Making mozzarella @ home

[Mjx]

This may sound strange, but the youtube stuff in Italian seems to often include yogurt when creating the mass you begin with, when

('cagliata', no idea what the heck it's called in English). Have you come across this?

[Jenni]

This may sound strange, but the youtube stuff in Italian seems to more or less universally include the use of yogurt to create the mass you begin with, when making mozzarella ('cagliata', no idea what the heck it's called in English). Have you come across this?

I am not surprised. As mentioned above it is how I make paneer, the best way IMO. No lemony taste, nice texture and higher yield as yoghurt milk solids also contribute.

[TheTInCook]

I heated the milk to 85F and added 1.5 tsp. of citric acid dissolved in a cup of filtered water. Raised to 100F and added 1/2 a rennet tablet crushed and dissolved in a small amount of filtered water. Continued heating to 105F. Cut off heat and let sit for 15 minutes. Gently removed curds with a slotted spoon. Plenty of liquid came out, but ultimately the curds were too "wet" to form into anything.

Looks like the milk is too warm, and not enough time for the rennet to work. You need to let it sit until it makes a 'clean break'. Could take a couple hours.

Could also not be enough rennet. Guessing from your pictures you used 1/2 tablet to 2 gallons of milk? Is it Junket rennet?

It also could be an issue of improper stirring when adding the rennet, or disturbing the milk once the curd begins to form. Both can cause small broken curds.

Edited April 29, 2012 by TheTInCook (log)

[Fat Guy]

I used 1/4 tablet of rennet per 1 gallon on the first try. On the second try I upped it to 1/2 tablet per gallon without any change in results. I'm guessing the rennet is not the relevant variable. I'm going to try bottled water, though.

The rennet by the way is Marschall M-50 Vegetable Rennet.

I increased the coagulation time to 30 minutes on the second try. Made no difference.

I'm using the temperatures that pretty much everyone recommends, and a thermocouple thermometer. I'm not sure what I'd change there.

I got two new brands of milk this morning, and some bottled water. Back to experimentation.

[andiesenji]

I don't see you heating the curds after draining the mass.

Ricki at New England Cheesemaking heats the curds in a microwave to bring them up to 135 degrees. However, I've always used hot water in a slow cooker as it is easier for me to handle, keeping the water temp around 150°F.

I cheat and ladle the curds into a very fine cheesecloth "bag" (butter muslin) and immerse it in the hot water to heat through before stretching it.

You do have to wear rubber gloves when handling the curds while stretching, and this would be essential for children. Some people develop "asbestos hands" and can handle it easily but I've never been able to do this.

Read this entire page which answers most questions.

I stir the milk briefly after adding the rennet then leave the curd to set about 10 - 15 minutes before putting it back on the heat to begin cutting the curd while bringing the heat up to 105°F.

[Fat Guy]

In each instance I microwaved on high for 1 minute after separating the curds, but it didn't seem to move them toward anything usable. I did an additional minute on a later attempt and it also made no difference. It was clear just from mushing the curds around that we were never going to move out of the cottage cheese phase.

[Fat Guy]

The answer is, most likely, that it was the brand of milk that was at issue. I tried two new brands just now, and one of them -- Five Acre Farms Local Milk -- has turned into something like mozzarella. There's a lot I still need to learn about the stretching and forming. The other brand of milk produced more cottage cheese. I also switched to bottled water but I imagine this is not the issue, since one worked and one didn't. But I will backtrack in subsequent experiments to see what happens.

[Fat Guy]

What about taking a little road trip down to DiPalo's and ask if you can watch them make theirs?

I don't know that DiPalo or any of the local places will have relevant knowledge. They purchase their curds, I believe, and the problems I've been asking about have to do with making curds. I'm sure Polly-O or another curd supplier has knowledge, but I figure they use industrial processes that wouldn't be relevant to me.

[weinoo]

What about taking a little road trip down to DiPalo's and ask if you can watch them make theirs?

I don't know that DiPalo or any of the local places will have relevant knowledge. They purchase their curds, I believe, and the problems I've been asking about have to do with making curds. I'm sure Polly-O or another curd supplier has knowledge, but I figure they use industrial processes that wouldn't be relevant to me.

Ahhh, quite true. Maybe you can get Ann Saxelby to give you two a lesson!

[TheTInCook]

The rennet by the way is Marschall M-50 Vegetable Rennet.

Vegetable rennet tends to make a softer curd.

[Shalmanese]

I'm sure Polly-O or another curd supplier has knowledge, but I figure they use industrial processes that wouldn't be relevant to me.

