LEMON BUTTERMILK EGGNOG

Buttermilk Transforms Eggnog & Pancakes

When making eggnog, swapping some of the milk with homemade buttermilk adds an awesome flavour! It's hard to control yourself with eggnog we know first hand, but if you have any leftover try using it in pancakes. Here are three recipes to get you sorted for the holidays: buttermilk, lemon buttermilk eggnog and eggnog pancakes....

Why is rennet so hard to find?

This is a question we get all the time.

Make Cheese Inc is trying  hard on your behalf to make it more convenient for you to find rennet locally.  We will be coming out with lists for other provinces soon! 

If you know of other locations, in other provinces, email us and we will add it to our master list. 

Here are known Alberta locations:

COMMUNITY NATURAL FOODS

Phone number: (403) 984-9893

1304 10 Ave SW

CALGARY, AB

COMMUNITY NATURAL FOODS

Phone number: (403) 984-9893

202-61 Ave SW

CALGARY, AB

COMMUNITY NATURAL FOODS

Phone number: (403) 984-9893

850 Crowfoot Crescent NW

CALGARY, AB

SPRINGBANK NATURAL CHEESES

Phone number: 1-800-661-2349

Phone number: (403) 282-8331

2015 14 Street N.W.

CALGARY, AB

SPRINGBANK NATURAL CHEESES

Phone number: 1-800-661-2349

Phone number: (403) 225-6040

#304 - 10816 Macleod Trail South

CALGARY, AB

ITALIAN CENTRE SHOP

Phone number: (780) 424-4869

EDMONTON, AB

10878 95 Street NW

HALFORDS

Phone number: 1-800-353-7864

EDMONTON, AB

8629 126^th Avenue

NUTTER'S BULK & NATURAL FOODS

Phone number: (403) 948-6354

AIRDRIE, AB

#102 - 400 Main Street NE

NUTTER'S BULK & NATURAL FOODS

Phone number: (403) 347-4211

RED DEER, AB

5250 22 Street

NUTTER'S BULK & NATURAL FOODS

Phone number: (403) 329-3100

LETHBRIDGE, AB

920 2A Avenue N

NUTTER'S BULK & NATURAL FOODS

Phone number: (403) 678-3335

CANMORE, AB

900 Railway Ave

NUTTER'S BULK & NATURAL FOODS

Phone number: (780) 875-4617

Lloydminister, AB

3106 50th Avenue

Let's get this straight, this is an easy recipe. But I bet we've all had one or two Caprese's that was sub par- a bit "meh". Pink tomatoes, dried basil and oil substitutions will do that to you.

When it comes to cheese, mozzarella is by far the most popular cheese to make for beginners and we think there are a two reasons for this:1) It’s fast! And 2) It’s relatable.

Let’s look at these two briefly.

What do we mean by fast?

Mozzarella (soft mozzarella) can be made in 1 hour, and when you get really good at it about 30 minutes. The instant gratification is like baking cookies. The instant gratification attracts people to mozza making. However let it be said here, with speed comes more action. Most types of cheese are made by heating milk, adding culture, waiting, adding rennet, waiting overnight, scooping the curd out and then more waiting. Slow and steady. A one-hour mozzarella is a hands-on cheese; there’s no letting up from start to finish. We rate it as a medium-high difficulty cheese. Heating, stirring, watching your temperature and finally the all important stretching part all happen within a short period of time-which for a beginner can be a shock. These are not words of warning, we have taught many beginner cheese makers to make mozza, it's just worth noting this one will take some practice.

What do we mean by a relatable cheese?

It’s a cheese we are familiar with; possibly pizza has something to do with this. It’s a cheese that has a certain, how shall we say, romance or ‘amore' "... when the moon hits our eyes."  The hands-on fun hands-on fun it offers us is pure food pleasure. Invite friends, possibly a bottle of wine, stretch curd, make shiny cheese balls all in an evening. You pull, knead, stretch and possibly cry out in pain as you knead hot curd.  Can life get much better then that?

So mozzarella continues to win over the hearts of beginner cheesemakers.  Let’s call it the ‘gateway cheese’ that leads beginners to make other types of slower cheeses. It can build your confidence to make new cheese types or teach you a valuable lesson that sometimes slower can be better. 

Simply put, Feta is a great first cheese to make.  The steps are a cinch and it has a high success rate, encouraging all you budding beginners.  That said because of it’s pleasing flavour profiles and common place at our table, this is an old standby even advanced cheese makers like to have around for the thousands of recipes it belongs in that we all know and love.

Traditional feta cheese from Greece is made from sheep or goats milk. In other parts of the world, where you are technically supposed to call it "feta-style" cheese, making it with cow's milk is common.

Whatever type of milk you favour, if you are looking for a cheese to start with look no further. The wait times and simple steps makes this easy to follow and hard to foul up. Remember, you milk quality is key we are looking for freshness above all for best results.

For tips to help you get you started, our friend Arwyn has done a great job of walking through our kit on his blog here or please watch a helpful support video on our youtube channel here.

Here is one of our current favourite salad recipes from the amazing Smitten Kitchen- a chopped salad with feta mint and lime, a bit diffrent from the upbiquitous Greek salad for you to try with your fresh first batch of feta.