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Queso Blanco
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
10 mins
Total Time
20 mins
 
I make this cheese for my weed pies and ravioli ignuedi recipes. I shorten the hanging time to an hour and it gives the perfect cheese for these recipes – not too wet!
Category: Basics, Cheese
Quantity: 500 grams (1 lb)
Author: sbaskitchen
Ingredients
  • 2 litres of full cream milk
  • ¼ cup white vinegar
  • 1 tsp of cheese salt or salt to taste
Equipment
  • Stainless steel pot large enough for your two litres of milk
  • Dairy thermometer
  • Stainless steel perforated spoon
  • Stainless steel ladle
  • Tight weave cheese making cloth
  • Large stainless steel or enamel colander
  • String
  • Somewhere to hang your cheese - an overhead cupboard door handle is ideal
Instructions

  1. Pour the milk into a stainless steel pot

  2. Gently heat the milk by direct heat to 85˚C, stirring occasionally to prevent the milk from catching on the bottom of the pot..

  3. Remove the pot from the heat and immediately add the white vinegar and give two good stirs.

  4. Let stand for 15 minutes. There will be a clear separation of the curds and whey. If this separation has not occurred add a little more vinegar.
  5. Line the colander with your cheese cloth.
  6. Using a slotted spoon, carefully ladle the curds into the lined colander and drain for a few minutes.
  7. Tie the corners of the cheese making cloth together and hang, using the string, to drain for a further six hours.

  8. Remove the cheese from the cloth and place it into a bowl.

  9. Rub the exterior of the cheese with the salt.

  10. Place in a container, cover, and refrigerate until ready to use.

  11. Use within 7 days.

Notes
  • Queso Blanco is a cheese used in Latin American cuisine. Simply made by acid coagulation where a high acid ingredient such as lemon juice, vinegar or citric acid is added to the milk producing a clear separation of the curds from the whey. The finished cheese is unripened and fresh and does not have the shelf life of ripened cheeses. Like feta, ricotta, paneer, haloumi, etc, Queso Blanco doesn’t melt, I like to crumble it into salads, over bakes, press it into flat bread and so on.  I also make this cheese for my and ravioli ignuedi,  but shorten the drain time to 1 hour.  If you drain the cheese in the basket for 20 minutes, you will have a riccota style cheese.
  • If you begin to research the making of Queso Blanco you will discover that there are many variations to making this fresh farmhouse style cheese. From the amount of vinegar used, to the method used to add the vinegar, standing time, how the salt is added and whether to hang or press the cheese. You can even flavour the cheese with herbs and spices, mixing them through the drained cheese prior to hanging!
  • You can use raw, pasturised, pastureised & homogenised, even UHT milk, to make this cheese.
  • The salt is important not only for flavour, but it acts to preserve the cheese.