My great-grandmother brought this recipe with her from Lebanon. I have been making Jibin since I was about 10. It is a great snack cheese and is very simple to make. It is great on salads or just plain, with a sprinkling of salt. It never lasts long around our house! I made this batch for my back doctor, who is also Arabic. The recipe I have written out below is for one gallon, but you can easily increase the recipe by simply increasing the amount of milk. The rennet, water and time stay the same. That is one of reasons it is so simple to make. The same amount of rennet will do from 1/2 a gallon to 2 gallons.
Heat a gallon of milk to 120 degrees, or until you can stir your finger around in it three times and it feels just slightly too warm to be comfortable.
Stir 1/2 tsp. liquid rennet into a 1/4 c. cold water. (I used a 1/3 of cup this time...no reason, that's just what I happened to measure out...it isn't important to be exact on the water because you will just drain it off later with the whey.)
Stir into milk gently, but thoroughly and let set for five minutes
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At the end of five minutes, stir gently with a wooden or plastic spoon. Curds will have already formed. Wait another five minutes and stir again, then let sit for 35 minutes.
After the 35 minutes, stir gently to break up the curds.
Pour into a colander lined with cheese cloth(I am not using cheese cloth, but it is similar...I don't know what this material is called or where I got it, you can get cheesecloth at most grocery stores, use a double layer) and let sit for ten minutes.
After the ten minutes, flip over and let set another ten minutes. During this time you can press gently on the ball of cheese to remove an excess whey. Cheese should still be slightly rubbery. It may be more or less than the twenty minutes depending on how big or small of a batch you are making.
When the cheese is finished draining, rub with Kosher salt on both sides(you can use sea salt, but Kosher taste better in my opinion), place in a sealed container and store in the refrigerator. My great-grandmother covered it in water to store it, but I personally prefer not to do that. I find it tends to make the cheese mushy.
Now your delicious Jibin is ready to eat!
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