Last Friday we decided we were going to learn to make our own cheese. This is part of what I hope will be kind of a series of learning experiments. First they taught me all about making jam. This time cheese! I know, I know. You're probably asking yourself: "who the heck decides to make their own cheese?" What can I say? We're creative women up for a challenge.
We were working with a cheesemaking kit that made things relatively simple. There was a booklet (with hilarious illustrations, like a goat in a graduation cap & gown) with recipes. We chose 30 minute mozzarella. It seemed straightforward enough. You start with a gallon of milk, add some citric acid and some rennet (a cheesemaking enzyme), separate curds from whey and voila! Cheese! Some of us were less optimistic than others, as evidenced by this photo of Ingrid:
So, we begin! Here we are warming the milk to a cozy 90 degrees. So far so good!
In this photo, the curds are starting to separate from the whey. We were instructed to slice the top curd into little cubes. (Insert your own "cut the cheese" joke here).
Now the mixture is sort of like soupy, lumpy yogurt. Are we really going to get cheese from this stuff? At this point, I have to admit I was having my doubts. Also, might I add, this is the point where the cheese-to-be started smelling less than appetizing.
In this photo the cheese had progressed to a new level. See what it looks like? It smells the same way.
Here the cheese has reached the point where we separated out the curds with a slotted spoon. It's ready for the next phase! We poured most of the mixture through some cheesecloth (who knew?) to separate everything. I wasn't sorry to see the whey go down the drain. Siobhan pointed out that some folks like to use whey when they make pizza dough. She even initially was trying to save it. But I think her sense of smell and gag reflex made her change her mind. Bleh!
After separating the curds, we had to heat them in the microwave a couple times, and then pull them like taffy. The recipe book suggested wearing rubber gloves to protect you from the heat. The ones we wore didn't help much. Though they did give our cheese a nice balloon-flavored aftertaste. Tres gourmet!
Here is the finished product - our cheese blob. After this point, we rolled them into string cheese type logs and chilled them.
Cassie tries the finished product. She looks happy, but after we took this photo she stated rather adamantly that she would not eat the latex flavored cheese and threw hers away. Can't say I blame her.
So, for our first try, I think it went rather well. I mean, other than the fact the cheese wasn't exactly palatable. It was still cool to go through the process and see everything come together!
Last Friday we decided we were going to learn to make our own cheese. This is part of what I hope will be kind of a series of learning experiments. First they taught me all about making jam. This time cheese! I know, I know. You're probably asking yourself: "who the heck decides to make their own cheese?" What can I say? We're creative women up for a challenge.
We were working with a cheesemaking kit that made things relatively simple. There was a booklet (with hilarious illustrations, like a goat in a graduation cap & gown) with recipes. We chose 30 minute mozzarella. It seemed straightforward enough. You start with a gallon of milk, add some citric acid and some rennet (a cheesemaking enzyme), separate curds from whey and voila! Cheese! Some of us were less optimistic than others, as evidenced by this photo of Ingrid:
So, we begin! Here we are warming the milk to a cozy 90 degrees. So far so good!
In this photo, the curds are starting to separate from the whey. We were instructed to slice the top curd into little cubes. (Insert your own "cut the cheese" joke here).
Now the mixture is sort of like soupy, lumpy yogurt. Are we really going to get cheese from this stuff? At this point, I have to admit I was having my doubts. Also, might I add, this is the point where the cheese-to-be started smelling less than appetizing.
In this photo the cheese had progressed to a new level. See what it looks like? It smells the same way.
Here the cheese has reached the point where we separated out the curds with a slotted spoon. It's ready for the next phase! We poured most of the mixture through some cheesecloth (who knew?) to separate everything. I wasn't sorry to see the whey go down the drain. Siobhan pointed out that some folks like to use whey when they make pizza dough. She even initially was trying to save it. But I think her sense of smell and gag reflex made her change her mind. Bleh!
After separating the curds, we had to heat them in the microwave a couple times, and then pull them like taffy. The recipe book suggested wearing rubber gloves to protect you from the heat. The ones we wore didn't help much. Though they did give our cheese a nice balloon-flavored aftertaste. Tres gourmet!
Here is the finished product - our cheese blob. After this point, we rolled them into string cheese type logs and chilled them.
Cassie tries the finished product. She looks happy, but after we took this photo she stated rather adamantly that she would not eat the latex flavored cheese and threw hers away. Can't say I blame her.
So, for our first try, I think it went rather well. I mean, other than the fact the cheese wasn't exactly palatable. It was still cool to go through the process and see everything come together!
