Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Making Mozzarella Cheese

I've been wanting to make cheese for quite some time and finally had the ingredients and the time.  Although it doesn't take much of either.  I got a kit from Roaring Brook Dairy.  You can also buy the ingredients at most supermarkets.  The milk came from Snowville Creamery.  There are a few things I would have done differently and the mess I made was really unnecessary.  But next time I will know better.


Heating the milk to 85 degrees.


After adding the rennet and citric acid.


Draining the whey.


More draining and kneading.


Shaping.


Prosciutto...yummmmmm!
                                           


2 comments:

  1. ooh, that looks SO good! Especially the prosciutto. I have the rennet and the citric acid, need to get myself a decent thermometer and just get it done!
    So what would you have done differently?

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  2. I didn't have a good slotted spoon. I've never had a slotted spoon and never really needed one. I guess I do now. I work at Wassertrom so you would think I would have one. I didn't take the instructions seriously when it stated that the water needs to be chlorine free until 5 minutes before I wanted to make it. So I ran to the gas station and bought a bottle of water.
    But my biggest mistake is that when I was heating the milk I turned the heat up instead of down. I realized this before it was too late, but the milk heated up very fast. I didn't get as much cheese as I thought I would. I wonder if the curds didn't have time to develop as fully because of this?
    If you want to borrow a thermometer let me know. I scraped the candy thermometer that is in the picture and used my digital one. I love it, but it doesn't clip to the side. And like I said, I work at Wasserstrom...I sell thermometers all day long. The Source at the North Market is a Wassertrom store. If you need something they might have something there or could get you something. The manager, Roxane is very helpful.

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