Fresh mozzarella!
By Garrett Okrasinski
After seeing my friend’s photos of a mozzarella party in Italy, I got inspired! Since I could not travel to Italy, I could at least bring it a little closer and try my hand at making my own mozzarella.
Mozzarella is a cheese from southern Italy that has a soft, subtle taste and a smooth texture. It can be found in nice voluptuous loafs, braided or in bite size balls.
When I think of mozzarella, I think of great wood fire pizzas or garden fresh caprese. Now that I know how to make it, it is going to be dangerous!
At first I was a little intimidated. I envisioned numerous batches that spoil or cheese that falls apart. But that was not the cases! It was surprisingly easy! Even if it doesn’t turn out as soft as store bought cheese (in my cases) it is satisfying and delicious because you made it!
Luscious
It takes about 30 minutes a batch. It is so fun because you get to watch the milk change, knead and form the cheese and sample the finished product.
I have now tried three different methods and below is a link to my favorite recipe.
Notes on my experiments:
- My mozzarella turned out a little firmer that I would have like and I attribute that to the amount of rennet. Rennet is used to coagulate the milk. I used vegetarian rennet tablets that I dissolved in water. Next time I am going to try to use less.
- I tried using both whole milk and raw milk. I did not find a notable difference between them. Try to find milk that is not ultra pasteurized.
Finally, my cheeses had a little yellow color on the outside when I added the salt. I attribute this to the salt and the fact that it is homemade. Commercial cheese is processed more to give it a pure white color.
Once you are done you will lovely cheese and a lot of whey! I will write another post shortly with what to do with all the whey. There are so many uses!
I'd love to hear from you!