Raw, Pepper Queso Fresco Cheese Recipe

My husband and I love pepper jack, but we don't have the space to store waxed cheeses. So we stick with queso fresco mostly. We decided to try making our own pepper queso fresco and it turned out delicious. The great thing about queso fresco is that you can eat it immediately.  This cheese is especially awesome on tacos, quesdillas and sandwiches. It is also fun to serve with crackers because of it's eye-catching colors.

Raw, Pepper Queso Fresco Recipe:

1. Heat whole milk to 90 degrees and add 1/4 tsp direct-set mesophilic starter or 8 oz prepared mesophilic starter. Stir in thoroughly.

2. Then add ½ tsp liquid rennet or ½ rennet tablet diluted in ¼ cup water. Stir (from top to bottom) for one minute

3. Set for 30 minutes or until a clean break occurs.

4. Cut curd into ¼ inch cubes.

5. Gradually heat curds to 95 degrees over 20 minutes, stirring gently every five minutes. Watch this step! Don’t overheat because your cheese will turn out like rubber (know this from personal experience).

6. Let curds set undisturbed another 5 minutes

7. Drain off whey then add 9 Tbl fine ground Celtic Sea Salt or cheese salt and mix well without beating the curd. Let sit covered for 30 minutes, .

8. Drain whey again, add 1 1/2 Tbl finely diced dried green bell pepper, and 1 1/2 Tbl of finely diced dried red bell pepper, and 1 Tbl dried hot red pepper flakes. You can adjust these amounts to your personal tastes, of course I would start with less rather than more. Mix well without beating the curd.

8. Line mold or cheese press with cheese cloth and put broken up curds into it.

9. Press at 35 lbs of pressure for 6 hours. Remove cheese from mold. 

Makes about 4 lbs of cheese.