The Home Creamery (21 page)

2 medium pears, such as Anjou or Bosc, peeled, halved, and cored

1 cup (8 ounces)
HOMEMADE RICOTTA (
PAGES 70
AND
72
)

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1.
Combine the port and maple syrup in a medium saucepan and mix well. Add the pears and bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer, turning pears occasionally until they’re tender when pierced with a knife, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let pears cool in poaching liquid.

2.
Remove the pears from the poaching liquid. Place poaching liquid over medium-high heat and cook until it becomes thick and syrupy, about 5 minutes. Set aside and let cool.

3.
To serve, mix the ricotta, sugar, and vanilla in a small bowl. Place one pear half on a serving plate. Spoon the ricotta mixture into each pear cavity and drizzle with poaching liquid. Serve right away.

SERVES 4

PEACH MELBA YOGURT PARFAITS

Parfait
is the French word for “perfect,” and that’s the best way to describe this visually appealing dessert that not only tastes good, but is good for you as well.

2 cups
HOMEMADE YOGURT (
PAGE 15
)

¼ cup honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 ripe peaches, peeled and sliced

1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries, thawed

1 cup granola without raisins

1.
Mix yogurt, honey, and vanilla in a small bowl until well blended.

2.
Spoon ¼ cup of the yogurt mixture into each of four 8-ounce dessert glasses. Top with a few peach slices, some raspberries, and 2 tablespoons of the granola. Repeat the layers, ending with granola. Serve right away.

SERVES 4

TROPICAL FRAPPÈ

A frappé is similar to a breakfast smoothie, but it’s made mostly with fruits instead of dairy products, and it’s sweet enough to serve for dessert.

2⅓ cups banana chunks (about 3 medium bananas)

½ cup orange sections (about 1 medium orange)

¾ cup pineapple juice

2 tablespoons thawed orange juice concentrate

1 cup
HOMEMADE YOGURT (
PAGE 15
)

1 (8-ounce) can pineapple chunks in juice, undrained

Combine banana, orange sections, pineapple juice, orange juice concentrate, yogurt, and pineapple chunks with juice in a blender. Cover and process until smooth. Serve right away.

SERVES 2

GLOSSARY

ACIDITY.
A tart flavor produced in cheese by the lactic acid in milk. Fresh cheeses and dairy products have a low acidity level.

AGING.
Also called ripening, this is a step in cheese making in which the cheese is stored at a particular temperature and relative humidity for a specified time to develop its distinct flavor and firm texture. Fresh cheeses are not aged.

CHEESE CULTURE.
A bacterial culture added to milk as the first step in making many cheeses. The bacteria produce acid during their life cycles in the milk.

CLEAN BREAK.
The condition of the curds when they’re ready for cutting. Once they’ve reached this point, a finger or thermometer inserted into the curds at a 45-degree angle will separate them firmly and cleanly.

COAGULATION.
The process of thickening milk with an acid or rennet. Coagulated milk has a custardlike consistency.

CREAM.
The substance that rises to the top of raw milk. By law, cream can be used only to label products with more than 18 percent milk fat. Half-and-half (a mixture of cream and milk) has milk fat content from 10.5 to 18 percent.

CREAM-LINE MILK.
See raw milk.

CULTURED.
A dairy product in which bacteria cultures have been added to develop texture and flavor.

CURDS.
The custardlike solids that form in milk with the addition of rennet. The curds contain most of the milk protein and fat.

DRAINING.
The process of removing the liquid whey from the curds by pouring the mix into a butter muslin–lined colander to separate.

FERMENTATION.
The process by which a microorganism breaks down a complex substance into simpler ones. With cheese, the fermenting agent is beneficial bacteria from the starter culture that converts milk sugar (lactose) into lactic acid.

HOMOGENIZATION.
A process that breaks up milk fat into small globules and disperses them evenly throughout the milk. Once milk has been homogenized, the cream will not rise to the top.

LACTIC ACID.
An organic acid created by the fermentation of the milk sugar/lactose by beneficial bacteria in a starter culture used to turn milk into cheese. It gives cheese its acidity and helps preserve it.

MOLDING.
Once cheese is made, the drained curds can be placed in a cheese mold. The cheese mold will help produce the final shape of the cheese and aids in drainage. Cheese molds can be made from plastic, wicker, or ceramic.

PASTEURIZATION.
The process of heating raw milk to at least 145°F for 30 minutes or to 161°F for 15 seconds. The milk is then cooled quickly to 45°F or lower. This destroys harmful bacteria and organisms.

PRESSING.
A step in cheese making during which the curds are placed in a butter muslin–lined mold and placed under pressure to remove more whey and minimize fat loss.

