1. Make Traditional Hard Cheese
Cheese is essentially curdled milk which has had most of its water removed. To make a simple hard cheese at home, boil a pan of milk. When it reaches a boil, turn off the heat and add 2 tablespoons of either lemon juice or vinegar for every 3 cups of milk. Stir the mixture thoroughly and let it sit for a quarter of an hour. After the quarter hour is up, strain the mixture through a cheesecloth and press it to force the moisture through the cloth. Discard the moisture. Add salt and any herbs, if you choose, to your cheese. Press moisture out of the cheese once more to make a harder cheese. Refrigerate your cheese, just as you would any store-bought dairy.
2. Make Cream Cheese
To make cream cheese, you will need a bacteria culture, milk, cream and liquid rennet. Not every grocery store carries liquid rennet and the appropriate bacteria culture for cream cheese. Different bacterial cultures are used to make different kinds of cream cheese. However, most health food stores carry these ingredients, and you can call ahead or order online. You'll need cheesecloth, which can be found in most markets. If you need a substitute, you can use an old (clean) pillowcase or tablecloth. Heat your milk in a large pan to between 75 and 85 degrees F. Take the pan off the burner and add the bacterial culture into the heated milk. Add your rennet as directed by the package. Let the mixture sit covered and unrefrigerated overnight. You can leave it for up to 16 hours. Then, drain the cheese through a strainer or colander lined with the cheesecloth and suspended over a pan, to catch the moisture that will drain from the mixture. You can let it drain overnight, and your cream cheese is completed. Place in a clean container and refrigerate until you're ready to use it.
3. Make Yogurt Cheese Spread
This isn't cheese, strictly speaking, but it's delicious, low in fat and surprisingly easy to make. Simply line a strainer with cheesecloth and place the strainer in a bowl so that the strainer is held up by the lips of the bowl, but there's plenty of room under the strainer for the liquid to drain from the yogurt. Empty one large, 16-ounce container of yogurt into the lined strainer, place the bowl, strainer and all, into the refrigerator and let it drain overnight. In the morning, discard the liquid and transfer your soft yogurt cheese into a storage container and keep it refrigerated. For a savory soft cheese, use plain yogurt and add finely-chopped dill, parsley or other favorite herb or spice. A few dashes of salt, pepper and garlic powder is a quick way to flavor this spread.
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