Hi, I'm Tricia, a California organic gardener.
When it's raining outside and my garden has gone to sleep for the winter,
it's a great time to make cheese!
Today we're gonna make mozzarella cheese from this kit.
The kit contains everything you need to make either ricotta or mozzarella cheese, except the milk.
cheese salt
citric acid
vegetable based rennet tabs
thermometer
and the cheese cloth.
As far as utensils go, you'll need a microwave safe bowl,
colander, long knife, a slotted spoon,
measuring cup and spoons, and a large non-aluminum pot.
Before heating the milk, I'm going to add one and a half teaspoons of citric acid to one cup of water.
It's important to use non-chlorinated water. If you have city water, use bottled water instead.
We're also going to mix one quarter of a rennet tablet and a quarter of a cup of cool, non-chlorinated water.
For the best cheese, use the best milk, and use non-ultra pasteurized milk.
And for freshness get it from a local source.
I'm just going to add the citric acid mix to the milk.
I'm going to heat the milk to 90 degrees.
Stir constantly to prevent the milk from burning. Burned milk will make burned tasting cheese!
Okay, 90 degrees... that didn't take long!
We're going to slowly pour the rennet solution into the milk, and then we want to stir from top to bottom.
Set the pot aside, covered, for about 5 minutes to let the curds set.
When it's done there should be clear separation between the curds and the whey.
The curds should be like a custard.
Take your long knife and reaching down all the way to the bottom of the pot,
cut vertical lines.
Cut your horizontals at an angle.
Move the curds and whey back over to the heat again,
and this time we are going to heat it to 105 degrees.
Gently move the curds around with your spoon while it heats.
When it reaches 105 degrees take it off the heat and continue to gently move the curds around.
Pour off the whey and ladle it into a microwave safe bowl.
Microwave for one minute.
We're going to take it out and drain off the rest of the whey.
Add one teaspoon of the cheese salt, and then fold the curds into one piece.
Back in the microwave, this time for 30 seconds.
Drain the whey again.
So you want to fold and stretch and the cheese needs to be at least 135 degrees in order to really start stretching.
I think this one might need to go back in for another 30 seconds.
Oh, that last 30 seconds did the trick!
Now as I fold it, it really looks stretchy.
You want it to look kind of like taffy.
You want to keep stretching until it's shiny and smooth.
The more you stretch the firmer your cheese will be,
and you can drain off the excess whey while you're working the cheese.
Now I'm ready to form it in any shape I'd like.
I'm going to make a cheese log and I'm going to add some dried herbs.
I'm just going to sprinkle the herbs onto the cheese,
and then roll it up into a log.
So to make it hold its shape we're gonna give it a couple of water baths.
The first one we're going to dip it into a 50 degree cool water bath for about 5 minutes
and then transfer it into ice water for 15 minutes.
And if you want to get more creative with your cheese making,
I suggest the "Home Dairy" with Ashley English.
This has a lot of great recipes for unique cheeses.
Say cheese!
And Grow Organic for Life!