Making Delicious “Mozz” at Home

A lot of people who know about my proclivities for and activities related to cheese-making in my Brooklyn, NY apartment have asked me for an easy cheese they can try making at home.

Mozarella is by far the easiest and will give you the most instant gratification for your efforts. Before we dive into the recipe, let me digress for a moment about the history of Mozarella. It’s not clear how mozarella was invented, but like many of the best inventions, it was probably an accident. A cheese curd probably fell into a pot of boiling water, an Italian farmer fished it out and, voi la, mozarella.

We do know that the classic buffalo mozarella comes from Aversa near Naples:

Classic Buffalo Mozarella is made from the milk of water buffaloes. According to Wikipedia, “more than 33,000 tons of buffalo mozarella are produced per year in Italy and it is an industry worth more than $430 million.”

Unless you have access to water buffaloes, you will most likely make your mozarella from cow’s milk. Technically, mozarella made from the milk of cows is called Fior di latte .

OK, now for the good stuff. Here is an easy, “in-an-afternoon” cheese that anyone can make at home. If you need help with any supplies, I recommend Cheesemaking.com but you can also get all of the ingredients for Mozarella at Wholefoods or another health food store.

First, watch this video to get a visual (and aural – Spanish guitar music always helps) sense of how it looks to make Mozz and then see the recipes below for details:

Although it takes a little effort, once you’ve tasted your home-made Mozz, you’ll know it’s worth it.Most recipes for mozarella are similar so you can browse the internet for other variations. This recipe is from Instructables.com:

step 1 Equipment you will need:
Equipment: 1. At least an 8 quart pot either enameled or stainless steel. (Do not use aluminum, cast iron or other reactive pots) 2. Thermometer. (A candy thermometer will probably work but a good digital thermometer is much better for accuracy.) 3. A couple measuring cups or something to dissolve the Citric Acid and Rennet in. 4. A big strainer to strain the Curds fro…

step 2OK First things First
1. Pour 1 teaspoon Citric Acid into 1/4 cup unchlorinated water and stir. Crush the Rennet tablet and pour it into the other cup of unchlorinated water. The Citric Acid should be dissolved by the time you have to use it. Most of the Rennet will be dissolved but there will still be some residue left. 2. If you haven’t done so already, pour milk into your pot. Make sur…

step 3Pour in the Citric Acid.
1. Pour the dissolved Citric Acid in the milk and stir for 1 minute. 2. Sprinkle the other teaspoon of Citric Acid in the milk and sir for another minute. You will probably see the milk start to curdle very shortly.

step 4Heat milk to 88-90 degrees F. Stirring occasionally.
This is not an error. You are not trying to pasteurize the milk. If you get it too hot or too cold, the Rennet will not make curds. Use a low heat so it doesn’t go past the 88-90 degrees. It should take about 10-15 minutes.

step 5At 88-90 degrees turn off the heat and stir in the Rennet solution for 15-20 seconds.
Cover the pot with the lid and LEAVE IT SET UNDISTURBED FOR AT LEAST 15-20 MINUTES until you can get a clean break. I usually let mine set for 15-30 minutes. Time is not critical here as long as you get the clean break.

step 6Wait for a clean break.
This is what a clean break looks like. When you poke your finger into it and move for an inch or so and lift it out, the Curd and Whey should separate shortly. If it is still liquidy (Is that a real word?) and sticks to your finger let it set a while longer.

step 7Cut the Curd.
Cut the Curds into 1/2 inch cubes from top to bottom as shown. Then do the same thing at a 45 degree angle.

step 8Let the Curds set undisturbed for 5-10 minutes.
Just let them sit there.

step 9Apply low heat and heat to 108 degrees.
Apply low heat and stir the curds occasionally to keep them separated until they reach 108 degrees. This will take about 15 minutes. The Curds will shrink and start to sink as the Whey is expelled from them.

step 10Turn off the heat.
Turn off the heat and continue stirring every few minutes for an additional 20 minutes. The Curds will keep shrinking.

Once you’ve finished making your mozarella, you will have a pot full of whey left over. Now, for the bonus recipe:

this leftover whey is the key ingredient in making Ricotta cheese! Ricotta cheese is technically a whey cheese since it is made from re-heating and coagulating the left-over whey that results from making other cheeses. Check out the history of Ricotta here.

To make your Ricotta, follow this recipe from hobbyfarms.com.

Once you have your fresh Mozarella nd Ricotta, here are a few good “summer-y” recipes:

1. Peppers and mozarella skewers bruschetta

2. Roma salad with capers,olives and mozarella

3. Pasta with fresh mozarella and lemon

4. Ricotta Cookies

5. Sicilian ricotta cheesecake

6. Ricotta pasta with fresh spinach

Cheese in the Holy Land

Har Haruach Goat Farm

All of the Biblical forefathers (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,) and many of the biblical prophets raised goats and wandered in the desert with their flocks before the word of God made them give up the good life. Israel is known in the bible as Eretz Zavat Halav U’dvash– a land flowing with milk and honey. According to the egalitarian minyan of Chicago, Illinois, “The Talmud relates that our Sages saw goats eating from fig trees. The figs were so luscious that they were dripping with juice; the goats’ udders were so full that milk flowed out. These two liquids mingled into a sweet stream, and the land was literally “flowing with milk and honey.”

