The next item in the Dairy Making 101 workshop is making cheese curds. Cheese curds is compressed, processed and stored to form cheese. In Indian cuisine, cheese curds is strained and squeezed to make paneer. Fresh cheese curds is used in poutine, a French fries topped with fresh cheese curds and brown gravy.

The cheese curds is rather bland and the texture is like medium hard tofu. We made the cheese curds with two types of acid, one with white vinegar and another with lemon juice. I cant really tell the difference in taste between both of them.

To make cheese curds, we start with heating the milk to a gentle boil.

When the milk comes to a gentle boil, add acid while stirring the mixture until you see the milk starts to curdle.

The by product of making cheese curds is called whey which is the liquid left behind. If you have some whey on hand, you can add the whey together with the acid to make a softer and creamier cheese curds.

Strain the cheese curds through a sieve lined with cheese cloth. Enjoy the cheese curds and save the whey to make soup. Liquid whey has lactose, vitamins and minerals and some traces of fats in it.

We made a beautiful soup with potatoes and red beets fresh from the farm.

Just bring the whey back to a boil and add the vegetables and boil until the vegetables are soft.

We had a pot of amazing colored potatoes and beets soup. Stay tuned for more Dairy Making workshop.