The traditional product of our tables is cheese. This product, very valuable in its nutritional and taste qualities, can also be prepared at home. It turns out to be more useful, and there is no need to talk about cost at all. Depending on the type of cheese, preparation will require a minimum set of ingredients that are available in any kitchen. How to make cheese? It all depends on whether it is soft, hard, boiled, melted, smoked, etc. All this can be prepared at home without much difficulty.

Some subtleties

Before making cheese, you need to take into account some of the subtleties of this process. Firstly, only high-quality products are used for cooking. It is better if it is farm cottage cheese or milk. Store-bought products are not suitable for making cheese at home. The fattier the milk or cottage cheese, the more nutritious the final cheese will be. The product turns out tender and oily. To ripen cheese, its weight must be at least 0.5 kilograms. Why is homemade cheese softer?

Secondly, the final result depends on the press. When we make cheese at home, we can't get enough compression. The rich taste is obtained as a result of long aging of hard cheeses. Instead of a special form, you can use a colander. What remains from cheese production is whey, which is used to make dough or okroshka. Homemade product does not last long, a maximum of a week in the refrigerator. It is better to store it in a cotton towel or paper, but not in a plastic bag.

Simple curd cheese

This cheese recipe is the easiest and fastest. To prepare, you will need 1.5 liters of milk, a little salt (to taste) and 500 milliliters of kefir. Heat the milk, but do not boil. Then add kefir and salt to it. Stir the resulting mass and heat it again. Then we filter everything through cheesecloth, which must be folded several times. What remains is the cottage cheese, which must be put into a mold and a weight placed on top. The density of the cheese depends on the aging time. After a few hours, when the mass is well compressed, the product will be ready for use. If desired, you can add any herbs or pepper to the cheese.

Mozzarella

Even this cheese can be made with your own hands. Take 2 liters of high-fat milk, two tablespoons of lemon juice, 2 liters of water, two tablespoons of salt and a quarter of a small spoon of pepsin. Pour half a glass of water and dilute pepsin in it. The milk should be heated to about 70 degrees. Then pour lemon juice and pepsin into it. At this point, the whey will immediately begin to separate. We wait for it to completely peel off, but do not bring the mixture to a boil. We drain the whey, but do not throw it away. We heat the water to 90 degrees, but don’t boil it either.

Add salt to it and lower the cheese mixture for three minutes. Then we take it out, put it on the board and begin to knead it with our hands. The mixture will be very hot, so it is better to wear gloves. Then we carry out the lowering procedure again. This results in a soft and chewy cheese. We wrap it in a sausage shape. Store the cheese in brine in a container. The recipe for making cheese is simple and requires very little cost.

Dutch cheese

At home you can make cheese that tastes like Dutch cheese. This recipe is for those who want to know how to make cheese from cottage cheese. For this you will need three liters of milk, two kilograms of cottage cheese, 100 grams of butter, one chicken egg, half a teaspoon of soda and salt to taste. Bring the milk to a boil and place the cottage cheese in it. Stir the mixture and reduce the heat slightly.

Simmer, stirring constantly, until a plastic mass forms and the whey separates. Then place the cheese in a colander, cover with a towel and leave to drain the liquid. Separately, melt the butter and put the cheese mixture, salt, soda and egg into it. Mix everything thoroughly without turning off the heat. The mixture should reach the consistency of cream and turn yellow. Turn off the heat and transfer the cheese into the mold. We put a load on top and put it in the refrigerator.

Processed cheese

How to make cheese so that it tastes like a processed product? You can prepare it at home quickly and without problems. The cheese recipe includes the following ingredients: one kilogram of cottage cheese, 100 grams of butter, one egg, one teaspoon each of salt and soda, two cloves of garlic and any herbs to taste. Cottage cheese should contain a minimum amount of water. To do this, you need to place it under a press and leave it overnight. The more butter there is in the cheese, the softer it will be.

It is better to mince store-bought cottage cheese, but homemade cottage cheese can be used immediately. First, beat the cheese a little and chop the herbs as finely as possible. Place the cottage cheese in a saucepan or any pan with a thick bottom and add oil, salt and soda to it. Cook the mass until it has a homogeneous and plastic consistency. Don't forget to stir constantly so that the cheese doesn't burn. After 10 minutes, remove the mixture from the heat and add garlic, herbs and egg. Mix and transfer it into the mold. Place the cheese in the refrigerator to harden. Here's how to make cheese at home.

