I read Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and in it is a recipe for 30 Minute Mozzerella.
It's really easy. In fact, the hardest part was finding the ingredients.
Citric acid: I found at Vitamin Cottage
Rennet (vegetarian): I found in Whole Foods, in the string cheese section.
Milk: Anywhere really. If you have access to raw, I hear that's best.
Then you follow the instructions.
After adding the citric acid, the milk starts to curdle:
After the rennet, it looks like cottage cheese:
After draining off the whey:
Kneading:
And stretching (note how rough it looks here):
And the really hot stretching (it gets a lot smoother and shinier):
After this, I cut it into pieces and used it in calzones, and shared it with Yummy, who declared it tasted just like string cheese, and ate some myself. Then I realized I had none left, so I went to the store and got some more milk. The second batch I cut into pieces and marinated in olive oil and crushed chilis.
I probably should be a bit concernaed about consuming 3 gallons of milk's worth of cheese, but surprisingly I'm not.
Where are those tomatoes? And my basil?
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I'm interested to know how the cost of doing it this way compares to buying the finished product at the store - whole foods or otherwise. Care to elaborate?
ReplyDeleteWell, did it taste better??? lol!
ReplyDeleteI'd be interested in cost too. I read that book last year and thought it was very good.
This looks fun. I have a recipe for homemade ricotta as well, though I've yet to make it. I'll definitely try the mozzarella.
ReplyDeleteSince I've been buying milk like there's a cow shortage, I'm going to say yes on the taste factor.
ReplyDeleteThe rennet was $5.00
The Citric acid was $7.00
I'll grossly estimate I use a dollar's worth (probably less) of these per batch.
Then the cost is whatever gallon of milk you buy. I can get conventional milk for $1.68, or organic for $4.99.
Oh, that is awesome. This is now on my "things to try" list.
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