Q&A for How to Make Paneer (Indian Cheese)

It's normally printed on the milk carton or bottle. A fat content of 3.5% or greater is "full fat" or "whole" milk.

In Step 1, it states the milk should be warmed to 80 degrees Celsius or 176 degrees Fahrenheit.

It's cloth that is used as a filter to put your cheese in. Make sure that you use a lot of cloth, or else you'll have really leaky cheese.

Muslin is also suitable. You my even be able to use a clean cotton tea towel if it is thin enough.

Not really, it is not a type of cheese like cheddar or mozzarella. It is more like feta, but its more sweet than sour.

The drained curds can be salted before forming it into a block. For a gallon of milk, as per the above recipe, add a teaspoon of salt. Sprinkle it over the drained curds and mix evenly before continuing to wrap and form the cheese into a block.

White vinegar also works, instead of using lemon.

It would yield 500 g at best if the milk is not diluted.

You can't make paneer without these ingredients as they are the core ingredients in paneer.

When medium-sized bubbles begin to form, add in the lemon juice one teaspoon at a time. There are three teaspoons in a tablespoon.

Yes. Reconstitute the milk as directed and proceed. Powdered milk is usually nonfat, though, so the resulting paneer will be crumbly and not hold its shape well. It can still be used in recipes like paneer paratha.

Keep it refrigerated and use within a week. It can be frozen, but the quality will suffer.

Treat it like a perishable dairy product. Refrigerate and use it as quickly as you can. Frozen paneer is edible but unappealing.

Yes, you can add herbs or spices to the milk while making the Indian cheese.

You can if it has only spoiled recently. If it is already spoiled, then there is no need to add lemon juice or vinegar. If it's really spoiled, dispose of it.

Raw milk or unpasteurized milk is milk that has not been pasteurized, a process of heating liquid foods to kill pathogens for safe consumption and extending the shelf life. So by heating the milk you are pasteurizing the milk (to some degree).

If the liquid is properly drained, it can stay fresh for a week in the refrigerator. Further, you can freeze it for a month or two.

If you don't drain its liquid, it can quickly be contaminated by a fungus. All acidic substances are prone to it.