My father, Bob Sr., was a chef, and mother, Carmen, is an Italian who can cook better than my dad. I grew up loving to cook and later working for my dad. I have cooked in restaurants featuring continental cuisine, steaks, Italian food, Mexican food, gourmet food and fast food. Being Italian, I love to cook. Living in a heavily concentrated dairy area like Wayne and Holmes counties in Ohio (home to Smith’s, a dairy operation, Smucker’s, and award-winning cheesemakers like Guiggisberg Cheese), I have always wanted to try to make make cheese.
Thanks to Ricki’s Cheesemaking Kit, which I purchased at Lehman’s in Kidron, Ohio, I was able to try my hand at cheesemaking. (We were at Lehman’s because they were part of the 2016 Wayne County Cupcake Tour. You can read more about that here.) The kit is for 30-minute mozzarella or ricotta. I decided I would make mozzarella. The kit contained everything I needed, except milk, to make the cheese. This was incredibly helpful, and when I purchased the kit, the cost was less than $25. Inside were instructions, a cheesecloth, a thermometer, citric acid, rennet and cheese salt. I priced these things separately online later, and the kit was definitely cheaper.
The instructions included in the package are easy to read, understand and follow, and Ricki’s website, cheesemaking.com, is even more helpful. The process starts with dissolving the rennet in some water and dissolving citric acid in some water (these are in two separate glasses/containers). The citric acid solution goes into the bottom of a pan, the milk is added, and you are off to the races.
The citric acid (and later the rennet, an enzyme) will help to curdle and coagulate the milk. Before the rennet can be added, the milk needs to be heated up to 90 degrees.
Once the temperature reaches 90 degrees, I added the rennet, stirred it in thoroughly, took it off the heat, covered the pot and let it stand for five minutes. If done properly, the milk forms a curd, the consistency of a pudding.
For my first try, the curd did not form as it should. I thought all was lost. But, remember I said the website is very helpful? It walked me through reheating the whey to a higher temperature and then letting it sit for 10 minutes. This is what it looked like before I stretched the mozzarella.
After scooping all the curds out of the whey and draining residual whey from the curds in a bowl, I heated them up in the microwave. Once the curds were heated, I began stretching the cheese out, and it looked good. I was so impressed with the information Ricki provides on her website.
Once stretched, I formed the mozzarella into a ball and dropped it in some cool water to bring down the temperature of the cheese. Next, I tossed the ball into ice water.
I was amazed that I made fresh mozzarella. It had a creamy, buttery taste. While the fresh cheese tasted good, it did not hold up very well when I made pizza.
I really enjoyed my first encounter with making mozzarella cheese. When I was finished, there was a lot of whey left over. I wondered what to do with it, and I found a recipe to make ricotta with whey, so I did it.
If you want to make your own cheese, I would recommend you try Ricki’s Cheesemaking kit (Amazon affiliate link). It comes with enough stuff to make 30 pounds. I was in the grocery store the other day and a six ounce ball of mozzarella was $4.99. Once you get the kit, the cost is your time and a gallon of milk. If you live near Lehman’s, you can buy the kit there and check everything else Lehman’s has to offer.
