EVERYONE SHUT UP I just learned how to make LEGIT cheese powder from scratch, here's how:
Okay so for context, I'm a cheese-aholic from the US who moved to the Netherlands a couple years ago. There's several foods I've missed that I can't get here in Europe, whether it's due to banned ingredients or just a difference in the local cuisine. Regardless, I've learned to make almost everything I miss from scratch at home, and cheese powder is my latest triumph after much internet surfing and collecting different ideas, techniques, etc.
The Ingredients:
- 1 or 2 solid blocks of aged cheese (I went with parmesan and aged Gouda for this attempt but you can use cheddar, Monterey jack, literally any dry and/or hard cheese)
The Equipment:
- electric dehydrator (You can try the oven on a very low setting if you don't have a dehydrator, but I've heard it doesn't work quite as well)
- paper towels
- cheese slicer
- pizza roller
- coffee grinder (Could also use a food processor or mortar-and-pestle if that's all you have)
The Process:
It's actually pretty simple, all you have to do is slice the cheese thinly enough to where it doesn't take too long to dry out, as well as preventing it from getting leathery - we want it crunchy enough to grind. What I did after slicing was shred it completely with a pizza roller. This ensured the shreds were the exact thickness I wanted (you're gonna want to go for spaghetti-noodle thinness).
The reason why I didn't go for pre-shredded was because I didn't want all that non-caking extra stuff in my powder. You can try it to save on labor if you want, just know I have no clue how it will affect the outcome.
Once you got your cheese noodles you're gonna want to spread them out over the grating of your dehydrator in a thin layer. Make sure there's space between the pieces so air can get in and properly dry everything. If you have to stack several trays, definitely opt for that.
Now when you're setting up the dehydrator make sure you leave the bottom empty and line it with heat-safe material to catch drips, because there WILL be oil dripping from the cheese as it dries. Set your dehydrator to either its fruit leather setting or about 135-140°f (57-60°c). Let the bastard run for about 24-30 hours, checking every now and then to make sure nothing is burning or amiss. You're gonna see oil collecting on the pieces and dripping down, that's normal. Just make sure it's not getting on anything electric and you should be fine.
After about 24 hours you should see the cheese hardening into an actual uncooked-spaghetti-like texture. You want it brittle and snapping easily. Once that happens you're free to move to the next step.
Remove the dried cheese from the dehydrator (or oven) and lay it out on a layer of paper towels. Put more paper towels on top and press down to soak up as much oil as possible. The cheese might snap - that's okay, it's all getting ground to nothing anyway. The goal here is to just get every last bit of moisture you can possibly get off of the cheese to prevent sticking or spoiling later on. What I even did is lined a bowl with paper towels, put down some cheese, put another paper towel, a bit more cheese, on like that until I'd used it all. Then put one last towel on top and set another bowl of the same size inside to weigh it down. Leave that overnight because it's going to soak up another unbelievable amount of oil, lol.
Once that's done, you're free to grind the cheese down however you see fit! I only had a mortar-and-pestle on hand so my method was the most labor-intensive, but I've heard others have had success with using coffee grinders, food processors, etc. Store in a bag in a cool dry place.
And voila!! Cheese powder for homemade mac-n-cheese, cheesy popcorn, cheesy crackers, cheesy potatoes, and more. Use different types of cheese for different flavors! Trust that your ingredients are pure and ethically made! The possibilities are endless!
(Note: the amount of powder pictured is not accurate to a full block of cheese, don't worry. My arm is tired and I still haven't finished grinding so that's all I've got so far, lmao)