Cheese Making Tools – From $0 Up

Think before you spend – Do you already have it?

We will introduce the common basic cheese making tools in this post. Before we get into the list of items to assist with cheese making at home, it is important to note that you can start making your own cheese with little to no investment at all. This is the best place to start, the tutorial for this can be found on the menu to the right ” How to Make Cheese at Home: A Simple Guide – Save $$ ” If you don’t have a cheesecloth, you can buy one for as little as $5 online. That is really all you should need to buy.

The next point is that almost everything I am going to list here can be substituted for items already present in your home and kitchen. So think hard before you spend twice ! A great example is a cheese press, there are many seasoned amateurs who simply use a weight that fits on top of cheese in it’s place.

Cheese Making Tools for the Beginner

This blog is intended for the everyday person and as such I am only going to focus on the most useful and affordable cheese making tools available. Remember to use your imagination where you can, improvisation can do the job just as well in many cases and often save you time and money !

Cheese Making Tool#1

Cheese Pot

  • Or put more simply: ” a stainless steel pot”. Sound familiar? Of course it does ! Every kitchen should have one. A simple non-reactive stainless steel pot will work. Chances are you won’t need to buy another one. The only factor regarding the pot is the size, don’t make more than your pot can handle!

Cheese Making Tool#2

Thermometers

  • Most recipes only required that the milk be brought to boiling temperature, so in most cases you won’t need one. It can of course be helpful to have one, and will come in hand for all sorts of other cooking adventures. So at around $5 – $10, it is probably worth buying if you don’t already have one.

Cheese Making Tool#3

Measuring Cup & Spoons

  • Most of us will have one of these sets, or at least a “drinking bottle” with measurement marks on the side of it. Very cheap to come by. A good point is that it is not hard to convert grams to litres and electronic kitchen scales today are quite cheap and more useful than their older style measuring counterparts.

Cheese Making Tool#4

Stainless Steel Skimmer

  • Most of us have one of these in our drawers. If you don’t have one and don’t want to spend $5-$10 on a new one, you can always find an old large spooner and poke holes in it – perfect for draining the cheese as you take it out ! You’ll find plenty of Skimmers here for under $20 delivered.
cheese making tool - stainless steel skimmer

Cheese Making Tool#5

Curd Knife

  • My advice here is to simply stick with any large knife that you have and be careful not to scrape the bottom of the pot, curd knifes are rounded at the bottom to prevent this from happening. if you move onto making large batches of cheese, a curd knife may be worth the investment of $20 + new. It’s probably worth looking for a second hand one, if you don’t have the time and want one delivered, check here on Amazon.
cheese making tool - curd knife

Cheese Making Tool#6

Cheese cloth

  • Probably the only item a beginner cheese maker will actually need. Cheesecloths are cheap and well worth the money. If you don’t have one you will likely need to get one. Remember it won’t cost you much to buy a larger size than you need, it is better to have more than not enough cheesecloth in my experience. They can also be used for making Yoghurt and other Dairy products. Many different types of cheesecloths can be found here on Amazon.
cheese cloth tool

Cheese Making Tool#7

Colander

  • It’s likely you’ll have a colander in your kitchen at home. If not, cheap plastic colanders can be bought from the store for a mere $5. I recommend going with a better quality steel one where possible. Often you can find people selling these items second hand – you can get a good deal and they will work like new !
colander cheese making tool

Conclusion

Hopefully you’ve come to the same realization as myself that cheese-making is more about the time, will and patience than spending big bucks on machinery. I hope you found this brief summary of tools helpful and enjoy the many benefits that come from making your own cheese at home. It can be really rewarding!

There are of course more tools for the more advanced and you will find loads more info on the topic online. My advice is not to get overly invested to begin with. Cheese-making is an art that some of us will enjoy for many years and some not. Start by getting your feet wet and go up from there.

All the best with you cheese-making journey !