I wanted to see how much cheese I could make with a gallon of raw milk which has been skimmed of cream, and make use of everything.   Using lemon juice instead of rennet or Apple Cider vinegar makes a very pleasant, drinkable whey beverage, so nothing goes to waste from this gallon of milk.  Usually our whey I make soup with or we feed to the pigs so it is not wasted anyway, but during times of low milk production it is good to be able to use everything.

If you are getting your raw milk in plastic jugs you should transfer it to half gallon glass mason jars so the cream can rise to the top and you can then ladle it off.  I usually get about two cups of cream off of a half gallon of raw milk.

Heat the skimmed milk to between 180 and 190 degrees.

Take milk off heat. For each cup of milk add  1/8 teaspoon of good sea salt. Add the salt now and stir it into the milk. For each cup of milk you have, slowly pour in one tablespoon of fresh lemon juice per cup.

Stir milk slowly a few times and let rest for about 5 min. for the whey to completely separate from the curds.

I heated the milk to 190 and next time I am going to lower the temperature to get a more ricotta type texture. Scoop out the curds into a colander lined with good cheese cloth. The cheesecloth available in craft stores must be folded over several times and will not hold up to washing like real cheesecloth.  I also love this plyban cheesecloth from Hoegger which is what I line my cheese mold with.

Add fresh rosemary, or any other fresh herbs, mix well and taste for salt.  I added more salt at this point and not before, because you do not want the whey to be too salty.

You do not have to mold the cheese at this point depending on how you want to use it, but I wanted a molded cheese. Line your mold with cheesecloth and fill with curds.

Press lightly and let rest for about 30 min, pull out and turn over and press lightly again.

The slightly salty, lemony whey tastes delicious when it is still warm, and very refreshing when cold. You can add some honey to it as well. I am working on a recipe to make Rivella like my husband grew up with in Holland.

Such an easy and delicious way to use up skim raw milk.

Heat skim milk to 180 to 190.

For every cup of milk:

one tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/8 teaspoon sea salt