How to make cheese: Biology lesson at St Aidan's Anglican Girls' School
"The year 11 Biology students were very excited about National Science Week. Being a part of the activities brought a buzz to the school and lifted our cheese making activity (that was filmed) to a new level. Students are already asking about it for next year!" _ Sylvia Hicks | PAR - Biology, Science. St Aidan's Anglican Girls' School
Jessica Armitage
Year 11 Biology class
St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School
Who would have thought that cheese making required massive amounts of hand sanitizer?
Bacteria - the right bacteria found in rennet and Penicillium candidum - makes milk into cheese.
But only if it's not contaminated by the bacteria found in our daily lives, on our hands, faces, desks - bacteria is everywhere!
We learned this in a class about ... why milk goes off.... before we stared making cheese.
Cheese making was an extremely exciting experience.
We were forced to leave the warmth of our jumpers and enter a world full of unattractive hairnets, aprons and hand sanitiser.
This provided a sterile environment that would prevent contamination.
Before beginning cheese making we had mainly been focussing in class on pathogenic bacteria that can cause disease.
It was therefore very interesting to see firsthand how some bacteria that have not been contaminated can actually have a positive impact in the food making process. I mean they turned milk into cheese!
The process of cheese making required patience and accuracy when following the procedures.
First we had to pour milk into a container and place it into a water bath until it was 38oC.
I drove my group insane because I was paranoid the water level would get so high that it would spill into the milk.
It was also difficult to get the milk at the right temperature so we were constantly added and taking hot water from the water bath.
We then added a liquid started and a sprinkle of Penicillium candidum. Once it had ripened, rennet was added and then stirred.
After forty minutes, it was set and the curd was cut into 2cm cubes. I was in charge of the cutting even though I was apparently terrible at it.
It was like cutting jelly, quite amazingly super.
After it had rested we all began to gently rock our baby cheeses back and forth. It was quite cute. I was really excited when I got to stir with a massive spoon and watched with fascination as the cubes swam around the container. They were then placed into their maturing containers.
I was quick to volunteer a couple of days later when it came time to turn the cheese which we did using an excessive amount of hand sanitiser.
With the blue vein cheese, I got to poke lots of holes in it to allow for mould to grow inwards. The cheese also had to be turned to make sure the mould growth was evenly spread.
Once the cheeses were ready to be wrapped they actually looked amazing.
Try to imagine a perfectly round cheese covered in what looked like beautiful white snow. Oh, my gosh, it was super. We then wrapped the cheese as tightly as possible with silver paper and they were ready to go.
Overall this cheese making experience was so much fun.
I absolutely loved all the processes and then the beautiful product at the end.
