Water kefir
Milk kefir
Kombucha
Ginger beer
Kefir duo
Kefir and kombucha
Starter kit
RennetWarm fresh whole milk to 32 to 35°C, stir in 1 to 2 ml of liquid calf rennet for every 10 litres of milk, then leave the pot covered and still. In 30 to 45 minutes the milk sets into a firm curd. You cut it, let the whey run off and spoon the curd into a cheese mould. A 50 ml bottle of rennet is enough for 250 to 500 litres of milk. UHT milk does not work for cheese.
How milk becomes cheese
Cheese happens when the proteins in milk draw together and squeeze out the liquid, the whey. Rennet is the tool that makes it happen. It contains an enzyme that makes milk set within minutes: the liquid turns into a firm, glossy mass you can cut like a custard. That is the curd.
Everything after that is craft. How small you cut the curd, how long you stir it, whether you press it, salt it and let it age: cut coarsely and barely pressed, it becomes a soft fresh cheese; cut finely, pressed and aged, it becomes a hard cheese. You make both with the same bottle of rennet.
Liquid calf rennet is the classic coagulant of traditional cheese making. It is highly concentrated, so a few millilitres set a lot of milk. Our liquid calf rennet comes in a 50 ml bottle (£13). Rennet is a coagulant, not a culture: it does not sour the milk, it only sets it. The sourness and flavour of a cheese come from the milk, from time, and from any starter you add.
Your own cheese board
There is something deeply satisfying about cutting into a cheese you made yourself. A few oatcakes, a wedge of your own farmhouse-style cheese, a spoon of chutney and a proper cuppa: it is hard to improve on. And homemade cheese is not just a project for the weekend. A soft fresh cheese takes an afternoon, with most of that time spent waiting.
It also teaches you to read milk in a new way. You will start noticing how the season changes it, how the cream rises on fresh whole milk, and why some milk sets beautifully while other milk barely moves. That is where the guides below come in.
What you need
| Equipment or ingredient | Details | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Liquid calf rennet | 1 to 2 ml per 10 litres of milk | Sets the milk |
| Fresh whole milk | Pasteurised or raw, not UHT | The raw material |
| Large stainless steel pot | Big enough for your milk with room to spare | Warming and setting the milk |
| Kitchen thermometer | Accurate to 1°C | Hitting 32 to 35°C |
| Long knife or spatula | Reaching the bottom of the pot | Cutting the curd |
| Cheese cloth or muslin | Clean, boiled | Draining the curd |
| Cheese mould | With holes | Shaping the cheese |
| Measuring syringe or dropper | Marked in ml | Measuring the rennet |
| Salt | Fine, plain | Flavour and keeping |
For a first fresh cheese, you do not need a press. A colander lined with muslin and a bowl underneath will do the job.
How much rennet per litre?
This is the question that matters most, and the answer is simple: 1 to 2 ml of liquid calf rennet for 10 litres of milk. Less is often better than more: too much rennet gives a rubbery curd and can leave a bitter note.
| Milk | Rennet | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| 2 litres | 0.2 to 0.4 ml (a few drops) | Perfect for a first test |
| 5 litres | 0.5 to 1 ml | A good size for fresh cheese |
| 10 litres | 1 to 2 ml | The standard reference |
| 20 litres | 2 to 4 ml | For a hard cheese worth ageing |
Always dilute the rennet in a few spoons of cool water that has been boiled and cooled, then stir it into the warm milk with slow up-and-down movements for about a minute. Then stop, cover the pot and leave it completely still. In 30 to 45 minutes you should have a firm set. A 50 ml bottle covers 250 to 500 litres of milk, so it lasts a long time. Keep it closed in the fridge.
How to measure tiny quantities, how to test the set (the "clean break") and how to adapt the dose to goat's milk or raw milk are in the guide How much rennet per litre of milk?
Which milk for cheese?
Good cheese starts with good milk. The rule to remember: fresh milk sets, UHT milk does not. Ultra-high temperature treatment changes the milk proteins so much that rennet can no longer bring them together, and you end up with a soft, grainy mess.
| Milk | For cheese | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Fresh pasteurised whole milk | Yes | The easiest and most reliable choice |
| Raw milk | Yes | Full flavour, use it very fresh |
| Fresh goat's milk | Yes | Softer, more delicate curd, a distinctive taste |
| Semi-skimmed milk | Possible | Less yield, a firmer and drier cheese |
| UHT milk | No | Does not set properly with rennet |
| Plant drinks | No | No milk proteins for the rennet to work on |
Whole milk (the blue top) from the fridge in any supermarket works perfectly well. The fresher, the better. If you can get milk from a local farm, all the better for flavour, as long as it is very fresh.
Your first fresh cheese
A fresh cheese is the best place to start. It needs no press and no ageing, and you can eat it the same day or the next.
1. Warm the milk
Heat 5 litres of whole milk gently to 32 to 35°C, stirring now and then.
