1. Warm the milk, put the milk into a double-layer heating pot, and slowly heat it to 32 degrees Celsius. Add the starter culture after melting the milk, and stir for 5 minutes until it is fully uniform. Then let it sit for an hour and a half, then add rennet dissolved in purified water and warm it to 40 degrees, then let it stand for another 30 minutes. There is an intermediate heating step at this stage, I hope you don’t forget it.

2. Cutting the curds. After the milk is fermented by the starter to produce acid and the rennet coagulates, the milk has become lumpy. You must prepare to cut the curds and know the timing of cutting. The method is to insert your hand into the curdled milk block and slowly lift it up. The milk block will take on the cracked shape of northern tofu. This is when you need to hurry up.

The curd is cut not with a kitchen knife, but with a U-shaped knife and a cutting grid used in the factory. If you really can't find it, you can try any method, cut the curd into 2cm square pieces and leave it in this state for 10 minutes. As for what method to use, use your brain! Ancient cheesemakers didn't have any modern tools. Remember, it’s a 2cm square curd.

3. Stir and heat the curd

After letting it sit for 10 minutes, you need to stir it gently, not to crush it! Use the back of a spoon and stir slowly in one direction for 10 minutes. The translucent whey will be quickly discharged. Put a metal mesh basket (the purpose is to separate the curds and make it easier to scoop out the whey) and scoop out 1/3 of the whey in the pot. Take out the metal basket and slowly add hot water, stirring as you add it. Take about 5 minutes to raise the temperature to 40 degrees Celsius, then leave it for 20 minutes, and stir again until it is crushed and resembles slag.

4. Pressurization

Put these curd pieces into gauze, filter them, and squeeze them gently to remove the whey. Put the curd and gauze into a basin, and press a clean heavy object on top, which can be a processed stone. Let it sit for 30 minutes, waiting for the milk mass to ferment further.

5. Shaping

Take out the hardened curd pieces, cut them into 3-4 cm rectangles, and put them into a mold with holes. The holes are for the convenience of continued milk discharge. clear. A small mold of the same shape is inserted above, and stones are placed on it to continue pressing. Because this time the stone cannot directly hit the curd. This pressurization takes 1 hour.

6. Add salt

Take out the curd pieces, turn them upside down, re-wrap them and pressurize them for 6-8 hours. Do you see the dawn of success? Take out the curd surface, spray some medical alcohol to disinfect it, and then sprinkle salt on the surface of the curd to prevent miscellaneous bacteria. But the salt must be hygienic and fresh.

7. Ripening and drying

At this time, you need to dry the cheese at room temperature (25 degrees Celsius) for 3 days, and then spray it with alcohol to disinfect it. Continue to store for 3-4 days. And completely seal the cheese and store it in a refrigerator at 5 degrees Celsius for 2-3 weeks, waiting for final ripening.