First cheese try=success!

Tried my hand at making cheese today--made the 30 minute mozzarella from Ricki Carroll's book, which I got for Christmas. No major problems and very easy...although I think the "30-minute" handle is a bit wishful. It took more like 90 minutes start to finish. I was going slow on heating the milk so I wouldn't overshoot it, but I can see how if you had made a lot on the same stove you could cut down the heating time. Also if you had all your utensils out & ready beforehand, you might get this down to a half-hour.

Regardless, it turned out very well. Some observations:

--I didn't have citric acid on hand, so I used jamesnsw's idea and subbed 1/3 cup of lemon juice. The recipe said dissolve a teaspoon of citric acid in 1/2 cup water, so I just added water to the lemon juice to make up 1/2 cup.

--Recipe said let it sit for 5 minutes or until curd formed a clean break. Took more like 15 minutes for mine, but it did work.

--I just used regular Walmart store brand whole milk. No problems. I noticed that the expensive brands and organic milk were more likely to be ultrapasteurized.

--Mine tastes OK but more salt would have been better. The recipe called for 1 teaspoon and I was nervous about varying the recipe so I stuck with that, but it really could have used at least another half-teaspoon if not a little more. But in a recipe or on buttered toast I think it'll be fine.

--This time I discarded the whey, but next time I think I'll try to heat it on up and capture the rest of the solids as ricotta.

All in all, a great fun experience! Tonight I had some homemade mozzarella on wheat crackers with a glass of homemade apfelwein. Doesn't get much better than that

Tried a second batch tonight. This time I made panir (paneer), Indian cheese without rennet. Much tastier than the mozzarella from last week, although I like the texture of the mozzarella better. Actually it was somewhere in between panir and queso fresco. I made up a gallon of nonfat dry milk and added a pint of half & half to it. The queso recipe called for 1/4 cup white or apple cider vinegar to set the curd. Instead I used a mix of some orange/kumquat infused vinegar and some of the vinegar from a jar of pickled garlic. Brought the milk up to 190*F, added the vinegar (why do I want to say "pitched" the vinegar here?) and kept on the heat till I started getting a clear whey. Then I ladled the curds into a cheesecloth, hung it up for about half an hour, rolled it up in the cloth and pressed between two plates weighted with a 2-liter drink. After a couple of hours I had a nice firm round of cheese. The taste is great--much fuller & richer than the first batch. Think I found myself another hobby!

The only problem is trying to figure out how to press this into a better shape--the folds in the cheesecloth make weird lumps and dips. But I guess that will come with practice.

Kids and I made Mozz again this weekend. Went better than last time. I got the instructions from a BYO or Zymurgy magazine, but they were basically the same as the instructions I had used before.

I agree it could use a bit more salt.

I used Country Fresh whole milk and it curded a bit better than last time, but still "grainy" like cottage cheese to start. Once I warmed it up in the micro, it integrated better and got stringy. Everyone said it was good, but you know it's mozzarella, but it's better with stuff.

If your having problems with curding try to find a nearby dairy farm and get it straight from the cow. The first time I made 30 min mozz. I used whole milk from the store and I got the same grainy texture to my fresh mozz. The second time I got milk from the farm and pastuerized it myself (very easy to do.) I've been using raw milk ever since. The Mozz. was so strechy and taffy like I could pull it to about 3 ft long without it breaking. The texture was almost spot on fresh mozz. The only difference was the way i stored the fresh mozz. I wrapped mine in plastic wrap and stuck it in the fridge. If I stored it in brine I'm sure it would have been exactly like store bought.