Home cheesemakers should start slow, fresh
Want to make cheese at home? Start slow. Stove-top cheesemaking is not for beginners, at least not for the aged cheeses that Fritz Kopp draws upon decades of experience to make.
A wheel of Baby Swiss isn't something you can just whip up on a Saturday morning without at least some practice and careful preparation. Heather Engwall, director of National Product Communications, Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, cautions against making more complicated cheeses at home.
"It's great that people are fascinated by cheesemaking," she said, but it's best to "enjoy it from the experts."
Still, resources for home cheesemakers are available and growing. Madison-based Dairy Connection, a wholesale supplier of cultures and other cheesemaking ingredients, was getting so many requests from home hobbyists that two years ago it opened a shop that caters specifically to them. It's called GetCulture.
Marty Schneider, who runs the GetCulture retail space on Madison's east side, advises the beginner cheesemaker to start off with fresh cheeses such as mozzarella, feta, queso fresco and ricotta. Making yogurt is also helpful for learning about cultures.
Even cheese curds "are actually quite easy" and take about three hours to make, she said.
Local milk is best for cheesemaking since it is typically pasteurized at a lower temperature, she said. Sassy Cow and Kwik Trip's bagged milk are two brands she recommends.
"If you can follow a recipe, you can make cheese," she said.
He spotted a stainless steel cheese mold in the kitchenware section, like an old friend waiting for him.
"I knew exactly what it was," said Kopp. He retired in 1997 from the Deppeler Cheese Factory southwest of Monroe, where he was the first cheesemaker in Green County to make Baby Swiss.
On any given Thursday morning now, you'll find him over his kitchen sink pouring a warm pot of swirling curds into the cheese mold from St. Vinny's.
Kopp was a master cheesemaker before licensing existed for it. He made cheese professionally for 40 years - two years as an apprentice and 38 years, starting in 1959, at Deppeler.
He's learned in his retirement now to translate his large-scale cheesemaking expertise onto a small scale to make cheese at home.
At Deppeler, he oversaw 12,000-pound vats of milk.
Now he heats three gallons in a stainless steel pot that's just big enough to boil pasta for a dinner party. He buys the pasteurized, unhomogenized milk directly from Deppeler. The best milk for cheesemaking comes in May and June when cows are out feeding on fresh grass, he said. The extra carotene produces a more yellow cheese.
On a recent weekday morning, Kopp stood over his kitchen stove and carefully monitored the temperature of the separating curd.
The specifics of his operation are proprietary, but it involves a fractional horsepower motor, a red Solo cup, a butter knife wrapped in wire, a bent spoon, and a "curd cutter" fashioned from a wire basket intended for storing pencils.
"I rigged it up," he said. "Necessity is the mother of invention."
He tests the curds by squeezing some in his fist and breaking off chunks to taste. They're saltless and squeaky fresh.
"You notice the conformity of the curd? That's very desirable," he said. "At this point, I'm pleased."
He's making his standby, "stovetop Baby Swiss," but he doesn't limit himself.
"Oh, I've experimented with other types. Actually, I have some Parmesan in the refrigerator right now," he said. "Next week I think I'm going to try to make some Colby."
After he strains the curded milk into the cheese mold, he lets it sit overnight to press out the moisture.
The next day, the cheese wheel comes out of the mold and floats for eight hours in a "brine tank" - actually a glass serving dish for pudding or Jell-O that he commandeered from his wife, Barbara. After brining, the cheese spends three weeks in a box warmed by a heating pad to 75 or 80 degrees. Then it goes to the refrigerator for storing, eating and further aging.
"My wife and I have cheese every morning," Kopp said. He likes it in a ham sandwich or on top of a fried egg with mustard. The cheese he and his wife don't eat he gives to family and friends.
Kopp's cheese roots go back generations.
"My folks emigrated from Switzerland in 1924," he said. His father was a lifelong dairy farmer, and his uncle was a cheesemaker who learned the trade in Switzerland and passed on pearls of cheesemaking wisdom to his nephew, such as: "The cheese is made in the vat, not in the press."
Kopp's interest in the cheese industry continues into retirement. He's a tour guide at the National Historic Cheesemaking Center, 2108 6th Ave., which opens its season Friday.
He's also a member of the Center, and last year he and six other members of the organization co-authored "Cheese Country," a book that relates the history of the dairy and cheese industries in Green County.
The book is available for sale at the Center. It will also be sold at the 36th Annual Breakfast on the Farm event on May 30, located this year at the Wegmueller Dairy Farm just east of Monroe off Wis. 81.