Making Parmesan cheese

A few days ago, I mentioned in passing that I made my first batch of Parmesan cheese over Christmas. A reader asked for more details. I don't have a lot of photos to accompany the process, in part because so many steps are similar to making cheddar (review this post to get an idea).

When I first got into cheesemaking many years ago, I had extremely spotty success because I was trying to follow advice on the internet. Then I purchased a book that proved to be a game-changer: Home Cheesemaking by Ricki Carroll (full disclosure: this is an Amazon affiliates link). If anyone is serious about making cheese, this is THE reference book to get, with extremely easy-to-follow directions as well as a wealth of information on cultures, starters, rennet, techniques, etc. The New England Cheesemaking Supply Company (founded by the author of the book) is also the place to go for cultures, cheese molds, rennet, etc.

In years past, I've made lots of cheddar, mozzarella, and cream cheese, which we use all the time. For whatever reason, however, I never delved into either Parmesan or Swiss cheeses (two of our favorites). I haven't tried Swiss yet (I need to obtain a special bacterial culture), but that will be my next conquest.

Before getting started on Parmesan, I needed to culture some thermophilic culture. I did this by heating about a gallon and a half of skim milk in a double boiler arrangement (critical!) to 180F, then letting it cool to 110F. I added the culture, then needed to keep the milk at 110F for six to eight hours, until the milk achieves a thick yogurt-like consistency.

To maintain the temperature for this long, I kept the pots on the stove burner, covered with layers of towels, and checked the temperature frequently. If the culture needed a bit of heat, I removed the towels and turned on the burner for a minute or two, then turned off the heat and covered the pots with the towels again.

The water jacket provided by nesting two pots together as a double boiler makes all the difference in being able to control and maintain temperature. This is just as important while cultivating the starter culture as it is for making cheese.

After the culture was ripe, I used a half-cup (four-ounce) measuring cup...

...to scoop it into muffin tins, which I then froze.

Four ounces of culture is the standard amount to add to a two-gallon batch of cheese, so it's handy to have it frozen in these increments.

For making Parmesan cheese, here are the necessary supplies and equipment:

• Two large pots, nested to make a double boiler

• 2 gallons of low-fat milk (I goofed the first batch by using regular-fat milk)

• 4 ounces of thermophilic starter

• 1/2-teaspoon liquid animal rennet diluted in 1/4-cup cool unchlorinated water

• A cheese press and 2-pound cheese mold

• 2 lbs. cheese salt + 1 gallon water for a brine

Here are the directions:

• Heat milk to 90F. Add thermophilic starter and mix well. Cover and let ripen for 30 minutes.

• Making sure the milk is still at 90F, add the rennet and mix well. Cover and let set for 30 minutes.

• Cut the curds into 1/4-inch cubes.

• Heat the curds to 100F, raising the temperature two degrees ever five minutes. Stir often.

• Raise the temperature of the curds three degrees every five minutes until the temperature reaches 124F. Stir often. The curds should be very small and squeak when chewed. Allow the curds to set for five minutes.

• Pour off the whey (I use a mesh bag so as not to lose any of the curds). In the photo below, Don is holding the mesh bag around a wide-mouth funnel while I scoop out the curds and whey from the large pot.

• Line a two-pound cheese mold with a thin cloth (cheesecloth or, in my case, a piece of clean muslin). Pack the curds into the mold and press at 5 lbs. of pressure for 15 minutes.

• Turn the cheese, then press at 10 lbs. of pressure for 30 minutes.

• Turn the cheese, then press at 15 lbs. of pressure for 2 hours.

• Turn the cheese, then press at 20 lbs. of pressure for 12 hours.

• In a non-corrosive container (I use a plastic bucket), mix 2 lbs. cheese salt or non-iodized salt into 1 gallon of water to make a brine. Soak the cheese in the brine for 24 hrs. at room temperature. In the photo below, since the cheese wanted to float...

...we anchored it down with a cup filled with coins. Weird solution, but it worked.

• Remove the cheese from the brine and pat dry. (Reserve the brine for future uses.) Age the cheese at 55F and 85 percent humidity for at least 10 months. Turn the cheese over daily for the first several weeks, then weekly thereafter. Remove any mold with a cloth dampened with vinegar.

• After the cheese has aged for two months, rub the surface with olive oil to keep the rind and cheese from drying out.

Here are the two batches of Parmesan I've made so far. The larger one came from the full-fat milk I (mistakenly) used; the smaller one came from low-fat milk.

This, so far, is my experience making Parmesan. The next step is ageing, so it will be interesting to see what kind of cheese these two types of milk produce.