Colombian Cheese & Suero [WIP]

Here’s the English translation of the recipe and introduction:

Hello everyone! Welcome once again to my YouTube channel, Sazón con Historia!

As always, every week I bring you super easy recipes to make at home with very affordable, but above all, delicious ingredients. Well, you know that I’m in England, and here in England, it’s very, very difficult to find products from my homeland, Colombia. So, I’ve managed to be resourceful and have tried to bring out all those teachings from my grandmother.

Today, we’re going to make a costeño cheese, but a very homemade one, and we’re also going to make costeño sour cream (suero costeño). Some ingredients I can’t find here, but others I can, so we’re going to make it the easiest way possible, but making sure it tastes authentic.

Before we start, I’d like you to please give me a like, comment, and share this video, and subscribe to my channel, which is free! But most importantly, don’t forget to activate the bell icon so YouTube notifies you every time I upload a new video. As always, the step-by-step instructions and ingredients will be in the description box. So, without further ado, if you want to know how to prepare homemade costeño sour cream and homemade costeño cheese, don’t go anywhere, because we’re starting now!

Homemade Costeño Cheese and Suero Costeño Recipe

Ingredients:

• Whole milk (high fat percentage)
• Vinegar
• Salt (for the cheese)

Equipment:

• Large pot
• Strainer
• Clean, thin-celled cloth (like cheesecloth or a clean kitchen towel)
• Container with indentations (optional, for draining cheese)
• Absorbent kitchen towel or paper towels
• Plastic wrap (for storage)

Instructions:

1. Prepare the Milk: The first thing you should know is that you need whole milk for both preparations, as we need a high fat percentage. In a large pot, add the milk, which should be at room temperature, and turn the heat to medium. You must stir constantly to prevent the milk from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
2. Heat the Milk: We’re going to wait for the milk to start steaming, but without letting it start to foam. If you have a thermometer, the temperature should reach 90 degrees Celsius (194°F). If you don’t have one, just observe the line between the milk and the pot. Many small bubbles will form there. That’s when the milk will be ready to add the vinegar.
3. Add Vinegar and Curdle: Immediately turn off the heat when you add the vinegar. The moment you add the vinegar, you’ll notice that the milk begins to separate from the whey due to the acidic effect of the vinegar. Five minutes later, you’ll see how the dairy part has compacted, creating a mass, which would be the cheese. At that moment, break up the cheese (curds) and let it rest for 30 minutes.
4. Separate Cheese from Whey: After 30 minutes, begin to separate the cheese from the whey using a strainer and a clean cloth with thin cells or pores to avoid wasting cheese. (I used two clean cloths).
5. Save the Whey (Optional): Look, friends, this is the whey. If you wish, you can save this whey to reuse it to make more cheese, or you can discard it, or make the famous spicy sauce for fried foods.
6. Press the Cheese: We’re going to squeeze the cheese as much as we can to remove all the excess liquid, but without leaving it too dry, because you’ll end up with hard cheese. Look, this is the texture I want to achieve.
7. Shape and Drain (Optional): Let the cheese rest in the cloth while you look for a container, preferably one with some indentations, so that any excess liquid remaining in the cheese can drain. (Look, I made this one by heating the tip of a knife, then washing it to remove any plastic residue). Place an absorbent kitchen towel on a plate, if you have one, and put the container with the cheese on top. This will help absorb the moisture.
8. About Costeño Cheese: Costeño cheese is a cheese made from bovine milk, usually unpasteurized, non-acidic, and with high salinity. It’s pressed, so its moisture percentage is low. Costeño cheese is one of the most traditional and widely used cheeses in Colombian gastronomy.
9. Season and Rest: Let the cheese rest for 5 minutes, then knead it and add the salt. Afterward, place it back in the container, press it a little with your hands, and finally, place another cloth or absorbent kitchen paper on top. Cover it and refrigerate for 24 hours.
10. The Role of Rennet (Informative Note): Normal and traditionally, cheese is made with rennet, which is a substance containing enzymes used to coagulate the casein in milk. Rennet can be of animal, vegetable, microbial, or genetic origin; in this case, synthetic or chemical.
11. Final Preparation: Place an absorbent towel over the entire surface of the cheese so that it absorbs any residual liquid.
12. The Big Reveal! And the moment of truth has arrived! Let’s see how our delicious homemade costeño cheese turned out. Uncover it, remove the paper, and gently detach it from the sides. Wow, it turned out super, super good! Let’s see. Place it on the plate. Look, look at this wonder! How delicious! Let’s cut a bit. Here, we’ll cut a little. And… Oh my God! You have to make it at home, friends, you have to make it at home! It turned out spectacular!
13. Storage: For preservation, if you have wax paper, you can wrap it in that. Otherwise, do as I did and cover it with plastic wrap. This cheese will last for 5 days as long as it’s refrigerated.

If you liked the video, don’t forget to subscribe to the channel, like, comment, and share! But most importantly, hit the bell icon and don’t miss our costeño sour cream recipe next week! This was Sazón con Historia, until next time!