Time to make cheese and prepare bread for tomorrow. Most of the work involves waiting - a perfectly good reason to create, stitch and sew. To make the cheese take a good quality, clean cloth and place in a bowl. Add 5500g to 1kg (1lb - 2.2lb) of natural, pot-set yoghurt and a little chilli salt. I use mineral rock salt and flakes of chilli made from drying our excess in the wood-fired oven last season. Once dried and crushed the flakes are added to the salt. This time I'm also adding dill (dried, about half a teaspoon). Mix gently then hang the cloth to drain over the bowl for 6-8 hours or overnight. After about 4 hours or so I take the cloth down, cut the cheese mix through the centre to turn the dry sides inwards, and the wetter middle to the outer and re-hang. The whey can be used in cooking or (in my view at least) collected and frozen over several cheese making days then defrosted and used to dip cotton fabric in readiness for eco-dyeing. Simply dip, drain and hang to dry. Back to the cheese ... it can be used like labna. We roll small balls in chopped herbs, drizzle with olive oil and store in the refrigerator. They are said to last up to two weeks like this ... but I wouldn't know about that.
