Cheese?

[aliantha]

Has anybody here ever tried to make cheese?

I read an article in our local free newspaper this morning about cheesemaking classes, but those cost $69 (at Sur la Table, natch), which seems a bit steep, y'know? So I checked around online and found some directions, and it doesn't seem too much harder to make mozzarella than it does to make yogurt. www.cheesemaking.com/ has a mozzarella making kit, but I'm thinking it wouldn't be that tough to pull together everything I need and save the $24.95 for the kit.

I saw one recipe online where you save the whey that drains off your fresh mozzarella, and use it to make fresh ricotta. Here's the mozzarella recipe. There's a link to the ricotta recipe on (I think) the last page.

Anyhow, I might try this next week while I'm home on vacation, assuming I can find a stainless steel pot that's large enough. Mmmm, fresh mozzarella with tomato and basil....

[Menolly]

ali, let me know if they work.
I love mozzarella caprese
and fresh ricotta...
lasagna and eggplant rollatini, here I come!

[Vraith]

I've made ricotta straight from whole milk...it was extraordinarily easy, used a new white tee to strain it, and it was sooooo tasty.

[aliantha]

The ricotta recipe certainly *looked* very easy.

I will see if I have time next week while I'm allegedly on vacation. I've been thinking about all the stuff I'd like to get done and wondering whether I'll have any time to sleep....

[aliantha]

Hokay, double-posting (sorry) with an update.

I performed the Great Cheesemaking Experiment today. I used a gallon of fat-free milk as the basis for everything.

The instructions I linked to above were terrific. Everything went fine with the mozzarella, until I got to the point where I was supposed to microwave it for the last bit. I think I over-nuked it. It's kinda brown. Still tastes like mozzarella, tho, so whatever. Out of the gallon of milk, I got about the same amount of mozzarella as you get in those little packages of fresh mozzarella you can buy at the grocery store. (Which, as my friend observed, explains why there are so many calories in cheese! )

The ricotta *was* very easy. You reheat the whey that you drained off the mozzarella to 200 degrees F, let it sit out and cool to about 140 degrees, then dump it through a strainer/cheesecloth. I ended up using the cheesecloth bag that came with my yogurt maker. Et voila! About a quarter cup of ricotta. I think I may have over-drained it -- it's very dry; I suspect it would have been more like a half-cup if I'd been more careful.

Apparently there are two kinds of protein in cow's milk. One cheeses up at a lower temperature and turns stretchy -- that's the one that makes mozzarella -- and the other, that makes ricotta, solidifies at the higher temperature. So you get two kinds of cheese from the same gallon of milk. Plus you can use the leftover whey to water the plants.

Anyhow, now that I have all the stuff, I'll likely try it again. Stay tuned...

[Harbinger]

A buddy of mine's wife makes it at home.

Click on cheese. Or anything else- she's an interesting person.

snadra.com

EDIT: There are pics of her cheese in "photos."

[aliantha]

Thanks, Harbinger! Looks like tons of interesting info there.

[Menolly]

Agreed.
I am curious with paying for the more expensive milk what the cost per lb of the finished cheeses wind up being, and if the difference in making your own is worth it.

[Harbinger]

Check out her crafts, particularly the posters if you have time.

[aliantha]

Agreed.
I am curious with paying for the more expensive milk what the cost per lb of the finished cheeses wind up being, and if the difference in making your own is worth it.

Hmm, cost. Good question. Aside from the equipment (most of which I had from yogurt making), to make mozzarella and ricotta, you need a gallon of milk, rennet, citric acid, and salt. The rennet tablets were $1.67 for a box of 8. The gallon of milk was about three bucks. The most expensive stuff was the citric acid, which was $18 for 4 oz. -- but that's, like, 1/2 cup of the stuff, and you only use 2 tsp. per batch of cheese. So you'd get, what, 6 batches of cheese out of the citric acid? So it's $3 per batch, plus 21 cents for the rennet tablet, plus the cost of the milk (and don't forget that you get two kinds of cheese out of the same gallon of milk). So it's probably about the same cost as buying it in the store, assuming you're spending about five bucks per pound of fresh mozzarella. But you get bragging rights for making your own.

I'm sure there are cheaper sources for the citric acid out there -- the guy who wrote the instructions I used said he found it much cheaper at a health-food store. I got mine at a drugstore. If you can bring down the cost of the citric acid, it would indeed be cost-effective to make your own.

[Menolly]

The most expensive stuff was the citric acid, which was $18 for 4 oz. -- but that's, like, 1/2 cup of the stuff, and you only use 2 tsp. per batch of cheese. So you'd get, what, 6 batches of cheese out of the citric acid?

Holy...

whoa

I know citric acid as "Sour Salt" and use the Rokeach Sour Salt to add a sour flavor to my cabbage soup, along with lemon juice. The price shown on the link is comparable to what I pay for it...

You may need to select a store to see pricing. I chose the one near Dulles, not knowing exactly where in DC you work.

