The tools of the hobbyist
My cheesemaking equipment is ridiculously simple. A gallon of store-bought milk from a local dairy, a Pyrex bowl (two, it ended up this time), a stainless steel perforated ladle, my lovely stainless steel copper-bottomed RevereWare stockpot, two water glasses for dissolving additives, my fancy kitchen thermometer/timer, and a bleached countertop. Not pictured: an over-the-sink strainer and a half-yard of butter muslin (much finer weave than cheesecloth you'd buy in the store).
On milk: this milk is from Wilcox Farms, which is local. They don't ultra-heat pasteurize their milk. UHT destroys most of the nutrients and proteins in milk, which means it'll last forever but it's virtually worthless to drink and totally worthless for making cheese. I failed the first time I tried to use even Wilcox; I think that the process of shipping it around still introduces too many temperature fluctuations and batters the poor proteins and binding agents that occur in it naturally.
For foolproof cheesemaking here in Seattle, you can buy non-homogenized whole milk from Golden Glen Creamery at Whole Foods, PCC, etc. - it is expensive, especially with the bottle deposit, but it will make cheese just as the kit directions say, and it's delicious to drink, too.
The tools of the hobbyist
My cheesemaking equipment is ridiculously simple. A gallon of store-bought milk from a local dairy, a Pyrex bowl (two, it ended up this time), a stainless steel perforated ladle, my lovely stainless steel copper-bottomed RevereWare stockpot, two water glasses for dissolving additives, my fancy kitchen thermometer/timer, and a bleached countertop. Not pictured: an over-the-sink strainer and a half-yard of butter muslin (much finer weave than cheesecloth you'd buy in the store).
On milk: this milk is from Wilcox Farms, which is local. They don't ultra-heat pasteurize their milk. UHT destroys most of the nutrients and proteins in milk, which means it'll last forever but it's virtually worthless to drink and totally worthless for making cheese. I failed the first time I tried to use even Wilcox; I think that the process of shipping it around still introduces too many temperature fluctuations and batters the poor proteins and binding agents that occur in it naturally.
For foolproof cheesemaking here in Seattle, you can buy non-homogenized whole milk from Golden Glen Creamery at Whole Foods, PCC, etc. - it is expensive, especially with the bottle deposit, but it will make cheese just as the kit directions say, and it's delicious to drink, too.