Cheese, Gromit, Cheese!

One of the things I wanted to learn about and attempt this year was cheese making. Pretty easy cheese making, but cheese anyway. My chance to do it came today. Nina has been working on a county report for her Utah History studies and her county happens to be Cache. One of the requirements is to study up on one unique aspect of her county and present it to the class. She and I decided that since Cache Cty is known for Cache Valley Cheese we would attempt to make some cheese.

Using a recipe off the internet, we got out all our ingredients and tools.

No rennet! I was sure I had read that fresh lemon juice could be used instead.....nope, no lemon juice in the recipe so I bought those four lemons in vain.

OK, send C to the store for rennet and Citric Acid.

C gets back and WOW, for the price of the citric acid, this cheese better darn well turn out.

Pour milk in pan, put on stove, go to put thermometer in pan and notice that it starts measuring at 100 degrees and I need one that starts at about 80 degrees. Hhhhmmmm, what to do. Throw caution to the wind and go for it. I figure we'll use the one we have and if it registers on the thermometer we'll know it's getting too warm.

Things are going well, milk is warming, and starting to curdle. Put in the rennet and let it sit. Supposedly 3-5 minutes for the curd to form.

3 mintes-not forming yet...................


5 minutes-starting to thicken.........................





10 minutes-thicker........................................................................






15 minutes!- finally thick enough to cut and watch the whey drain out.
We scoop out the curd and put into a colander and let the whey drain.

Wow! Lots of whey! Anyone need some????

Finally get as much whey pressed out as possible by hand, so we start microwaving it and draining it again. After 3 rounds its ready to start kneading and stretching. That's what gives mozzarella its texture, the kneading like bread dough and stretching like taffy. Well, that's what its supposed to do....mine kneaded just fine, but didn't want to stretch much. I don't know if I over cooked it or undercooked it or didn't knead it long enough.

Whatever, we salted it and kneaded it into a smooth ball and ran cold water over it and voila', it's "Cheese, Gromit, Cheese!!"

It didn't really take very long and if it tastes good, we'll probably do it again. We have lots of rennet and citric acid left over!

Anyone know what to do with a gallon of whey?