Success!

As I discovered this morning, making farmer's cheese is a piece of cake. After boiling the milk, stirring in a teaspoon of salt, adding 3 tablespoons of white wine vinegar (there were no lemons to be found), and pouring the strange looking curds into the corner of a white pillow case (no cheesecloth, either), I pushed out the whey and left the bundle tied up with twine over the sink.

It drained overnight, and in the morning I pushed out the dry curds into a Pyrex custard cup. The soft cheese molded easily into a mozzarella-esque ball and plopped upside down onto a plate. Topped with a sprig of rosemary, it looked almost too pretty to eat—until of course, the weekly bread came out of the oven. and I slathered on a slab.

FARMER'S CHEESE: revised recipe

Pour 1 gallon milk into a large pot. Stir in two teaspoons salt. Bring to a boil over a medium flame, stirring occasionally. When the milk comes to a boil, turn off the heat. Stir in the juice of one large lemon or 2-3 tablespoons white wine vinegar. The milk will curdle within 5-10 minutes. Line a colander with cheesecloth (or, in a pinch, a white pillow case), and pour the milk through. Gather the cloth around the curds and squeeze out as much whey as possible. Tie curds into cheesecloth and hang over a large pot to drain for 4-12 hours. Spice as desired; eat fresh.