Monday, January 12, 2009

Making Mozzarella

I've been trying my hand at making some simple cheeses lately and thought I'd share the experience. I watched a live demo over Thanksgiving weekend and decided it looked easy enough for me to do at home. There are a couple of special items needed to do this but as long as you have the right tools, it really is quite simple. I've now made two batches of mozzarella and a batch of ricotta (lasagna, anyone?). These are some pictures from the second batch of mozzarella.

First, I warmed some milk with citric acid added (this helps provide elasticity).



When it reached the proper temperature, I added rennet. This caused curds to form.



Once the curds have separated from the whey, the whey gets poured of and the curds are formed into a solid mass.





At this point, the whey goes back into the pot and the ball of curds goes back into the whey. It needs to be heated and stretched to form the cheese.



It starts out looking like this:



And ends up looking like this:



Now some salt is worked in.



When it's finished, it can be shaped into a ball, or pressed into a loaf shape, like I've done here.



And there you have it - fresh mozzarella!

6 comments:

  1. Mmmm! How long does it take to make a batch? How long does the mozza stay good - or did you eat it all right away :)?

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  2. It takes about 25-30 minutes to make, and since it's not aged, it only stays good for a few days. I think you could freeze it if you wanted it to last longer. Also, for reference, one gallon of milk made about a pound and a quarter of cheese, and I used plain old grocery store whole milk, since that's all that's available to me. It was still delicious, but like anything, I'm sure it's as good as the components you start with!

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  3. Yummmmmmy! I have always wanted to try to make my own cheese, but I have been a bit of a woos. :)

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  4. Wow, I am not having much luck with my cheese making - I'm determined not to let it beat me, however.

    That looks great!

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  5. Wow. Fresh mozzarella -- Nom!

    Where did you get the rennet?

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