Rennet and Rind https://sephoritu.com/ 2026-09-19T09:00:00Z Cutting the first hard cheese at six monthshttps://sephoritu.com/posts/cutting-first-hard-cheese-six-months/2026-09-19T09:00:00ZThe wheel pressed in March came out of the hallway fridge and under the knife. Weight lost, what the rind did, what the paste looked like and how it tasted. Pressing the first hard cheese: ten litres, three weights and a lopsided wheelhttps://sephoritu.com/posts/pressing-first-hard-cheese/2026-03-22T09:00:00ZA full day with the stockpot: culture, rennet, cutting the curd, stirring up to 38 °C, then pressing under 5, 10 and 20 kg and a night in brine. Hygiene, honestly: what I sanitise, what I boil and what I stopped worrying abouthttps://sephoritu.com/posts/hygiene-what-i-sanitise/2025-11-09T09:00:00ZEighteen months in, the cleaning routine that has kept every batch safe so far, and the one fresh cheese that went in the bin anyway. Halloumi that melted and halloumi that squeakedhttps://sephoritu.com/posts/halloumi-melted-then-squeaked/2025-05-04T09:00:00ZTwo batches a week apart. The first slumped in the pan like mozzarella; the second held its shape and squeaked. The difference was pressing and the hot whey. A first feta in a jar of brine: too much salt, then too littlehttps://sephoritu.com/posts/first-feta-brine-salt/2025-01-12T09:00:00ZThree attempts at a feta-style cheese over the winter, and what the brine did to the texture each time: slimy at 12 per cent, mushy at 4, right at 8. Paneer and ricotta: the two cheeses that need nothinghttps://sephoritu.com/posts/paneer-and-ricotta-need-nothing/2024-09-08T09:00:00ZStarting with the cheeses that want only milk, heat and acid: four litres of milk, 60 ml of lemon juice, 640 g of paneer, and a lesson about which milk to buy.