2. Add the rennet
Dilute 0.5 to 1 ml of rennet in a little cooled boiled water and stir it in for one minute. Cover and leave still.
3. Cut the curd
After 30 to 45 minutes, when the curd breaks cleanly, cut it into 2 cm cubes and wait 10 minutes.
4. Drain and salt
Ladle the curd into a muslin-lined colander or a mould, let it drain for a few hours, then salt lightly.
You get a soft, milky, slightly sweet farmhouse-style cheese, lovely with fresh herbs, black pepper, or a drizzle of honey and a few walnuts. Drained longer and pressed lightly, it firms up into a sliceable cheese. All the variations, including how it compares with paneer and cottage cheese, are in How to make fresh cheese. For goat's milk, follow the recipe Fresh goat's cheese: a few small rounds, rolled in chopped herbs or cracked black pepper, ready in a day.
The next step: a hard cheese
Once you are comfortable with fresh cheese, a hard cheese is the natural next step. The principle is the same, but everything is more precise. You cut the curd much finer, stir and warm it gently so it gives up more whey, then pack it into a mould and press it, more firmly each time. After pressing comes salting, either rubbed on dry or in a brine bath, and then the ageing.
| Stage | What happens | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Setting | Rennet sets the milk at 32 to 35°C | 30 to 45 minutes |
| Cutting and stirring | Small curds release their whey | About 1 hour |
| Moulding and pressing | The curd knits together into a wheel | Several hours to overnight |
| Salting | Flavour, rind and keeping | A few hours to a day |
| Drying and ageing | Rind forms, flavour develops | A few weeks to several months |
A farmhouse cheddar-style cheese is a good goal: firm, crumbly, and getting more flavour with every week in a cool spot. You need a proper mould and some kind of press, which can be as simple as a few heavy weights on a board. The whole process, step by step, is in How to make hard cheese.
Don't throw out the whey: ricotta
Every cheese leaves you with a lot of whey, often more than three quarters of the milk you started with. It still contains proteins, and heated almost to boiling with a splash of vinegar or lemon juice, they gather into soft, fluffy flakes: ricotta.
Ricotta from whey is delicate and lightly sweet, perfect on toast, in a lasagne, with jam, or stirred through pasta with lemon and pepper. The yield is small, so do not expect a mountain, but it is a lovely way to use the last of your milk. How to get the most out of it is in Ricotta from whey. Any whey you have left after that can go into bread dough instead of water, or into your next batch of scones.
Cheese making and milk kefir
If you already make milk kefir, you are halfway to a cheesemaker. The two work together beautifully.
- Kefir in the milk: stirring a few spoons of milk kefir into the milk an hour before adding the rennet gives a fresh cheese more tang and a fuller flavour.
- Strained kefir cheese: without any rennet at all, kefir drained overnight in a cloth gives a thick, spreadable cheese like labneh. See Strained kefir cheese.
- Whey for baking: the whey from cheese and from strained kefir both make an excellent liquid for wholemeal loaves and scones.
Our live milk kefir grains make half a litre or a litre of kefir a day, depending on the size you choose. Adding them to your rennet order brings you closer to £35, the point where standard tracked delivery becomes free.
When the milk does not set
Almost every cheese failure comes down to the milk, the temperature or the rennet. Here are the usual causes.
| What happens | Usually because | What helps |
|---|---|---|
| Milk does not set at all | UHT milk, milk too cold, rennet diluted in chlorinated water | Fresh milk, 32 to 35°C, boiled and cooled water |
| Very soft, weak curd | Too little rennet, milk too cold, very old milk | Slightly more rennet, check the thermometer |
| Rubbery, squeaky curd | Too much rennet, milk too hot | Use less rennet, stay below 35°C |
| Bitter taste | Too much rennet | Stick to 1 to 2 ml per 10 litres |
| Curd falls apart when cut | Cut too early | Wait for a clean break, give it 10 more minutes |
If your cheese is still not behaving, write to us with what you did, and we will help you work out what went wrong.
Good to know about calf rennet
Calf rennet is the traditional coagulant of cheese making, and it gives a clean set and a good texture in both fresh and hard cheeses. Because it comes from calves, cheese made with it is not vegetarian. It is concentrated and keeps well: store the bottle closed, upright, in the fridge, and always measure with a clean syringe or dropper.
Our liquid calf rennet is described, as it should be, as a "coagulant for making cheese at home". It is not a live culture and does not need feeding or looking after like kefir or kombucha: it simply waits in the fridge until your next cheese day.
Buying liquid calf rennet
Our liquid calf rennet comes in a 50 ml bottle, enough for 250 to 500 litres of milk, with instructions. Pay by Visa or Mastercard debit or credit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal or Klarna (pay in 3). Standard tracked delivery costs £4.90 and is free from £35 (3 to 6 working days across the UK), and express tracked delivery costs £14.90 (3 to 5 working days, with Royal Mail on the last leg). All prices include VAT. The details are on Delivery and payment.
If you are curious about other kitchen ferments, have a look at Which ferment suits me? or browse the whole shop.