How to Make Queso Blanco Cheese

Fresh Queso Blanco

Making your own cheese is a fun pastime and is great to do for controlling the freshness of the end product. This cheese can be made easily from the comfort of your own kitchen with easily obtained ingredients. This makes a great cheese for enchiladas and other Mexican dishes. It is as the name implies, white cheese and is mild and creamy in flavor

Things You'll Need

• 1 gallon whole milk
• 1/4 cup vinegar
• 1 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt (with active cultures)
• 2 teaspoons salt (non-iodized)

Instructions

1. 

   Pour the gallon of milk into a clean stainless steel stock pot. Bring the heat up to 90 degrees using a digital thermometer. Add the yogurt or buttermilk and stir well. Cover and allow to sit for 4 hours or overnight. The milk should have thickened and soured with the addition of the cultured bacteria.

2. 

   Put the pot back over a medium burner and raise the temperature to 185 degrees, stirring as necessary to keep the milk from scorching. Remove the pot from the heat and slowly stir in the vinegar. If the curds separate quickly from the whey then don't add any more vinegar. Allow to sit for about 10 minutes.

3. 

   Line a colander with a fine woven kitchen towel or white cotton (cheesecloth is too porous). Pour the curds and whey into the colander and allow to drain for about 30 minutes.

4. 

   Empty the curds into a bowl and mix in the salt. Place the cheese in a container and refrigerate until ready to use. Alternatively, the cheese can be pressed for a couple of hours in a mold and then removed and air dried at room temperature for a day.

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish