Flashback…Making Mozzarella

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In honor of today being Official Cheese Lovers Day, I decided to rewind a bit and repost an oldie but goodie.

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Nearly two years ago, I got the urge to make my own mozzarella. I had seen posts from Jayne, The Barefoot Kitchen Witch, about making it, and I was intrigued. So, I did it. Now, I’m not a cheese making guru like Jayne, who has made umpteen kinds (I’m not THAT motivated), but I DID make this mozzarella and had great results.

I hope you will try it, and let me know what you think!

Homemade Mozzarella

Ingredients:

  • 1 gallon Pasteurized Milk
  • 1 1/2 tsp. Citric Acid, diluted in 1/4 cup cool bottled water (use ceramic or glass bowls)
  • 1/4 tsp. Liquid Rennet, diluted in another 1/4 cup cool bottled water
  • Salt to taste

Pour the milk into a big pot and put over low heat. I kept mine on level 2-3. It took several minutes to get it up to temp. Once the milk reaches 55 degrees, pour in the diluted citric acid and stir.

Keep stirring now and then until temp reaches 88 degrees. You’ll see that it is starting to curdle – this is good. At 88 degrees, add the liquid rennet and stir in an up and down fashion. Just keep doing this until the milk is 100 degrees, then turn off the heat. See all the curds? You want the liquid to be almost clear, so if it isn’t, just let it sit there for a couple of minutes.

At this point you want to use a slotted spoon to remove all of the curds from the whey. (Reminds you of Little Miss Muffet, doesn’t it?) I put all of my curds in a glass bowl with a pour edge, that made it easy to drain off the excess liquid. Put on rubber gloves as this gets hot. Now push and squeeze out as much of the liquid as you can.

Put the curds in the microwave for one minute. Take it out and squeeze and knead it some more, removing the excess liquid. Do this twice more, but microwave it for only 35 seconds these two times. Squeeze, knead, drain. You should now be able to pull and knead and stretch the cheese, so add salt to it as you knead – however much you want. If it doesn’t seem stretchy enough, just reheat it again and keep on going. When you can stretch it into a rope (like candy or taffy) – it’s done and ready to be rolled into little balls. You’re done!

I hope you’ll get the guts to try it yourself. Really kind of rewarding, if I do say so myself. Please let me know if you give it a go – I will surely want to see your results!

If you have any trouble at all finding some of the special ingredients, look no farther than MySpiceSage.com – they have a great selection of spices, of course, but they also sell rennet and citric acid! You’ll be all set!

HAPPY CHEESE LOVERS DAY!!

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