Although modern Israel’s leaders may not be of Biblical stature, the land is definitely still flowing with milk, honey and….cheese.

On my recent trip to Israel, I visited two goat farms and cheese producers with my friend Shirley. Har Haruach, translated as Wind Mountain is in the hills west of Jerusalem. It’s a gorgeous spot with about 130 goats and is open for Israeli and tourists to visit, see the goats, and sample or buy the cheese.

Sataf Goat

I also visited Sataf Goat Farm where I watched the bucks  fighting and head butting. Sataf Goat Farm is run by Shai Seltzer who founded it in 1974 and has been making cheese there ever since. I don’t thing he’s cut his beard since and he definitely looks the part:

If anyone is visiting Israel, I highly recommend visiting some of these goat farms and cheese makers. It’s quite an experience to eat fresh goat cheese and to watch the goats wander on this special land.

If you want a more organized tour, there are organized culinary and dairy vacations run by Cooks in Israel. They can take you and your family on a bonafide dairy tour of the holy land.

To round things off, check out the boutique wine scene in Israel. From the Judean hills to the galilee, there are more than 100 boutique wineries producing quite good wines. Check out the Israel Wine Company for more information on the wineries and how to get some shipped to you in the US.

Last but not least, the goat cheese and fresh vegetables in Israel are incredible. After a hard day making cheese or hiking in the hills, a good Israeli recipe is for Israeli Couscous, goat cheese and fennel:

Find the whole recipe at FoodDownUnder

1	med	fennel bulb
1/2	cup	olive oil
1/2	cup	lemon juice
1/2	cup	sliced fresh basil
1/2	cup	chopped fresh parsley
3	x	garlic cloves minced
1/2	tsp	salt
1/2	tsp	freshly-ground black pepper
1	x	red bell pepper diced
1/2	cup	sliced ripe olives
1	bn	green onions chopped
1	cup	Israeli couscous cooked
6	x	Bibb lettuce leaves
1	pkt	goat cheese – (2 1/2 oz) crumbled
		Fennel fronds for garnish

American Cheese on July 4

Your perfect  square shape. Your plastic wrap so satisfying to open.  Your perfect stickiness to the roof of my mouth. Your reliable, consistent, comforting, fake taste. You make me feel so……American.

American Cheese

According to the great blog, Cheese is Alive:

“American cheese has a legal definition. It is legal for it to have as little as 51% cheese . The rest is emulsifiers, enzymes, coloring, pixie dust , eye of newt and a wee pinch of despair. Velveeta is less than 51% cheese. I don’t know what’s in Velveeta. My guess is unadulterated evil and the tears of the innocent, but I could be wrong.”

American Cheese, according to Wikipedia, has the following origins:

British colonists began making cheddar as soon as they arrived in America. By 1790, American cheddars were being exported back to England. The British referred to American cheddar as “American cheese,” or “Yankee cheese,” and post-Revolution Americans promoted this usage to distinguish the exports of their proud new nation from European cheese.^[3] For example, an 1878 newspaper article in The New York Times lists the total export of American cheese at 355 million pounds per year, with an expected growth to 1,420 million pounds^[4].

Originally, the British considered American cheese inferior in quality; still, it was relatively cheap, so it sold. This connotation of the term American cheese became entrenched in Europe even after the Americans began producing quality cheese. Another article from 1878 mentions that the high quality American cheese is usually re-labelled under European names after export, with only low grade cheese retaining American labelling in Europe^[5]. It also states that even in the United States quality American cheese is often relabelled, etc, and that this situation is a detriment to the reputation of American cheesemakers. This practice may be in part responsible for the name “American cheese” being synonymous with bland, low quality cheese^[6].

“American Cheese” continued to refer to American cheddar until the advent of the processed cheese that now commands the title. Meanwhile, Americans themselves referred to their cheddar as “yellow cheese” or “store cheese,” because of its popularity and availability. Sometimes it was called “apple-pie cheese,” after its common pairing with that other iconic American food.^[3] By the 1890s, once cheese factories had sprung up across the nation, American cheddar was also referred to as “factory cheese.” And in the 1920s another slang term arose for the still popular cheese: “rattrap cheese,” or “rat cheese.”^[7]

The Oxford English Dictionary defines American cheese as a “cheese of cheddar type, made in the U.S.” and lists 1804 as the first known usage of “American cheese,” occurring in the Frankfort, Kentucky newspaper Guardian of Freedom. The next usage given is in 1860 by Charles Dickens in his series The Uncommercial Traveller.^[8]

For More on American Cheese, visit the great blog: after cheese comes nothing.

