Queso Oaxaca

Queso Oaxaca is a Mexican cheese originating from the state of Oaxaca. This cheese is a popular product in Mexican cuisine.

The production method of this cheese is inspired by the Italian cheese mozzarella, which was brought to Mexico by Dominican monks in the 16th century.

Queso Oaxaca has a fibrous, layered texture, which is achieved through a special production process. It closely resembles mozzarella in its elasticity.

Starting the Preparation

If the milk is pasteurized or you are unsure of its quality, add calcium chloride before heating (0.2-0.4 g per 10 liters of milk).

Heat the milk (10 liters) to 34 degrees and turn off the heat.

Forming the Curd

Add thermophilic starter culture according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Sprinkle it over the surface, wait 3 minutes, and stir the milk.

Leave the milk for 3 hours.

Add rennet according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

First dissolve it in 50 ml of water, then pour this water into the milk while stirring well to ensure the rennet is evenly distributed throughout the milk. Stop the milk to prevent movement.

After 15 minutes, check the curd for a clean break. If it’s not ready, wait another 10 minutes and check again. Repeat until the curd is ready.

Forming the Curd Grains

Cut horizontally with a spacing of 2 centimeters.

After 5 minutes, cut diagonally with a spacing of 2 centimeters.

After 5 minutes, stir the grains with a whisk to make them smaller and more uniform.

Turn on slow heating and continue stirring with the whisk for 30 minutes without stopping. Heat to 38 degrees. If the milk reaches the desired temperature before half an hour has passed, turn off the heat and continue stirring for the remaining time.

Obtaining the Cheese Mass

Separate the whey from the curd grains by passing it through cheesecloth (do not discard the whey – it will be easier to maintain the cheese mass on it). Then wait for the whey to drain.

Next, remove the cheese mass from the cheesecloth and place it in a bowl. Place the bowl on a pot of whey so that the bottom of the bowl touches the whey (if there is not enough whey, add water). The temperature of the whey should be 38 degrees – if it is lower, heat it up.

Cover the bowl with the cheese mass with a lid and wait for 2 hours (after 1 hour, turn the cheese mass to ensure it matures evenly on all sides; if there is whey in the bowl, drain it into the pot). You can also cover the bowl with a blanket. During this time, the temperature of the whey should be 38 degrees, so you will need to periodically turn on the heating.

After 2 hours, drain the new whey from the bowl. And conduct a stretchability test.

For this, place a piece of cheese mass in water at a temperature of 75 degrees. Wait for it to heat up in the water (the water temperature may have decreased when the cheese was immersed, so you may need to add more hot water), then try to stretch it. The cheese should stretch well (becoming 10 times longer than its original size) and not break.

If it still breaks, hold the cheese mass in a water bath for another half hour and repeat the stretchability test.

Preheat the water to 75-80 degrees.

When the cheese mass is ready, cut it into strips 2 centimeters wide. Then cut the strips into cubes. Place the resulting cubes in a pot.

The pot with whey is no longer needed. However, if desired, you can later make ricotta from the whey (or instead of water for stretching, you can use whey, heating it to 75 degrees).

Forming Cheese Threads

Put on thick gloves and then rubber ones over them.

Pour some hot water into the pot with the cheese cubes, and stir the cubes with a spoon to heat them. The water cools quickly, so periodically pour some of the whey back into the pot with hot water, and add new hot water in its place.

Continue stirring until all the cheese cubes stick together into one mass.

When the cheese mass is ready, check that it stretches well. Then start stretching it, folding it in half or thirds (to the size it was before stretching) and putting it back for heating. This is necessary to achieve the layering of the cheese. We do this about 40 times.

Prepare a pot of cold water.

Make a hole in the middle of the cheese mass, form a ring, and twist it so that part of the ring is in the hot water while the rest is on the surface (like in cheese string or burrata).

When the ring becomes significantly larger in diameter, fold it in half and continue twisting. You need to fold it in half 5-7 times. Then you can place the resulting long ring of cheese, folded many times, in cold water.

Forming the Cheese Ball

Tear the ring of cheese apart. Place the end of the resulting long thread in hot water to soften it, and then start winding the cheese thread into a ball.

While winding the softened part of the thread, place the next part of the cheese thread in hot water. Continue this until the entire thread is wound into a ball.

Hide the end of the thread in the ball, under the already wound thread.

Place the cheese balls in a 20% salt solution for curing.