What milk can I use to make Cheese?

"Cheese making over the centuries has been done with milk from a variety of animals. Here in Australia, most people will be very familiar with cheeses made from cow’s milk and goat’s milk, but you can also make cheese from the milk of other dairy animals and it will depend on where you are in the world, as to what milks are most available to you." (Home Cheese Making in Australia, by Valerie Pearson)

The milk we have access to here in Australia is pasteurised. What temperature that milk is pasteurised as is important in cheese making. "We now commonly see HTST pasteurisation done at 74oC but above 75oC will start to damage the milk for cheese making. Most of the bacteria found in raw milk are killed at 72oC and most cheeses are made with milk pasteurised at this temperature. Pasteurisation at too higher temperature may damage the milk proteins and make it unsuitable for cheese making as the proteins are denatured; however, at 72oC to 74oC this damage is minimal.

UHT (Ultra Heat Treated) milk also known as long life milk:

Milk treated at an ultra-high temperature is unsuitable for most cheese making. The extreme heat treatment can denature the whey proteins and there interactions with k-casein, which prevents curd formation in cheese making. However, it is still very good for making yoghurt and some soft curd cheeses such as quark. As a general rule, UHT milk is not suitable for hard curd cheeses."

Excerpt From Home Cheese Making in Australia by Valerie Pearson

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