Happy 4th of July and enjoy some REAL cheese!

Hit the Road “Jack”….

I was planning on making Swiss, but there were so many steps in the recipe. I wimped out and instead made a Monterey Jack. I used whole cow’s milk for this one and I think it came out pretty good.

The curds were nice and tender and the recipe called for heating them up slowly over time until the curds. Here’s a picture of the curds in the pot just after I cut them.

Monterey Jack Curds

After making the Jack, I pressed it the press (see below) overnight and it was done in the morning. I let it air-dry for just one day. My Gouda had air-dried for 4 days and it got moldy so I had to chuck it.

After one day, I waxed the Jack cheese and it’s now in my cooler aging.

In the meantime, my sourdough starter is still alive and kicking. It’s now living in my fridge. I take it out every 2-3 days and give it a feeding of flour and water. It rises up and starts eating the flour and gets nice and bubbly. That’s how I know it’s alive.

It’s still very cool – the cool factor has yet to wear off.

Sourdough White Bread

I tried making a sourdough white bread and got great results. I used this recipe from King arthur Flour which turned out very nicely. I got three great loaves which I shared with colleagues and friends. I can really see getting into this bread thing….And, it goes great with the cheese.

I am thinking of starting a Brooklyn or NYC cooking group for people who are into the “culinary arts” in one way or another and who want to share recipes and food with each other. I’d love to learn about pickling, home made pasta, home made kimchi, kombucha, etc. etc.

If anyone’s interested, be in touch and I promise some of this:

Yummy Sourdough

Cheddar Debut

 

4 Week Ripe Homemade Cheddar

After waiting patiently for 4 weeks, I finally made my cheddar debut. I was nervous, having never done this before, that I would open the wax and it wouldn’t be cheddar or that it would be moldy. After I made, air-dried, and later waxed the cheese (see post below), I kept it in a cooler in my kitchen and, everyday, I put in a new icepack to keep the temperature low. You want the temperature in the 50s – warmer than a fridge, but colder than my apartment. Also, when you wax the cheese, you want to make sure that the wax covers the cheese completely so no mold can grow.

 

Alas, I “cut the cheese” and inside was…..Cheddar! It tasted sharp and fresh. I was so excited.

 

 

Tasting My Cheddar

I have two big hunks and I brought one to a barbecue for people to taste. This was my first foray in public with my own cheese and I was a little nervous that people wouldn’t like it.I presented my cheddar for the sophisticated Brooklyn-ites at the party and, as you can see, they were a little hesitant at first. After a few bites, they dug in and the cheddar was a success.

It gave me a lot of confidence to keep going with this — people at the barbecue couldn’t believe I made this in my own kitchen. They think cheese comes from the gods or has to be processed in a factory. It’s great to make things that are available in nature (+buying the necessary bacteria over the internet!). Next is Swiss!!!

Making Mozarella At Home

I was amazed how easy it is to actually make Mozarella — that is , from store bought cow’s milk. If you want to do the buffalo kind, good luck. Firs you have to find a buffalo and then try to milk it.

My Mozarella

With store bought cow’s milk, Mozarella is easy to make in just an hour!

Check out this recipe for the basics. You can get everything you need in most cities in the US or you can order the citric acid and rennet from Home Cheese Making .

What’s amazing is that when you get a nice curd it is still soft, mushy, and white like most other cheese curds but then, when you dunk the curds back in the boiling whey (I don’t use a microwave) and begin pulling it and stretching it, it turns into Mozarella. The moment you first feel the texture changing into that stretchy, flaky, mozarella, is fantastic.

I made my first mozarella into little balls, soaked them in olive oil and hot pepper flakes in a few leftover take-out tupperware tubs and gave them to a few friends. They didn’t want to try it at first — they were nervous about dairy, but after they did, they keep asking for more…

Adventures in Cheddar

After a few months of soft cheeses, I’ve finally ventured into the world of hard cheese. I bought a cheese press which I put on my shelf for a few weeks and finally got up the nerve to use it. It was surprisingly easy to use the press but I don’t know if I needed it – it seems like I could have used a pile of books instead.

The recipe for Cheddar is like a lot of the other cheeses I’ve made. For a good little video of basic cheese making check out this video:

Things get more complicated as soon as you want harder cheeses and you put the curd into the press and begin pressing it for more than 12 hours. When it comes out of the press it is compacted and dense but still moist.

My First Cheddar

It’s been air-drying for a few days and I am planning on waxing this cheddar today or tomorrow. It’ll be my first time waxing a cheese as well. Then, it’ll sit in the wax for at least 4 weeks until I can start munching.

I’m learning that cheese making is an art of patience as it takes weeks and months for monst cheeses to ripen sufficiently. Although I tend to want instant results, I’m going to have to learn how to be ok with waiting patiently and I expect that the wait will be worth it.