Homemade cheese is on the horizon

Regular readers know that I have been on a quest for the cheese-making enzyme “rennet” or, “coalho” in Portuguese, for some time.  Cheese in Brazil is amazing-delicious, but dare I say it is either limited in variety or super expensive as a result of its imported nature.  If you have a bead on an organic goat or sheep farm out there making boutique artisan cheese here in Brazil (who hopefully ships their product) do leave a comment.

I am completely satisfied with (as in, I have eaten enough already, thank you) most garden variety queijos minas sold in grocery stores, and with the dyed yellow queijo prato which tastes a bit like a mild, mild cheddar.  Common mozzarella is nearly flavorless and fresh Mozzeralla de Bufala costs more than a tank of gas.  These are all perfectly nice cheeses, but this transplant from northern California misses the variety we enjoyed at our friend Mario’s “Country Cheese” (love you Mario!)store three blocks from our house in San Francisco, or at the infamous Cheese Board Collective in Berkeley, or the selection at the Berkeley Bowl, or the cheap and varied options at Trader Joe’s, or the artisanal varieties we could get at the farmers’ markets or at farms along the drive to wine country.

OK – stop.  I’m sorry.  I don’t usually focus on what is NOT available (or affordable) here in Brazil.  But this gordinho likes his cheese and has been yearning for more affordable varieties.

Some cheeses here, like requeijão or caitupiry are truly heaven sent.  But I’m still salivating for a crumbly feta, or a smooth herbed goat farmer’s spread, or especially for dry, harder, aged cheeses that explode with flavor.

Rather than sit at my keyboard and whine I’ve decided to take matters into my own hands.  I’m embarking on a self-taught (with Google’s help) cheese making adventure.  And I have finally located the liquid enzyme that has been the missing piece.

Shout out to Ray and all others who have been helping me find a local source for coalho. It is certainly available in Brazil, but apparently not in my urban environment.  When visiting our friends in Belo Horizontes this past weekend we not only found the Holy Grail rennet, but also a suitable cheese mold and ml-type measuring spoons.

I’m good to go.

Stay tuned.  First I’m going to try and replicate the queijo minas demonstrated by my friend Amanda’s mother, previously posted here.  From there I will move on to feta.  FETA!  From there, well, we’ll see where this goes…