Candi's Corner: Wanderlust and Passions

Cindy Ruth of Slow Travel, suggested using Ricki Carroll's book Home Cheese Making, to start making an assigned cheese every month, and post about it in our blogs on the last Wednesday of the month.

Even though I have never made cheese before, this sounded like a great idea to me. And I was reading more about it, and it did not seem like an impossible task to accomplish. So I joined Curds Our Whey group for cheese making.

Cindy Ruth, did the leg work on finding out which cheeses to make, and the ingredients needed and made a list of that along with a suggestion on where to buy the supplies from. It could not have been any easier. Thanks Cindy Ruth for pulling the reins on that.

I ordered my cheese making supplies from New England Cheese Making Supply Company. I was surprised at how reasonably priced the supplies are, and it seems like everything I bought should last for a while, as the recipes call for very little amounts of the additives.

The first cheese challenge for Curds Our Whey was to make 30-minute Mozzarella with the following recipe from Home Cheese Making:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 level teaspoons citric acid dissolved in 1/2 cup cool water
1 gallon pasturized whole milk
1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon lipase powder,dissolved in 1/4 cup cool water and allowed to sit for 20 minutes, for a stronger flavor, optional
1/4 teaspoon liquid rennet(or 1/4 rennet tablet) diluted in 1/4 cup cool, unchlorinated water
1 teaspoon cheese salt(optional)

1. While stirring add the citric acid solution to the milk at 55 degrees F and mix thoroughly. (If using lipase, add it now.)
Note: You may use skim milk, but the yield will be lower and the cheese will be drier.If you use lipase, you may have to add a bit more rennet, as lipase makes the cheese softer.
2. Heat the milk to 90 degrees F over medium/low heat. (The milk will start to curdle.)
3. Gently stir in the diluted rennet with an up and down motion, while heating the milk to between 100-105 degrees. Turn off the heat. The curds should be pulling away from the sides of the pot; they are ready to scoop out (approximately 3 to 5 munutes for this.)
4. The curds will look like thick yogurt and have a bit of a shine to them, and the whey will be clear. If the whey is still milky white, wait a few more minutes.
5. Scoop out the curds with a slotted spoon and put into a 2-quart microwavable bowl. Press the curds gently with your hands, pouring off as much whey as possible. Reserve the whey.
6. Microwave the curds on HIGH for 1 minute. Drain off all excess whey. Gently fold the cheese over and over (as in kneading bread) with your hand or spoon. This distributes the heat evenly throughout the cheese, which will not stretch until it is too hot to touch (145 degrees inside the curd).
7. Microwave two more times for 35 seconds each; add salt to taste after the second time. After each heating, knead again to distribute the heat.
8. Knead quickly until it is smooth and elastic. When the cheese stretches like taffy, it is done. If the curds break instead of stretch, they are too cool and need to be reheated.
9. When the cheese is smooth and shiny, roll it into small balls and eat while warm. Or place them in a bowl of ice water for 1/2 hour to bring the inside temperature down rapidly; this will produce a consistent smooth texture throughout the cheese. Although best eaten fresh, if you must wait, cover and store in the refrigerator.
Yield: 3/4 to 1 pound.