Heather Haddad

So after my feta failure I decided to try again by doing as much as possible differently. Instead of goat’s milk, I used cow, instead of buttermilk culture, I used yogurt, etc… and this time GREAT SUCCESS!

Here is the cheese in the curd stage, which is basically gelatinus milk. This right after I cut the curds up:

Close up of the curds:

Amazingly,  you take these gooey curds and drain them in cheesecloth over night, and you get this:

Heck, yeah! That’s feta like, baby! The next step is to slice the feta, and then to salt all the surfaces and let it weep out its whey for three days straight. Here is where I messed up a little. Every time I drained out the whey (probably 9 times), I re-salted. I think that was an error as the final product is too salty. After 3 days have passed, you brine the feta in water and this much salt.

Holy cow, that’s a lot of salt! The cheese then sets in brine for up to four weeks. You can eat it anytime, but the longer it ages the more crumbly it gets and the stronger the feta tastes. This is a feta and bean burrito I made last night after about a week of brining:

At this point, the texture is pretty darn good. As I mentioned, my problem is my feta is hella salty. Next time I make it, I will make three changes: I will use goats and cows milk mixed, I will cook the curds a bit more, and I will skip the salting for 3 days step and go right to the brine.

I’ve found dozens of feta recipies, and they are all different. In many ways, substantially. It’s interesting that there’s no one way to do it. I think the third time will be the charm for me! Next up, I may try my hand at brie or cheddar.