Homemade Herb Cheese

Wow!  I can't believe I actually know how to make cheese.  I am so excited to share this simple recipe with you.  It is really yummy and takes just a short time to prepare.  Thank you so much cousin Annie for sharing this with me.  I love making things that have been made for centuries.   Although our techniques are a little different  (I don't have a cow to get my milk from and I don't need to start a fire to heat up my stove) the basics are still the same.

Here are the ingredients:
1 gallon of milk (I used whole, but any variety will work, goat milk tastes especially good I'm told)
1/2 cup vinegar or lemon juice
1 tablespoon salt (forgot to put it in the picture)
fresh or dried herbs to your taste
A strip of cheese cloth to line a colander

Note:  You can buy cheese cloth at most grocery stores in the aisle where they sell kitchen utensils.  Also, it would have made it much easier for me if I would have just put my colander in the sink to drain it instead of over a bowl.  I don't know why I didn't think of that before this moment :/

Line a colander with cheese cloth and place over a large bowl or sink,  preferably.

Heat your milk in a large pot to 190 degrees.  Then pour in 1/2 cup of vinegar.  The milk with curdle immediately.

Drain the milk into the cheese cloth lined colander.

Add the 1 tablespoon of salt and whatever herbs you want to.  I put in 1 tablespoon of garlic and the herbs that you see pictured.  My cousin told me the kind she sampled had dill in it too.  If I would have had some in my garden, that would have made it in mine as well.

Mix the herbs into the curds and gather it to the center of the cheese cloth.

Tie the cheese cloth tight enough around the curds to form it into a ball.  I used a rubber band and that worked out great.  It is going to be dripping which it needs to do in order for it to turn into cheese.  Now,  at this point, if you would have seen me scrambling around the house holding this dripping cheese cloth, you may never have attempted to make this!  You have to let this ball hang in your refrigerator for about 3 hours.  I finally figured out that using a wooden spoon and bucket works great.  I know my son has some smaller buckets, put I couldn't find any at the time.  A large pot would work, but mine wasn't deep enough to keep it from touching the bottom.  So after I took this picture I put it into the refrigerator.

I got it out of the refrigerator about 3 hours later and it was done.

Oh so delicious!