make more now so I have a good supply in the near future.

So, while the daughter was at self-defense, Little Man and I went to the Store of Awesome, but today it was the Store of Frustration: The ready-to-eat chicken counter was empty, which disappointed him, but thankfully we found free-range, non-GM-fed chicken leg for him at the meat counter, so he is a happy Little Man tonight after all. The non-homogenized milk shelf was EMPTY. They had freaking everything from Jersey cows, just not the cream-on-top kind. I hope it's temporary, and the sooner they rectify this the better for my happiness.

And because some people asked for more info on making cheese at home, here you go: ( Cheesy stuff )

So there. The whiffs are more frequent now. At least I have those three spoons of ricotta to turn into... what? I think lassagne. I do have baby spinach. And tomatoes.