Feta cheese is one of those homemade creations that can prove to be a bit tricky. No matter how many times we’ve made it, it’s slightly different almost every time. This is the beauty of homemade creations though, we just put it down to the ‘artisan effect’. Whether you are a seasoned professional feta maker or just getting started, below are some tips and tricks that might help along the way.

Milk

The first factor for feta cheese making is the milk. Traditionally feta is made with goat’s or sheep’s milk. The goat’s milk gives a harder texture and milky flavour but can be a little temperamental and require more rennet to get a firm curd. The sheep milk gives a rich, buttery flavour and forms a curd well. These can be hard to find unless you have a good health food store nearby, so cow’s milk is a great substitute. Cow’s milk tends to go slightly more slimy/mushy but with the below tips you will be on your way to success in no time.

Texture

Texture – this is the make or break point with feta. You get all excited about pulling your homemade feta out of its brine and …. it’s so slimy it slips right through your fingers with a plop into the container. Slimy feta is caused by the calcium in the feta leeching out into the brine. The leaching is caused by two possible reasons.

- The brine solution has a lower calcium level than the feta

- The cheese acidity is higher than the brine solution

Both issues are fixed by adding either calcium chloride or acidity (white vinegar) to the brine solution. With cheese making it can take some trial and error to get the perfect result. We recommend first starting with 1mL of calcium chloride into your brine solution to see if this helps. If you’re still not seeing the desired results, try adding 1 tsp of white vinegar instead of the ½ tsp that is in the How to Guide. Also, get in touch with us if you need any further assistance, we’re here to help!

If you prefer dry feta for using in salads, there are some easy changes you can make to help reduce the moisture content in your cheese.

- Cut smaller cubes when cutting the curd (step 3 Mad Millie recipe), the bigger surface area of the curds the more whey that can escape from the curd and the drier your cheese.

- Stir the curds for longer (step 4 Mad Millie recipe), the stirring helps remove more whey from the curds.

- Drain the feta for longer (steps 5 and 6 Mad Millie recipe). To start, increase step 5 to 6 hours and step 6 to 18 hours. Keep trialling different times until you get your perfect texture.

- Leave it in the brine for longer, the salt content of the brine will draw more moisture out of the feta.

Brine

If you want your feta really dry you might consider not even making a brine. While brining feta is the more traditional approach it doesn’t necessarily mean it will give the product you want. For dry feta try tossing your feta blocks in 1 Tbsp salt per 1 L (1 US qt) of milk used in the recipe. Seal the feta in an airtight container and refrigerate. The extra salt will leech out the moisture, pour this moisture out of the bag over the first 5 days so you don’t end up with a half slimy, half dry feta. The salt will also add significantly to the flavour. Rinsing the feta before you use it is an option, but we recommend you taste it first as you might find it’s the perfect flavour for you.

Another way to use your feta is to whip it! Whether your feta has the perfect texture or not it can always be whipped into deliciousness. This is one of our favourites as it can quickly turn a slightly disappointing slime block into a divine creation that we happily eat by the spoonful.

Add 250 g (9 oz) of Mad Millie Feta into a blender.

Add 100 g (3.5 oz) of Mad Millie Cream Cheese (or store-bought if you don’t have any homemade) to the blender and whip until smooth. Enjoy!

Making your own cheese is all about trial and error, everyone must have some failures to really appreciate the wins. Even if you’ve only had success every time (which we hope you have), we recommend you try some of the above options to figure out what works best for you. You might decide your favourite feta is actually the slimy whipped variety after all. And if you still have any questions or issues just ask us, we’re here to help you with your cheese making journey!