Adyghe cheese

This product has an excellent taste and is used in many dishes. Let's consider one of several preparation options. Take four liters of milk (only natural and fresh), 500 milliliters of Activia yogurt (room temperature) and salt as desired. Place the pan on the fire and pour the milk into it. We heat it strongly, but do not boil. Now we begin to slowly pour in the yogurt. In this case, the mass must be constantly stirred. Gradually flakes will form and the whey will separate. When the whey becomes transparent, you must immediately remove the container from the heat, otherwise the cheese will turn out too dense.

Cover the colander with gauze and place the cheese mixture into it. The whey should drain as much as possible. We form the cheese into the desired shape from the mass and store it in a small amount of liquid. How to make cheese from milk? This is one of the simplest recipes. This product is eaten in its natural form. You can also cut it into pieces, roll in spices and fry on each side. You will get baked cheese. The recipe can be supplemented at your discretion.

Boiled cheese

This unusual dish came to us from Latvia. Boiled cheese is a delicious snack and an excellent addition to main courses. To prepare you will need 250 grams of cottage cheese, 20 grams of butter, 60 grams of sour cream, one egg, caraway seeds and salt to taste. Place the cottage cheese in a bowl and cover with a lid. So it should stand for about 3-4 days. During this time, mold will appear on the cottage cheese, which will give it an extraordinary taste. Now you need to pass it through a meat grinder and add sour cream, salt and caraway seeds to it.

Melt the butter in a saucepan and put the curd mass into it. Mix everything well and gradually heat it up. Then add one egg and mix everything again. We continue to heat the cheese, stirring constantly. You should get a homogeneous mass. Grease the mold with butter and place the cheese in it. We put it in the refrigerator overnight and then eat it.

Homemade cheese

To make this cheese you only need two ingredients. These are milk (3 liters) and pepsin (1 gram). Brynza is considered a product of Caucasian cuisine. However, this type of cheese has firmly entered our diet. It is prepared from sheep or goat milk, but cow's milk can also be used. The main thing is that it is of good quality, fresh and fatty. It is better not to take a store-bought product. Place the container of milk on the fire and heat it. Then add pepsin. It can be purchased at a pharmacy. Pepsin is a white powder. Set the pan aside for 30 minutes or an hour. The milk should acquire the consistency of an acidic product. Then return the pan to the heat and heat well, but do not boil. As a result, a mass will separate, which must be collected and salted. We form the cheese using a mold, cool and eat.

Ossetian cheese

How to cook the famous recipe is simple. To do this, you need to take four liters of good milk, 500 grams of kefir with a fat content of 2.5 percent and 10 “Acidin-pepsin” tablets, which are sold at the pharmacy. Pour the milk into the pan and heat it a little (30 degrees). Then pour in kefir, which should be at room temperature. Mix everything and leave for 10 minutes. Dissolve the tablets in 100 milliliters of water and pour them into a saucepan. Stir the mixture and leave for an hour to form a starter.

It will be ready when a greenish liquid (whey) separates when you press the mixture with a spoon. Without stirring, cut the contents of the pan into squares with a wooden spatula. Leave the cheese for another 20 minutes. Then we take out the mass and put it into a mold with holes to drain the liquid. Cover the cheese mass with a plate and place the weight. In a day the cheese will be ready. How to make cheese so that it turns out salty? You can simply add salt or seasonings during the cooking process.

Chechil cheese - braid

Many people think that cooking is almost impossible. However, it is not. Chechil is an Armenian cheese that is prepared only by hand at home. It is based on cow's milk, which can be mixed with goat's or sheep's milk. Then it should turn sour. To speed up this process, you can add a little sour milk or whey. Then the milk is heated and pepsin is added at a temperature of 40 degrees (1 gram per 300 milliliters). Next, the mass is heated to 50 degrees, at which point pieces of cottage cheese begin to form. The flakes are gradually crushed, and a cheese ribbon is obtained. It is taken out and laid in length. Then this mass is cut into thin threads and braids are woven from them. After this, they are placed in a very salty solution (20 percent). Finished braids can be slightly smoked. The technology for producing cheese at home differs from the factory one, but such a product will be much tastier. Here's how to make a pigtail - a popular cheese and loved by many.

Afterword

Buying cheese in a store is not difficult, but if you make it yourself, you will get a more nutritious product. Use only the best products for this, fresh and fatty. Homemade cheese should be very soft and tasty. Additional ingredients will help transform the taste of the product and make it richer and more aromatic. It doesn't require many ingredients to prepare. Everything you need can be easily purchased at the market from farmers and in stores. The main thing is that the cooking technology is followed. This guarantees the quality and great taste of homemade cheese.

