Cheese Glue

The one really nasty part for me about making cheese is the clean-up. Not only are there a lot of pots, utensils, colanders, strainers, molds and cheesecloth... they are incredibly hard to clean if the whey or any of the bits of curd are allowed to dry on them.

Thus I began to wonder about the glue possibilities using cheese, and discovered cheese glue been around for centuries. In fact, casein (milk proteins mixed with lime) is known as the strongest natural glue! The Egyptians used it for furniture joints, and the Romans used it for gluing broken statuary back together.

There is, however, one caveat: Do not use it in damp places. Under prolonged dampness, the glue begins to soften, and smell like very ripe camembert. (It can become a liquid, smelly mess and seep out of the joints if enough moisture is present.)

As I understand it, the process of making cheese glue is very similar to making milk paint, but finding any real recipes proved hard. Some say to use the curd, others say to use the whey. Here's a man looking to make a cheese glue for violins.... and here's a recipe for a non-toxic glue from powdered milk.