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clabber culture for cheesemaking

How To Start And Maintain A Clabber Culture For Cheesemaking

Learning how to make a clabber culture for cheesemaking is simple and easy.  A clabber culture is the same for cheesemaking as a sourdough starter is for bread making. It’s also made in a very similar way to a sourdough starter.  Cheese making started out as a way of preserving milk especially when there is an over abundance of milk.  Learning to make cheese the old-fashioned way will not only give you the best tasting cheese, but a feeling of satisfaction as you learn how to make cheese using traditional methods.  
Prep Time 1 day
Cook Time 20 minutes
Additional Time 2 hours
Total Time 1 day 2 hours 20 minutes
Serving Size 2 cups

Ingredients

  • 1.5 cups Raw milk
  • 1 tablespoon Clabber culture

Instructions

  • 1. Place ½ cup of raw milk into a pint jar.  Cover loosely with a cloth and rubber band or leave a lid just setting on the jar. Let it set out at room temperature until coagulated.  This can take 2 or 3 days the first time.
  • 2. Once coagulated, take 1 Tablespoon of the clabber and add it to a clean jar.  Feed it 1 cup of milk (can be raw or pasteurized) and stir gently.  Cover loosely and allow it to set out at room temperature until it coagulates.  This might happen in as little as 24 hours this time.  Put the discard from the first feeding in the refrigerator and use in cooking or baking.
  • 3. Repeat step 2 until the clabber culture has been fed at least 5 times.  Then it should be strong enough to use in cheesemaking.  Of course, the more times you feed it, the stronger it will be.

Notes

Tips For Making Your Own Homemade Clabber Culture

Just like a sourdough starter must be well fed and healthy in order to make good bread, a clabber culture must also be well cared for in order to make good cheese.  If your clabber culture tastes yeasty, sour or has an off taste, your cheese will taste the same.  Take good care of your clabber culture and it will make the best tasting cheese.
Similar to how sourdough rises and falls, your clabber culture follows of cycle of fermentation and coagulation.  The difference is that your clabber culture doesn’t rise like sourdough does, so it can be harder to tell where it’s at in it’s cycle.  You’ll know it’s at it’s peak in the cycle when it has coagulated, but there are no bubbles forming on the inside of the jar.  
I like to keep my clabber culture in a glass jar, so I can easily see what it is doing.   If you see bubbles forming, or if it has started to separate into curds and whey, you’ll know it is past it’s peak and is starting to overferment.  It is still perfectly fine at this point, but not a good candidate for cheese making.  It needs to be fed once or twice until it develops a healthy fermentation cycle, and then it will be ready to be used for making cheese.
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