Made my first Stirred Curd this morning, and its looking really good.  The process was simple, if time consuming.  And I used fresh from the cow milk for the first time.  I got it from the dairy right from the milking machine.  And I have to agree with a previous comment from Nabil - it’s heaven.  Wonderful curd!  Its in the press now.  Hope I never have to go back to processed milk.

pics ? yup your lucky to have real milk.

Sorry about the pix - wish I could but no digital camera.

I’m looking forward to using raw milk.  I live in farm country and still have not used raw milk.  I need to befriend a farmer.

Its harder to get raw milk than I thought it would be.  Most dairymen are under contract and are not allowed to sell or even give milk away.  I found that if you ask around - among the old timers especially - you’ll eventually get a lead.

raw milk is a heaven, but at same time is a very risky job, if ur milk was contaminated with spoiling bacteria, you will end up with a spongy cheese with bitter flavor.

very extra care should be taken in order not to be surprised later on.

actualy our problem from store milk is homo process not pasteurizing.

of course Raw milk cheeses like swiss and cheddar (as examples) are only obtained from raw milk, which u will end up with the maximum flavors

Waxed the cheddar and put it to age.  It looks gorgeous.  30 drops of Anatto yielded the color I’ve been looking for.  And it has the slightly yielding sponginess that Neil referred to in another post.

Here’s a thought on drying in hot, humid conditions:  Could we perhaps use a small fan to circulate air over the drying wheel?  That should facilitate drying faster, which would enable us to get it into the frig faster.  Or would this be too fast, causing cracking?  Has anyone else tried it?  It seems to have worked well for me.  I use a 6” fan about 6’ away.  The wheel is covered with a fine screen colander, so there is not a direct blast of air.  I can dry the surface in 12 to 24 hours.  No cracking observed yet.

My thoughts on drying the surface faster may create a imbalance and cracking when the center is very moist and the outside is dry, need to dry evenly.

i had many problems with cracking , see my all old posts. i solved it by cover the cheese to let it dry slowly