Farmhouse Cheese - A Hard Cheese Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What cheeses are considered hard cheese? ›

Traditional hard cheeses produced in the Western Balkans, such as Kashkaval, Pirot cheese, Trappist cheese, Njeguši cheese, Istrian cheese, Tolminc cheese, Krcki cheese, Paski cheese, Karst cheese and Macedonian Beaten cheese, are known worldwide.

Farmstead cheese, less commonly known as farmhouse cheese, is produced from the milk collected on the same farm where the cheese is produced. Unlike artisan cheese, which may also include milk purchased and transported from off-farm sources, farmstead cheese makers use milk only from animals they raise.

Farmhouse Cheddar is a more rustic version of traditional Cheddar and is made with the exclusion of the traditional cheddaring process of stacking and milling. Farmhouse cheddar tends to be slightly drier and crumblier than traditional Cheddar but still has a full and sharp flavour.

Does farmer's cheese melt? Farmer's cheese does not exactly melt, but it will get a little gooey. It's like that ricotta you see in a baked lasagna: It's hot and gooey but it still retains some of its crumbly texture.

Hard Cheese Types

Of the hard cheese examples, Parmesan (especially Italy's Parmigiano-Reggiano) is the most famous of these, but there are others, like Romano and Asiago. In Italy, Romano is called pecorino Romano because it's made with sheep's milk (pecora is Italian for sheep).

Farmer's cheese, a fresh cheese variety, is a pressed cottage cheese that is slightly more acidic and has a firmer texture, thanks to a lower moisture content.

Since it's not aged long, Farmhouse Cheddar does melt fairly quickly. The longer Cheddar ages, the less moisture the cheese will contain and the harder it is to melt.

Our farmer cheese is made by pressing the curd until almost all of the liquid is gone. It's naturally low in fat, has a mild taste and moist texture, yet it's dry enough to be sliced.

FARMHOUSE is a cheese that is made in a traditional way by a professional cheesemaker and is a product of one farm, that means that the milk for cheese making came from the same farm where the cheese was made.

To make hard cheese, the curd is cut very finely and then cooked at temperatures as high as 55°C. This maximises the amount of moisture (whey) removed before the curd is placed in hoops, soaked in brine, turned regularly and left to mature for six to 36 months.

What is the strongest cheddar? ›

Lymn Bank Strongest Cheddar Cheese

This two and half year old cheddar gives you an intense and lusciously tangy, savoury flavour.

Too much rennet was used or too much butterfat, left your cheese during the process. Rubbery cheese can happen when an excess amount of rennet is used, too much rennet equals a rubber ball, too little, soup!

Farmer's Cheese is often used in recipes for Blintzes or Pierogies. It also works well in pasta shells and ravioli. One popular local use is to lightly fry Farmer's Cheese and use it in a sandwich, but our favorite use is to slice it very thinly and roll it with our flavorful smoked meats.

Ones to avoid are Parmesan and Pecorino (any hard, aged cheeses), goat and feta (any dry, crumbly cheeses) as they don't melt well. Cheeses that are made for melting in grilled cheese and quesadillas include Cheddar, American, Swiss and Cabot's creamy Monterey Jack.

Mozzarella. Mozzarella is a semi-soft cheese traditionally made from Italian water buffalo milk by heating the curds in water or whey until they become elastic in texture. These days mozzarella is more often made from cow's milk. It melts well and has a unique stretchiness, making it the classic pizza topping cheese.

Colby-Jack is a semi-soft American cheese that is made from pasteurised milk. Furthermore, the cheese contains cheese culture, salt, enzymes and annatto. Annatto is what gives the Colby component of Colby-Jack its orange color. Together the Colby-Jack becomes distinctly marbled with white and orange.

Provolone is a semi-hard cheese with taste varying greatly from provolone piccante (sharp, piquant), aged for a minimum of four months and with a very sharp taste, to provolone dolce (sweet) with a very mild taste.

Semi-hard cheese includes all-time favorites like Cheddar, Gouda, Havarti & Gruyère.