Should I use Calcium Chloride?
What is it? Calcium chloride is a mineral solution often added to help with the coagulation of milk during cheese making and its use is optional.
It helps stabilise the curds making them easier to handle and helps prevent loss of butter fat giving you a better yield in your finished cheese. I use because it makes my cheese making much more pleasurable as I do not have to battle fragile curds that keep collapsing.
The calcium content of your curds also influences the characteristics of your finished cheese as the more calcium that is present in the curd during the making process, the more pliable, sliceable, and supple the finished cheese will be. A cheese that is low in calcium content tends to be crumbly and
breakable.
Most literature suggests you only need to add calcium chloride if you are using store bought milk. This is because refrigeration affects the calcium content of milk, and it is expected that store bought milk will not be as fresh as raw milk. But even high-quality raw milk that has been refrigerated for 24 hours will experience a change in mineral balance that will affect coagulation.
If you choose to use it, calcium chloride is always diluted and added at least 5 minutes before the rennet; it is never added afterwards, or the coagulation will be erratic and broken.
I also add it to brine solutions that I use to salt/soak Gouda and store feta in as along with acid itprevents the cheese disintegrating.