I enjoy Mexican food, especially eating out, but I don't know if the cheeses are acceptable.  There are lots of different kinds of Mexican cheeses and some of them are similar to more familiar cheeses, but I would rather not assume that it is ok or it is not ok just because it looks like mozzarella or feta or parmesan.    

Ideas, suggestions?  

A couple years ago I looked into Mexican cheeses as mozerella substitues. There are some that are fresh cheeses and acceptable, others are fresh but have 'bad' ingredients and some are non-fresh cheeses. Without knowing the source you realy just don't know. One way to handle it would be to only have them once in a great while, like any other avoid.

I too am weary of the binders used during production....
go for the those exclusively on your list.

I'd heard that panela is like ricotta, and the ingredients looked good, but it was more like mozzarella, so I only had one bite (mozzarella is a black dot for me).  They are easy to find in a regular grocer, where even the cottage and ricotta cheeses have avoids/toxins, so I was hoping they might work.  If I try another type, I'll report back on it.  Most of them that I looked at would probably be a whole lot better than Cheddar or American, but they don't seem to be superfoods.

I prefer homemade farmer's, but need to figure out some way to get the milk to boil faster!

How do you make homemade Farmer's cheese ??

Quoted Text

I prefer homemade farmer's, but need to figure out some way to get the milk to boil faster!

yes, how do you do it??
inquiring minds want to know!

Quoted from Melissa_J

I prefer homemade farmer's, but need to figure out some way to get the milk to boil faster!

Farmer's, farmer's... Yes, I have wondered what farmer's cheese is.  I've never seen it in the store, but it appears that you make it yourself?  Please, how do you do it?  

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Home-Made-Farmers-Cheese/Detail.aspx

Basically, just get the milk to barely start to boil (which takes a good long while), then turn off the heat and add the acid (lemon juice is my choice).  Let it sit and curdle, then drain off the whey.  Some recipes cook it at the almost boiling stage for a few minutes, which makes it more like paneer, and you can hang it in a cloth to get all the whey out and get a more solid cheese.

I'm looking for a 1 gallon double boiler to hopefully speed up the milk heating without scalding it.  So far all I've found is a 2 gallon (8 qt) one, and smaller 2 qt ones.

thanks Melissa!
I guess all our allowed dairy have somewhat the same process!

Yes, I think it can also be cultured to build up the necessary acid, but I'm not quite there yet.

Quoted from Melissa_J

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Home-Made-Farmers-Cheese/Detail.aspx

Basically, just get the milk to barely start to boil (which takes a good long while), then turn off the heat and add the acid (lemon juice is my choice).  Let it sit and curdle, then drain off the whey.  Some recipes cook it at the almost boiling stage for a few minutes, which makes it more like paneer, and you can hang it in a cloth to get all the whey out and get a more solid cheese.

I'm looking for a 1 gallon double boiler to hopefully speed up the milk heating without scalding it.  So far all I've found is a 2 gallon (8 qt) one, and smaller 2 qt ones.

Thank-you, Melissa, for posting the cheese recipe.

so, Lola, have you hooked up with any health food centers down there in mexico?

no I haven t, cause there s no health food center catering to my needs, like in compliance and knowing how to read labels and knowing about one size fit all publicity and so on.

all health food stores down here are not specialized,and do sell a lot of junk, so why bother......I have learned to cook from scratch, cause scratch is what I can get for sure!