Learning how to use cheesecloth brings the enthusiasm of buying different types of cheesecloth if not the best cheesecloth grade. How we wish that this enthusiasm would last to the last piece of the cheesecloth. This isn’t always the case. Most people tend to use the cheesecloth for a few days and leave it collecting dust in the drawers. This happens when one doesn’t understand the different uses for cheesecloth. Essentially, cheese cloth is valuable piece that shouldn’t go to waste. This is one of the fabrics that has hundreds of uses and will always come in handy in almost all your recipes.
Cheese cloth are made of a light weight fabric. This fabric is commonly made of open-weave cotton. It’s the light fabric that makes it very friendly not only for kitchen use and outdoor uses. It’s food safe and doesn’t have negative health effects. The fact that it doesn’t change food flavor or color makes it very reliable in the kitchen.
What Are The Common Cheesecloth Uses?
1. Using Cheesecloth To Make Sachets At Home
Cheese making may be termed as the main cheesecloth use. Most chefs however use this fabric in diverse ways more often than making cheese. Cheese cloth may be used in making sachets. These can be herbs sachets or even tea bags. The fabric is strong and very efficient in making of aromatic sachets. The sachets can then be dropped in soup to give it the desired taste and aroma.
2. Pressing Tofu And Citrus Fruits Using Cheesecloth
Cheesecloth is commonly used to press tofu. It not only makes the process easy but also gives excellent results. More often than not, it is also used to wrap citrus fruits. It may also be used to press the fruits. Using the cheesecloth prevents seeds from entering into the fruit juice.
3. Making Homemade Stock
Making stock at home can be a little messy. Cheese cloth come in handy in the straining process. It not only keeps out the sediment but also the cloudiness that tends to settle at the bottom.
4. Slow Roasting Of Chicken Savior With Cheese Cloth
Roasted chicken is very tasty. Most people however complain of dry parts that give them a hard time. This is because most of the moisture is lost during the roasting process. Cheesecloth is used to trap the moisture while roasting the chicken.
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Important Tip On How to use cheesecloth to roast chicken
Soak your cheese cloth in neutral oil and drape it over the chicken or turkey meat. Roast the meat with the guarantee of soft tasty and moisturized finish. You may remove the cloth in the last roasting stage to achieve the crispy brown skin.
5. Bacon Fat Straining
We all aim at making the best of our ingredients in the kitchen. When deep frying your meat, the rendered grease/oil left over shouldn’t go to waste. The fats can be strained using a cheese cloth and stored in the freezer awaiting the next cooking expedition.
The cheesecloth will come in handy in removing the broken pieces of meat or bacon. Some are quite tiny and settle at the bottom of the pan as sediments. This calls for a specialized sieve and cheese cloth happens to be one.
6. Making Home-Made Greek Yogurt With Cheesecloth
Home-made yogurt is not only sweet but also very healthy. Having tasted the home-made dessert, you will have no interest in flavored store yogurt. Luckily, the introduction of cheesecloth makes it easy to make your yogurt at home.
You can comfortably use cheese cloth to strain yogurt that has cream-cheese thickness. This can be used with plain yogurt or Greek yogurt which have a thick consistency. The results will be breath taking.
How To Re-Use Your Cheesecloth
A single use isn’t enough to render your cheesecloth useless. Well maintained cheesecloth can be used multiple times without compromising on the quality. Here’s a guide on how to clean and re-use your cheesecloth.
- Ensure that you rinse it immediately after use.
- You can then wash the cloth by hand or using a washing machine.
- Only use mild detergents to wash the cheese cloth. Avoid fabric softeners.
- Rinse the cheesecloth thoroughly to ensure that no detergent is left in the fabric.
- You may use white vinegar or whey to remove stubborn curd.
- Once in a while, rinse the cloth in boiling water. This will disinfect it.
- Leave the cloth to dry. It should be hung in an area where air flows freely devoid of any dust or contamination.
- Fold it and store in a cool dry place in readiness for the next recipe.
Conclusion
Cheesecloth isn’t cheap and thus need to be used carefully. You will attest to the fact that you need to use several layers of the material to get the best result. This being the case, you may end up using several meters of the material for a single recipe.
In the long run, you may end up spending a lot of money on the cheesecloth. To avoid straining your budget, it would be a great idea learning hot to use cheesecloth and even better reusing your cheese cloth. We hope that the steps own how to use and re-use cheesecloth outlined here will help you save money by using the cheesecloth over and over. The used cheesecloth can then be used in one of the numerous cheesecloth uses in the farm.
Have fun in the kitchen!