Cheese braid is a great snack that both adults and children like. In Armenia this cheese is called chechil. Chechil is a pickled dietary cheese, a brother of suluguni, but has its own delicate taste.

Due to the fact that chechil is made from low-fat or skim milk, it has a fat content of 10%. Thus, this is one of the lowest calorie cheeses, it is perfect for those who adhere to various weight loss diets.


Chechil cheese is a source of high-quality protein. It also contains calcium and phosphorus, which help strengthen bones. Today we will tell you how to make this cheese at home.


INGREDIENTS
4 liters of homemade milk
8 liters of water
1 tsp. citric acid
1 g rennet
salt to taste
Heat the milk in a water bath to 38 degrees. It is advisable to stir it constantly.
Dilute the citric acid with a small amount of milk, mix with the rest of the milk. Dilute the enzyme with a small amount of milk, mix with the rest of the milk.

Mix the milk thoroughly with a wooden spatula. Remove the pan with the cheese mixture to a warm place and leave for an hour. You can wrap it in a blanket. Heat the pan with the cheese mixture over low heat again, 5 minutes will be enough. Cut the cheese mixture into cubes and drain the water. Let it sit for 30 minutes. While the cheese is settling, heat the water in another saucepan to 75 degrees.

Pour the heated water into a bowl and place the cheese there. Knead the cheese in a bowl with two wooden spatulas for no more than 15 minutes.

After this, put on rubber gloves and continue to knead the cheese with your hands, periodically dipping it into the water. The water temperature should not fall below 75 degrees. If the water has cooled, add hot water.




Gradually move from kneading to stretching the cheese and forming threads. When the cheese strings take the desired shape, lower them into previously prepared salted water at room temperature. A liter of such water will require 200 g of salt.




Leave the cheese in salt water for a day. After that, wring it out and form braids from the threads. The cheese can be consumed in this form, or you can smoke it in a home smokehouse.


Making cheese at home turned out to be not so difficult. The main thing, and this is very important, is to use only homemade milk. With a store-bought one, you will only waste your time.

To taste a wonderful salty snack, you don’t have to run to the supermarket and buy incredible delicacies. Today we will talk about how to make Chechil cheese at home, the recipe for which you will find in our article along with detailed instructions. It turns out incredibly tasty, juicy and, most importantly, without the slightest suspicion of the presence of GMOs or other unhealthy components in the composition.

Chechil cheese is known to us under another name - “Pigtail” cheese. We can find it on the counter of any store. It is considered the closest “relative” of suluguni, similar to it in taste and consistency, but its taste and density are still different.

There is no need to age Chechil cheese for weeks; it is prepared quickly both in industrial conditions and at home.

Well, let's try to do it?

Ingredients

  • — 3 l + -
  • Pepsin – 10 g + -

For the brine

  • - taste + -
  • - taste + -

Cooking at home

The recipe calls for the use of rennet or pepsin. You can buy such “exotic” in almost any pharmacy.

Add pepsin at the rate of 1 g per 300 ml of liquid.

If we have village milk in front of us, it must be “skimmed” or skimmed, since in the original technology Chechil cheese is made from milk with a low percentage of fat.

  1. To do this, put raw milk in a saucepan or jar in the refrigerator overnight, and in the morning remove the top layer, that is, the cream, with a ladle. We remember that this will reduce the volume of milk, so in advance we pour it into a pan larger than 3 liters by about 20-25%.
  1. Then we leave the milk in the open air and let it sour naturally during the day - this way the cheese will turn out more tasty and will stretch better.
    It is the acidity of the milk in this recipe that determines how well the cheese pieces can be turned into threads. The optimal moment is when it begins to curl.

  1. We install a divider on the gas stove so that the milk in the pan heats up gradually and evenly, and heat it to 32 - 35 ° C, remove from the heat.
  2. Pour in pepsin in proportion and leave for half an hour. There is no need to touch or interfere with anything - just let it sit.
  3. Over time, a dense mass forms in the pan; put it back on the stove and heat it to 50°C, stirring gently. This will help the serum separate completely.
  4. Then we filter the resulting flakes through cheesecloth and place them on the table. We put on gloves and pull the flakes into threads. They can be twisted into balls or braided, as we are used to seeing.
  5. We make a saline solution and put the resulting chechil cheese in it overnight. In the morning the product is ready for use. You can eat it straight or put it in the smoker to acquire a bright color and spicy aroma.

But there is a faster way to prepare a delicious snack at home.

How to make chechil from fresh milk

For this recipe we need 4 liters of fresh low-fat milk.