[aliantha]

The most expensive stuff was the citric acid, which was $18 for 4 oz. -- but that's, like, 1/2 cup of the stuff, and you only use 2 tsp. per batch of cheese. So you'd get, what, 6 batches of cheese out of the citric acid?

Holy...

whoa

I know citric acid as "Sour Salt" and use the Rokeach Sour Salt to add a sour flavor to my cabbage soup, along with lemon juice. The price shown on the link is comparable to what I pay for it...

You may need to select a store to see pricing. I chose the one near Dulles, not knowing exactly where in DC you work.

Holy cow. Yeah, that's a *lot* cheaper than the drugstore price. In that case, it's definitely cheaper to make yer own cheese.

Oddly enough, I bought the rennet at Wegman's. They didn't have citric acid, per se, but I didn't know to ask about sour salt. Thanks, Menolly!

[Menolly]

Oddly enough, I bought the rennet at Wegman's. They didn't have citric acid, per se, but I didn't know to ask about sour salt. Thanks, Menolly!

You're welcome.

Some of the VA Wegman stores came up as "may not be available" for the pricing, so you may have to special order it at yours. But there shouldn't be an extra charge for doing so though.

[aliantha]

Oddly enough, I bought the rennet at Wegman's. They didn't have citric acid, per se, but I didn't know to ask about sour salt. Thanks, Menolly!

You're welcome.

Some of the VA Wegman stores came up as "may not be available" for the pricing, so you may have to special order it at yours. But there shouldn't be an extra charge for doing so though.

I checked the one where I bought the rennet (Fairfax) and did get a price (of $1.59 ) and an aisle location. Of course, their computer also said they had liquid rennet and I couldn't find it, tho I had already found the tablets so it was okay. I'm betting the new Wegman's, in Gainesville, is one of the ones that would have to special order it; it doesn't strike me as much of a Jewish neighborhood.

[Menolly]

I checked the one where I bought the rennet (Fairfax) and did get a price (of $1.59 ) and an aisle location.

aeyup.

That's about what I pay, but didn't want to post it after a post saying you paid $18 for an equivalent amount...

I'm betting the new Wegman's, in Gainesville, is one of the ones that would have to special order it; it doesn't strike me as much of a Jewish neighborhood.

Well...
This Gainesville here has a decent sized Jewish community for the size of Gator Town is itself.
No Wegman's though.

Wegman's, Stew Leonard's and Trader Joe's.
The three stores I must visit one day...

[aliantha]

Yeah, I meant Gainesville, VA, of course.

Wegman's is generally too freakin' *big* for me. Although they do have pretty much anything food-related that you might want. I tried their Indian/Asian food bar while I was there this week -- not bad, for a grocery store. It's kind of like a cafeteria, with tables and everything.

I generally vacillate between Magruder's (a local chain -- small, old-fashioned, plain-vanilla grocery stores, but cheap, and they often have local produce when the big guys are shipping theirs in from California and Chile) and Shoppers (which used to be Shoppers Food Warehouse when it was the cheapest place in town -- now it's going upscale, with prices to match, urgh), and sometimes Safeway. Shoppers is closest to my house so it's kind of my default, for good or ill. I hit Trader Joe's maybe once or twice a month; I like a lot of their stuff, but their produce always seems high to me.

[Menolly]

*nodding*

I've been told pretty much not to shop TJ's for produce if I ever get to one; it's the shelf stable stuff and some of their pre-made meals I want to check out.

[Wyldewode]

I'm so very late to this conversation, but my mom and dad raise dairy goats and my mom often makes her own cheese. We've made everything from mozarella to munster (even our own cheddar). It's pretty cool, but if you have to buy milk to make it the price goes way up. My favorite cheese that my mom makes is a country cheese spread with fresh herbs straight from the garden. One of these days I will have to get her to give me the recipe for you.

[aliantha]

I'm so very late to this conversation, but my mom and dad raise dairy goats and my mom often makes her own cheese. We've made everything from mozarella to munster (even our own cheddar). It's pretty cool, but if you have to buy milk to make it the price goes way up. My favorite cheese that my mom makes is a country cheese spread with fresh herbs straight from the garden. One of these days I will have to get her to give me the recipe for you.

Ooooooohh.... That would be fab, Lyr, thanks!

I read something somewhere about someone (boy, that's specific, huh? ) who made one batch of cheese and got hooked on the process, and ended up buying a dairy farm and going into the artisanal cheese-making business. I don't know that I would ever go *that* far. But I'm definitely going to try making mozzarella again.

BTW, I finished all my homemade cheese today. Stuffed a pita with the last of the beige-ish mozzarella, some plum tomato slices and fresh basil from the plant on my balcony. Mmmm. If only the tomato had been vine-ripened. Ah well. Then later, I took a spoon to the ricotta. Very tasty!

[Wyldewode]

I know it is ridiculously easy, but in cheesemaking precision is everything, so I'd better wait and get the recipe rather than guess.