101 Ways to Drain Your Cheese!

Not really, but here are a few ideas . . .

Ricki (the Cheese Queen) (our owner and supreme ruler) came up with this one recently at one of her workshops.  (She has a lot of these fabulous furniture pieces at her castle in Ashfield, MA. where she teaches Cheesemaking 101.)

Ricki recently visited Farmer Bob in Maine (see our July Moosletter).  She took this picture of him watching his curds drain.  (It seems there isn't much to do in Maine!)  The S hooks appear to work quite well.

At another farm, the S hooks are used as well, only they're smaller.

Home use is where it gets fun!  We'll start with the most typical methods like simply tying the cheesecloth around the top of the pot.  Terry Travers sent us this but she wanted us to know that her cheese is not pink-her wood ceiling cast this color down in the afternoon light.

Another common method is to hang it from something laid across the top of the pot.

If the pot is deep enough, this is a creative solution.

If your cabinets are high enough, this technique works well.  Kristeva at Howling Duck Ranch uses a jelly bag to drain her ricotta curds.

Another useful cabinet.

If your faucets are high enough, you're fortunate indeed.

Almost anyone can use this method, but you don't usually want the refrigerator to be on or the curds won't drain properly.

Now, we are getting into the more unusual (but very creative) ideas.

This contraption is a jelly strainer, used by Amanda Erickson at FUCheese.  She says it's a space-saving device because it comes apart into 4 pieces and packs away.  She has also used a camera tripod and a banana hanger.

We would love to hear about your ideas, so send pictures to us at info@cheesemaking.com.