How to make Chechil cheese

  • Warm the milk to a temperature no higher than 38°C and add 1 g of rennet. Mix everything thoroughly and immediately remove from heat.
  • Leave it to curl and thicken for 35-40 minutes, and then cut the resulting mass into squares directly in the pan - this will ensure better separation of the whey. Leave again for half an hour.
  • In the meantime, prepare a colander, a large sieve or sieve - cover it with several layers of gauze. We discard the resulting cheese and let it drain for an hour.
  • We heat water over the fire so that the hand can tolerate it, put pieces of cheese into it and pull them into threads. Thanks to the temperature, they will become more plastic and will not tear.
  • We twist the finished chechil in any convenient way and place it in a pre-prepared saline solution.

Now you know how to make Chechil cheese at home. Cooking recipes vary, so we try different ones to choose the right one, because making cheese is not just a labor-intensive, but also a very delicate process. Who knows which method will work in your hands and in your kitchen?

Share the details of making Chechil cheese in the comments and post photos of the finished product, friends!

Currently, interest in food products produced on the basis of natural raw materials in small enterprises is growing all over the world. Pigtail cheese - Chechil is a national Armenian cheese that fully meets these criteria. It is produced mainly at home and only by hand. In addition, this cheese should be of interest to people who are advocates of a healthy diet; this cheese can be safely eaten while on a diet.
Pigtail cheese is made from natural products, during the production process of which no chemical components are added, and in addition, due to a unique technology, it retains the maximum of useful substances inherent in the original raw material, including nutritional juices and microelements. It differs from other cheeses in its structure in the form of threads braided into a braid. Based on the shape of this braid, it is called Chechil - it is braided into braids. Without going into details, many people call it just that - a pigtail.

Video of the correct production of braided cheese (chechil):

The starting product for this cheese can be cow's milk, or a mixture of cow, goat, and sheep. First you need to let the milk sour; you can add a little sour milk to the bowl with milk to speed up the process. Then, the sour milk is heated, when curdling begins, pepsin is added at about 40 degrees (1 g per 200-300 ml of milk). After some time, the resulting pieces of cottage cheese begin to stick together, the temperature is raised to 50 degrees. The resulting substance is carefully crushed to form a ribbon, gradually removed and laid out lengthwise, cut into thin threads, braided, washed with cold water and placed in brine (15-20%).

Normalized milk at a temperature of 65 degrees enters the cheese maker (1), where grain is formed, cut, and dried, the resulting mixture is transported through a drainage drum (2), and the whey is separated. Within 15 minutes, a layer is formed from the cheese dough lying on the press trolley (3), and after that, within another hour, the cheese mass gains acidity. The manually chopped layer enters the plasticization module (4), where cheese strings are formed. Well, our cheese is almost ready, it can be packed and sent to the storage room.

The production scheme described above allows us to produce up to 4 tons of product per day.
Such a production process scheme allows you to constantly update the product range due to the reconfiguration of technological parameters and the flexibility of the production process.

The original appearance of the braided cheese is achieved by tying it by hand. Chechil cheese, by definition, cannot be just a piece of cheese; the braids are woven at the very beginning of the manufacturing process and, in addition to its unusual appearance, help it retain the beneficial properties of the original raw material better than other cheeses due to the so-called bunches. If Chechil is prepared correctly, it does not have any special smell that greatly distinguishes it from other cheeses; on the contrary, it has a special taste, quite piquant, spicy-salty, with a pleasant salty aftertaste. The color of the cheese should not be very bright; when purchasing it, it is better to give preference to cheese that is whitish to slightly yellow in color.

Composition of smoked braid cheese.

The composition of the cheese is not complex. It is based only on natural products: fresh cow, goat and sheep milk; souring occurs naturally with the addition of pepsin or rennet, which is part of smoked pigtail cheese.
When heated, milk curdles very quickly, in about 10 minutes, after which it is heated again, flakes are formed, which stick together during further heating. Strips are formed from this mass, which are subsequently cut and woven into braids.
To obtain smoked cheese, the braids, after ripening, are sent to smoking chambers. That's all. A tasty, aromatic and most importantly healthy, natural product is ready.

Video - Family business cheese production:




Tight braids, woven from an elastic cheese mass, rightfully lie on store shelves next to other cheeses. Chechil is a pickled cheese, brother of Suluguni, but has its own individual delicate taste. Its history is interesting: cheese is produced in the Caucasus by hand, the threads are pulled to the thickness of a hair. It goes harmoniously with wine and beer, decorates a sandwich or salad, and adds piquancy to a rich plate of sliced ​​cheese with its appearance. This is the national Armenian cheese.

What is

Chechil (cheese) looks like fibrous balls or it is simply tied into a bundle and thanks to this, all the nutritional juices and natural, natural properties of high-quality dairy raw materials are preserved. Chechil ripens in a salt solution; it is a pickled cheese, so it is watery and salty. Its name means "confused". This cheese differs from its close relative, Suluguni, in that it has increased layering and a noticeably pronounced sour-milk taste. Available in many varieties.

In addition to braids, it comes in the form of balls, noodles, straws, strings, and spaghetti. Very often this adds piquancy to it. Beer lovers really liked this transformation of fibrous cheese: the salty and dry product is indispensable as an addition to their favorite drink.

How to produce

Chechil (cheese) is made from fresh pasteurized cow's milk with low fat content, fermented with rennet, which is of animal origin. First, the milk is heated to 32 degrees, then pepsin is added. A clot forms, after which the fermented milk mixture is mixed well and heated to 60 degrees. The resulting flakes are separated from the whey, salted strongly and placed in the sun. Then they are manually stretched into threads, wound into five-kilogram balls, or braided directly into braids. Until fully ripened, they are stored in a salt solution for almost a month.

Seventy-five days is the maximum period during which cheese is on sale. After all, this is a “live” product, without any preservatives, it is susceptible to oxidation and deteriorates very quickly. Karan Abrahamyan received the right to author the production of “braids” from chechil. He heads the cheese shop at the training center of the Agrarian University of Kyiv. He has a patent for an invention, a certificate for

Benefit

Chechil (cheese) has a low fat content - up to 10%, for this reason it is classified as a dietary product. Due to its low fat content, it is used in various diets. For example, there is the Protasov diet, which is based on the consumption of raw vegetables and products made from milk, low in fat. Chechil contains a lot of moisture - up to 60%, salt - 4-8%. Brine cheese is a truly healthy product, as it is rich in vitamins and calcium. The energy value ranges from 290 to 340 kcal per hundred grams of cheese.

If the chechil is prepared correctly, its fibers are pulled through the eyes of the needle. In this way, the cheese is checked for quality. If the raw materials are of poor quality or the hand of a non-professional touches the production of cheese, chechil will not work. The cost of the product is 350 rubles per kilogram. The price is considerable, but not to say that it is overpriced for such a tasty product. A wide variety of snacks are prepared from it, and it is also added to salads and soups.

In the Caucasus, this cheese is eaten fresh, washed down with delicious homemade wine. Fried chechil is also often prepared. For this purpose, smoked fibers are cut horizontally and placed on a heated frying pan. When a golden, delicious crust appears, they are turned over and fried on the other side. This savory snack is very aromatic and has a special tenderness. What's the best food for beer lovers? Chechil cheese, the price of which is quite reasonable, although sometimes it reaches

Smoked product

This cheese is made using an unusual production technology: it is melted at the very beginning and only then other manipulations are performed. Smoked “braids” have an unusual taste and high juiciness. This chechil does not have its original smell, it is the same as that of other varieties. But the taste is different: it stands out with smoky notes and a slight spiciness. This product may be yellow or whatever, depending on the manufacturing process.

Smoked “pigtail” cheese is made from fresh goat or sheep milk. Fermentation of liquid is carried out in a natural way: first, the milk is slightly heated and mixed with the rennet element and a special starter. It takes ten minutes for the cheese to curdle, then it is reheated to form flakes. At this moment, eight-millimeter strips are made.

Then they are taken out and cut into certain ribbons, and braids are made from them. Then, until fully ripe, they are placed in a vat of brine. A mature Chechil is sent to certain cells. There he smokes. 5-10% - fat content of the finished product. When choosing a smoked braid, look at its color. Do not take chechil with a bright yellow color, as this indicates the use of chemical dyes. Look at the composition of the product. Cheese is natural if the list contains the least amount of ingredients.

Chechil (cheese): recipe

You can produce a product yourself and then sell it on the market. From 10 liters of milk, a liter of sour cream and eight liters of whey you can get one kilogram of cheese. For preparation you will need five liters of goat and cow milk. It is poured into the separator for the purpose of degreasing. Then the mixture is heated to 40 degrees, the mixture is added in a water bath for 60 minutes.

Clots form, the mixture is heated to 52-54 degrees and stirred clockwise for 15 minutes until “braids” form. The cheese mass can be compressed manually. The resulting braids should be hung on the paving stones. When the cheese has cooled, it is salted. The quality is determined by cutting it lengthwise - you should get thin threads that don't break. The cheese, tied into skeins, is washed in cold water, then placed in brine, where it ripens.