RAW MILK.
Also known as unprocessed or cream-line, this milk has not been processed and the cream will rise to the top.

RENNET (ANIMAL).
Rennet is derived from the fourth stomach of a milk-fed calf. It contains the enzyme rennin, which has the ability to coagulate milk. Animal rennet is available in liquid and tablet form.

RENNET (VEGETABLE).
This term usually refers to microbial rennets, derived from molds produced in a fermenter.

RIPENING.
A step in cheese making in which the milk is allowed to age for a period of time. During this time, acidity increases because of the activity of cheese-starter bacteria.

SALTING.
A step in cheese making in which coarse flake salt is added to the curds before molding or to the surface of the finished cheese.

STARTER CULTURE.
Selected strains of harmless living bacteria — mostly lactic acid bacteria — that are added to milk as one of the first steps in the cheese-making process in order to preserve the nutrients from spoilage through controlled fermentation. These bacteria consume the milk sugar/lactose, transforming it into lactic acid, while enzymes in the culture transform proteins to build the structure that holds the nutrients. Starter enzymes contribute to flavor development in cheese.

SOFT CHEESE.
A cheese that is neither aged nor pressed and may be made from milk or buttermilk. Soft cheeses also contain a high moisture content (50 to 75 percent).

ULTRA-PASTEURIZATION.
This process heats raw milk to 275°F for 2 to 4 seconds. Ultra-pasteurized milk will keep from 60 to 90 days under refrigeration if the package isn’t opened. This milk doesn’t work well for making cheese; the high heat process doesn’t allow curds to form.

WHEY.
The liquid by-product of cheese making that develops after coagulation of the milk protein. Whey contains water, milk sugar, albuminous proteins, and minerals and can be used as an ingredient in producing other foods such as ricotta.

SOURCES

CHEESE-MAKING SUPPLIES

Glengarry Cheesemaking and Dairy Supply
888-816-0903
www.glengarrycheesemaking.on.ca
Specializes in equipment,
supplies, and accessories,
including molds,
ingredients, and other
cheese-making supplies.

New England Cheesemaking Supply
413-628-3808
www.cheesemaking.com
Everything you need to make cheese at home, plus kits for the beginner and workshops.

Dairy Connection
608-242-9030
www.dairyconnection.com
Offers cheese-making equipment, supplies, and cultures specifically for home production.

Hoegger Supply
800-221-4628
www.hoeggergoatsupply.com
Offers cheese-making supplies, kits, churns, kefir grains, and more.

Leeners
800-543-3697
www.leeners.com
Offers a variety of cheese-making supplies, kits, and instruction guides.

Moonwise Herbs
920-457-9290
www.moonwiseherbs.com
You can purchase kefir grains and piima cultures online through this site.

CHEESE-MAKING CLASSES

Dairy Foods Consulting Peter Dixon, Artisan Cheesemaker
862-387-4041
www.dairyfoodsconsulting.com
Offers artisan cheese-making classes throughout the United States.

Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheese University of Vermont
802-656-8300
http://nutrition.uvm.edu/viac
Offers a variety of cheese-making classes.

Bobolink Dairy
973-764-4888
www.cowsoutside.com
Located in New Jersey, this dairy farm offers artisan cheese-making classes using milk from its grass-fed cows.

The University of California at Davis
http://ceglenn.ucdavis.edu/Dairy/Farmstead_Cheesemaking_Workshop.htm
Offers farmstead cheese-making workshops through the Glenn County Cooperative Extension.

Washington State University Creamery
800-457-5442
www.wsu.edu/creamery
Offers extension programs for beginners as well as experienced industry professionals.

Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research
University of Wisconsin
www.cdr.wisc.edu/courses
Offers many courses on cheese making.

OTHER USEFUL LINKS

Fiasco Farm
http://fiascofarm.com
Helps home cheese makers learn about simple, inexpensive methods for making quality cheeses and dairy products for home use.

Cheese.com
www.cheese.com
Search the database of more than 650 cheeses by name, by country of origin, by kind of milk used to produce a cheese, or by texture.

ilovecheese.com
www.ilovecheese.com
Find everything cheese, from recipes and pairings to entertaining tips. While there, sign up for the Cheese Chatter quarterly e-newsletter.

Slow Food
www.slowfood.com
Slow Food promotes the pleasures of the table and mounts a defense against the eroding effects of the fast life through the support of sustainable agriculture and traditional foods and their production methods. An international movement, there are 12,000 members in the United States.

INDEX

A

albumin,
68

apples and applesauce

Apple Coffee Cake with Caramel Glaze,
104
–5

Apple Waldorf Salad,
136

B

bacon

Beet Salad with Goat Cheese and Bacon,
170