Cheesemaking Equipment for Beginners

One of the pleasures of home cheesemaking is how little equipment it needs to start. You almost certainly already own most of what fresh cheeses require. Here is what matters, what you can skip, and what to buy when you decide to go further.

Essential kit for fresh cheese

• A large stainless-steel pot — 6–8 litres, heavy-bottomed. Avoid aluminium and unlined cast iron, which react with the acid in milk.
• A thermometer — accurate to within a degree or two; a digital probe thermometer is ideal. Temperature is the single most important variable in cheesemaking.
• A long knife or curd cutter — a thin, long blade for cutting curds cleanly. A palette knife works.
• Muslin or butter muslin — for draining. A clean, unperfumed tea towel is a substitute.
• A colander or large sieve
• A slotted spoon or ladle

Useful, not essential

• A cheese mould — for pressing firmer cheeses into shape
• A cheese press — only needed for hard, pressed cheeses; a stack of tins can stand in at first
• A fine mesh skimmer — helps lift curds gently
• Cheesecloth bags — for hanging and draining

Ingredients you will need

• Milk — fresh, whole milk. Avoid ultra-pasteurised (UHT) for rennet-set cheeses; it will not form a firm curd.
• Acid — lemon juice, white vinegar or citric acid for fresh acid-set cheeses
• Rennet — liquid or tablet, for mozzarella and hard cheeses
• Starter cultures — freeze-dried bacteria for aged cheeses; not needed for fresh acid-set cheeses
• Cheese salt — non-iodised salt, so it does not inhibit the cultures

Hygiene

Clean everything thoroughly and rinse well before you begin. Cheese cultures are living things, and unwanted bacteria can spoil a batch or, in the worst case, make it unsafe. Scald your cloths and utensils, and keep your hands clean throughout. This matters more as you move from fresh cheeses to aged ones.

A sensible first purchase

If you buy one thing, buy an accurate thermometer. If you buy two, add a book that covers the specific cheese you want to make. Everything else can come later. Start with ricotta, labneh or paneer — all of which need almost nothing — before investing in presses and cultures for mozzarella.