How Does Making Cheese Work?

Making cheese is like turning milk into a kind of yogurt that can be hard or soft, depending on how we treat it.

Imagine you have a big cup of milk, and you want to make cheese out of it. First, you add something called rennet, which acts like a special helper that makes the milk start to thicken, kind of like when you mix flour and water to make dough.

After adding rennet, the milk starts to change. It separates into two parts: curds (which are like thick, soft clumps) and whey (which is the clear liquid that runs off). This is similar to when you make custard, some parts get thicker while others stay runny.

Once we have the curds, we press them together, just like squishing a sponge in your hands. The more we press, the harder the cheese becomes. Then, we shape it into blocks or wheels, depending on what kind of cheese we’re making, like cheddar or gouda.

Sometimes, we let the cheese sit for a while so it can age, which makes it taste stronger, just like how your favorite snack gets tastier after sitting in your lunch box all day.