Easy Cheese | Chickens in the Road

Feb
15

Queso Fresco (translation: Fresh Cheese) is a Mexican-style cheese that is pressed but eaten fresh, without aging. If you’re just getting into hard cheeses, it’s a good one to make to try out your press. It’s a soft, moist cheese that can be cut or crumbled. It will melt, so it can be used in various Mexican dishes such as enchiladas or stuffed jalapenos, and also used on top of pizzas and so on. I made this one with about 1/4 cup of chopped peppers added just before transferring the curds to the press. You could add herbs, or whatever you wanted. Since it’s not aged, you don’t have to worry about your additions creating a pathway to mold and are free to be as creative as you want with it. It makes a really pretty and versatile cheese. I’d cut into this one to show you the texture, but I’m planning to give it to my cousin, so I’d better leave it alone! (I use the recipe from New England Cheesemaking. If there’s interest, I can talk to them about doing a post about Queso Fresco with the recipe and tutorial sometime soon. Even though it’s not technically a hard cheese and it’s not aged, the process is similar–only you get to eat it right away!)

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29 Responses
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2-15
11:44
am

Sounds yummy.

Louise

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2-15
11:53
am

I am enjoying these cheese posts. Would it be possible to include in the pictures something that would help me to know how physically large these are?

Larry Eiss

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2-15
11:54
am

There definintly is an interest! I guess I’m like you before you started making the cheeses. I watch and learn and think..”I would love to but?” Maybe with enough tutorials I will attempt it. I know for me that I am a very visual learner, the tutorial really help!

Margaret Diggs

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2-15
12:05
pm

Larry, it’s a 2 pound cheese. It’s about 4 inches across and 3 inches high. (It’s pressed in the 2 pound hard cheese mold from NEC.)

Suzanne McMinn

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2-15
12:12
pm

Sounds great! Ya’ll are providing great info for us cheese maker wanna-bees.

Ramona

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2-15
12:16
pm

Reading these cheese posts are making me hungry. Cheese is one of my favorite foods.

Julia

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2-15
1:18
pm

I would love more information on how to make this cheese! This looks delicious.

Kim

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2-15
1:42
pm

Suzanne, Thank you, all of my cheeses are fresh as I STILL don’t have a cave. This is wonderful.

holstein woman

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2-15
2:41
pm

I got my mother a New England Cheesemaking kit for Christmas and she’s been determined to master soft cheeses before moving onto hard cheese, so I think this would be a wonderful transition between the two.

Hamp Girl

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2-15
3:01
pm

Oh, YES!! We want to know more about queso fresco!

It simply HAS to be better for some of us to practice on something we can eat sooner rather than wait a year to discover if we have done it right, then wait another year to find out if we fixed the problem!! (I might not live long enough to get some really good cheese that way!)

Pete

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2-15
3:30
pm

Count me in . Would love to hear more about this cheese…..please.

Gail

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2-15
3:31
pm

I would love the recipe. I have goats. Will it work with goat milk? Although I can get cow milk from a friend if not. It really looks good.

Kris Sherrill

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2-15
4:38
pm

I would like a tutorial on this cheese.

proudmary

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2-15
5:09
pm

OMG – you were reading my mind. I had an insomnia attack the other night and since we don’t have cable my choices were infomercials, politicians talking or a cooking/travel show called “Mexico One Plate at a Time” and he made this cheese. I was thinking of you the whole time. That I and really wanted to make that cheese!

lilac wolf

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2-15
5:51
pm

I love Queso Fresco! I wonder, could you put cilantro in it?

prayingpup

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2-15
5:52
pm

prayingpup, you could put anything you want in it!

Suzanne McMinn

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2-15
6:23
pm

yes! please ask! I would also LOVE to know how to make homemade cottage cheese… LOVE LOVE LOVE cottage cheese, large curd is a MUST!

quietstorm

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2-15
6:38
pm

Interested, yes, ask!

wvhomecanner

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2-15
7:28
pm

It looks yummy!

claudia w

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2-15
7:55
pm

There is interest! Yes, please do a post on Queso Fresco

LisaAJB

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2-15
9:46
pm

Yes, I would love to know more.That is a cheese I could secretly make and put it in a dish before I had to tell anyone I made it.I have been telling my family I am going to try and make cheese. They are tired of hearing that. They are starting the eye rolling “yes Mom, you’ve told me” thing.

Suzanne..What is the easiest cheese to make with store bought milk?

Miss Judy

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2-15
9:57
pm

Yes, there is interest! When you write it please include directions for those of us who do not have access to raw milk. I usually use the drops of calcium cloride that New England sent with my hard cheese kit but I don’t know if Queso Fresco uses the same proportions.

Sarah Beth

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2-15
11:36
pm

I would love to see a full tutorial type of post on this. Or any other cheese weather it’s pressed, not pressed, aged or eaten straight out of the cheese cloth (I’m not admitting to any first hand knowledge about that last one, not denying it either.).

Heidi

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2-16
4:37
am

Please do see about posting a tutorial! I’d love to give this one a go. I’m all about “instant” gratification, LOL!

debi

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2-16
5:41
am

Yes please do a post on this cheese!

mary ellen

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2-16
9:20
am

How does this cheese compare in flavor to mozzarella?

Java Mama

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2-16
12:41
pm

Sounds yummy!! I’m always on the looking for new cheese to try, especially if it’s easy…and doens’t have to be aged forever. (Although I love hearing about the aged kind too, cause eventually I’ll try abunch of them, not just cheddar. LOL)

Deb

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2-21
11:50
am

What do you do after you take your Queso Fresco out of the mold? Fias Co. Farm says to air dry it overnight and then let it age in the fridge for a few days to a week. NEC doesn’t add this; have you tried it? I am getting ready to take my first batch of QF out of the mold in about an hour. Ole’!

mamajoseph

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2-21
1:42
pm

mamajoseph, I air dry it overnight then put it in the fridge in a baggie and use it.

Suzanne McMinn

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