Home Made Halloumi

Mr B and I have decided to retire and become cheese makers.

Ok maybe not like full on cheese makers, maybe just Cheddar, Colby, Paneer and Halloumi cheese makers.

Ok maybe not like cheese makers that sell their cheese.....maybe just cheese makers that make and then eat lots of cheese.

Do you think someone would pay us for that?

You see a few weeks ago, we made our first batch of Halloumi Cheese and we were so impressed that today I was up early making a big double batch so we had enough to share with friends and family and of course, some for us! To start with I was abit unsure about the whole Halloumi making thing because I mean even though we have made some awesome cheeses, I couldn't for the life of me comprehend that we would be able to pull off a beautiful salty, squeaky Halloumi, but you never know if you don't try right?!

So try we did. I spent an afternoon making the Halloumi and that night Mr B dutifully BBQ'd it....we both sat down at the dinner table, excited and nervous and silent. We dug in. I was nearly too scared to chew but then I heard Mr B squeaking away and saw the grin on his face, we had somehow pulled it off! You have never seen two people so excited about some squeaky cheese I tell you. It tasted like the real deal and it had come out of our kitchen and all for the cost of a 2ltr carton of milk.....not bad hey!

You can most certainly do this yourself - just pop into your local home brew show and they should have some rennet and calcium chloride or I think you can buy them online pretty easily too. Plus don't forget you will get a nice sized portion of ricotta out of the leftover whey too!

Home Made Halloumi Cheese - Yield approx 300g

2 litres of unhomogenised full cream milk
1/2 tablet rennet dissolved in 2 tbspns cold water
1 ml calcium chloride

In a large saucepan, heat the milk over medium heat to 45C.

Add the rennet and calcium chloride and stir well. Turn the hot plate off, but leave the saucepan sitting there for around 45 mins or until a firm curd has formed.

Once the curd is formed, cut the curds vertically and horizontally into roughly 1 inch squares.

Heat the saucepan to 35C, stirring the curds gently with a slotted spoon for 10 mins.

Line a colander with butter muslin and place it over a large bowl. Scoop the curds out of the saucepan and into the lined colander. Cover the top of the cheese with muslin and place a weight such as a large bowl of water on the top. Leave to drain for 60 mins, flipping over half way through.

Meanwhile, use all that whey to make some ricotta!

Ok, back to the halloumi now.....once it has finished draining, remove the halloumi from the muslin and slice into your desired shape / size.

Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil on the stovetop. Gently place the halloumi into the saucepan and gently stir occasionally.

Once the halloumi rises to the surface it is done - remove it to a rack using a slotted spoon and sprinkle both sides with cheese salt.

Now all that's left to do is throw it on the BBQ, fry it up and enjoy!!


Mrs B xx