Making Mozzarella

It was another rainy day outside.  Perfect for cozy indoor kitchen project, and today we made a batch of mozzarella. We love making mozzarella, though don't do it often since we usually turn our gallon of milk into yogurt instead.  However, today there was a request for making cheese, and it was a treat! We like to use supplies from the New England Cheese Making Supply (which are available locally at Vincenzo's).  The 30-minute mozzarella works beautifully - all you need is a gallon of good non-pasteurized (or at least not ultra-high pasteurized) milk.  It's always a fun project to do with kids, since they can help with every step of the way, and the cheese is delicious and ready to eat in only half an hour.  For variety, we like to mold it into shapes, add herbs and spices, or just eat it plain, or with freshly ground pepper and fresh tomatoes & basil when the garden is in full swing.  I'm already dreaming of ripe juicy tomatoes warm off the vine...(while our greenhouse walls and cold frames are currently still covered with snow!)  To make your own cheese, just follow these steps below:

Easy Mozzarella at Home Recipe

Ingredients:

• 4 litres (1 gallon) whole milk 
• 1/4 rennet tablet + 1/4 cup cool (chlorine-free) water
• 2 tsp citric acid + 1 cup cool (chlorine-free) water
• 1/2 tsp cheese salt (or finely chopped herbs or sea salt)

1) Dissolve rennet table in 1/4 cup cool water (in glass jar or cup).
2) Dissolve citric acid in 1 cup cool water (in glass jar or cup).
3) Pour milk into large stainless steel pot and add citric acid solution.
4) Heat on low, stirring constantly until it reaches 90F (or 88F if using raw milk).
5) Remove from heat, then stir in the rennet solution carefully.
6) Cover with lid, and let sit on counter for 5 minutes (10 minutes if using raw milk).
7) Now check for curd - press back of hands carefully down on curd and you should see whey liquid clearly separating from the curd.
8) Cut curd into cubes using a long stainless steel knife (cut while curd is still in the pot).
9) Now reheat pot and bring to about 110F, continuously stirring while it heats.
10) Take off heat, continue stirring for a few minutes.
11) Then transfer the curd into a colander lined with cheesecloth, and let whey drip down into a stainless steel bowl or pot.  Gently press with a wooden spoon to press out all the whey.
12) Now heat whey in pot, or hot water in a new pot, until it reaches approx. 185F.
13) Remove from heat, put on rubber gloves (to help protect your hands from the heat) and dip your curd into the hot whey/water bath.  You can use a slotted stainless steel spoon for this as well. 
14) Allow curd to become soft, then stretch and fold it gently and repeatedly. 
15) Add cheese salt (add more or less to taste). 
16) Keep dipping and stretching curd, folding and pulling it until it becomes smooth and shiny. 
17) When you have it at desired consistency put curd into an ice water bath and it will hold it's shape.
18) Eat and enjoy!

Cheese Making!

We hosted one of our favourite workshops today - cheese making.  We have hosted several cheese making classes each year for quite a few years now, and still, each time the workshops fill up and new cheese makers are born.  During the workshop all participants get to make their own ball of fresh raw milk mozzarella from scratch, plus yogurt cheese, and we go over making live cultured yogurt, and all the great things to do with leftover whey.  Participants have gone on from here to make hard cheese, goat chevre, sheep mozzarella and more...this workshop is just the start to inspire confidence in the cheese making arts. 

Next on our personal cheese making to do list: try to make farmhouse cheddar and goat mozzarella.  The latest issue of Taproot Magazine also has some great recipes for making ghee, and kefir cream.  Yum!  We want to try it all.

Raw Milk and easy homemade yogurt

We were gifted with a surprise 2 litres of raw milk from a friend on a nearby farm (thank you Rosemary!) I was surprised to realize I had never tasted raw milk before in my life. The cream that rises to the top certainly is divine. It's currently illegal to sell raw milk in Ontario it's not that easy to come by (unless you find a farm family who will gift or barter it to you).

Many Ontarians will have heard about Michael Schmidt, the farmer from Grey County who tried numerous times to offer raw milk to his long list of customers who clamour for it. He set up a dairy co-op (Cow Share), with members "owning" their cow, while Schmidt housed, fed and milked them. Members would then be able to pick up their raw milk as necessary - a great arrangement, until the government caught up with him and shut that project down. He has been battling this out in the courts for years, even doing a hunger strike at one point to raise awareness about his cause and legalizing the sale of raw milk. When recently interviewed on CBC radio, he made a good point - we can purchase almost anything else in a raw state in the store (raw fruit, vegetables, meat, sushi, etc), not to mention cigarettes and alcohol (which have obvious health impacts), yet consumers aren't given the right to buy raw milk if they so choose. (see www.glencoltonfarms.com)

So we felt blessed by this unexpected gift of the precious raw milk. There are many theories about the health benefits of raw milk as well as other traditional foods (see, for example, www.raw-milk-facts.com). As we are not in the habit of drinking cow's milk, but do love to make homemade yogurt, I decided to make up a batch of yogurt last night. This morning, we had the richest, creamiest dense yogurt we've ever tasted! With canned peaches from last summer and homemade granola it was quite a breakfast treat, more like dessert really!

Here's the recipe (plus a few tips from my mom, who grew up on a largely self-sufficient farm in the 1950's). I'm going to attempt to make mozzarella with the remaining milk, something which is difficult to do with regular store-purchased milk as the high pasteurizing results in problems with cheesemaking (at least in the reading I've done, and the one dismall attempt at making mozzarella last year which resulted in something more like cottage cheese crumbs!). With the left-over cream I'm going to make butter.

Easy Dependable Yogurt (from Simply in Season)

4 cups (1 litre) raw or store-bought fresh milk
1/8 cup yogurt starter
1/4 cup honey or maple syrup (optional)
1 tsp vanilla (optional)
fresh fruit (optional)

1) Put milk in saucepan and scald by heating until tiny bubbles form on edges of the milk, but do not bring to a boil. Pour into another container to cool. Insert cooking thermometre to measure temperature.

2) Fill canning jar or thermos with hot water. Set in hot water bath (in a baking pan). Wait for milk to cool to 105-110F / 40-45C.

3) Once milk reaches the desired temperature, stir in yogurt starter (we use 1/8 cup natural yogurt left-over from last batch, or live-culture natural plain yogurt from the store). Empty canning jar or thermos, pour in milk mixture and screw on the lid. Do not move this canning jar or thermos during incubation period.

4) After 4-6 hours, check yogurt for desired consistency. The canning jar/thermos should stay at aroun 105-110F / 40-45C for the full length of incubation. Tips on keeping the jar warm: - keep in warm water bath, and continue to top up the warm water during incubation time
- wrap jar in towel to keep insulated
- keep jar in oven with pilot light on (or lowest setting)
- keep jar in cooler/ice chest that's filled with hot water
- set jar in pan of warm water on the stove and occasionally turn the stove on briefly
- set jar under a tea cozy

5) Do not stir finished yogurt too much. Fold in sweetener and fruit. If you forget about the yogurt and leave it too long, pour off water (whey) that forms on top and add additonal sweetened if necessary.