I like to browse through Google Books because occasionally, it'll have a big enough snippet of a food science book to be useful. For example, on page 150 of this book, it talks about some of the factors of curd formation including pH and calcium.

[JTravel]

I'm also intrigued - why did you add water to the citric acid? When I curdle milk for cheese I simply bring the milk to the boil, turn the heat down to ultra low and then add lemon juice, or actually more commonly I add slightly soured yoghurt. In addition, if you are using an acid, why is rennet also required? This is just a question out of curiousity, I do not claim to know anything at all! I have never made mozzarella but this looks very interesting.

I know this is about Mozzarella, but could you post your method for making paneer with yogurt. How does one get "slightly soured yogurt"? Let it spoil, add acid? This whole cheese thing is interesting with all the different methods.

Thanks

[Jenni]

Absolutely. Bring milk to the boil. Lower the heat to the lowest setting and add yoghurt. You can sour the yoghurt by keeping it out of the fridge for a few hours in a warmish place. Let me see, I think for 8 cups/2 litres of milk you might use 1-1/2 cups yoghurt. Stir gently in one direction. The curds will separate out leaving greenish looking whey. As soon as this happens remove from the heat and strain through a piece of muslin (keep the whey for adding to soup, dal, etc. or for using instead of water to make roti. Also many paneer dishes utilise the whey instead of adding water). Rinse the bundle with cool water. The idea is to not heat the curds at this point as it can toughen them. Now you can press the cheese for varying lengths of time, depending on what you are making.

[mkayahara]

FWIW, when I had this problem, the solution seemed to be "add more rennet." Even then, my curd was pretty crumbly, but it eventually came together with kneading. I wasn't heating the curds in the microwave, though; I used hot water. Our processes - not to mention milk - might be different enough that this isn't much help to you, though...

[Fat Guy]

We may experiment with using more or different rennet. Though, the half tablet is supposed to coagulate 25 liters of milk -- I wonder just how much more it's worth trying.

[tikidoc]

Vegetable rennet just does not work as well as animal rennet, at least in my experience. Even at a higher "dose", the curd is just not as firm.

If you want to give this a real try, I would get online and order a small bottle of animal rennet and give it another try. It's pretty cheap, since it takes very little to make a batch of cheese.

http://www.cheesemaking.com/LiquidAnimalRennet.html

Edited April 30, 2012 by tikidoc (log)

[Fat Guy]

I wonder how one gets hold of the lab-created, synthetic rennet that's the same as animal rennet. Isn't that what most commercial producers are now using?

[tikidoc]

http://sargentwelch.com/product.asp?pn=IG0047250&sid=mercent&mr:trackingCode=902814A8-85EB-E011-8116-001517B1882A&mr:referralID=NA

From Wikipedia, "CHY-MAX® is bovine chymosin produced by the biotech company Chr. Hansen A/S. CHY-MAX® is produced by fermentation of the fungus Aspergillus niger. Bovine chymosin is an enzyme that causes milk to curdle. Being a non animal derived product, CHY-MAX® is suitable for consumption by vegetarians, as well as for production of cheese certified Kosher or Halal."

[Jenni]

Vegetable rennet must work well enough because as a vegetarian, I only buy cheese made with non animal rennet and the mozzarella has always been fine.

[andiesenji]

I've been using liquid vegetable rennet for years with no problems.

I do add calcium chloride for most cheeses to get a firmer curd. I think the problem is usually with the ultra pasteurized milk.

For some cheeses I buy the NON ultra pasteurized Manufacturing Cream (Alta Dena here in CA) and mix it half and half with supermarket fat free milk.

I think this mixture gives me enough of the non super heated milk fat to produce a good, firm curd that I use for aged cheeses made with cultures.

[TheTInCook]

I wonder how one gets hold of the lab-created, synthetic rennet that's the same as animal rennet. Isn't that what most commercial producers are now using?

Microbial rennet. Most internet cheese supply retailers sell it.

Edited May 1, 2012 by TheTInCook (log)

[TheTInCook]

I think there might be a double effect going on here with the '30 minute' citric acid mozerella. Pasteurization reduces the amount of available calcium in the milk, and the citrate in the citric acid sequesters calcium. Leading to poor curds.

For this kind of cheese, you want something that looks like this http://cheeseforum.org/articles/wiki-cheese-milk-coagulation/rennet-coagulated-good-quality-curd-checking-with-finger-clean-break-method-cheeseforum-org/

Not ricotta.

I think this mixture gives me enough of the non super heated milk fat to produce a good, firm curd that I use for aged cheeses made with cultures.

I thought the problem with the high temp pasteurization was that it messed with the casein micelles.

[andiesenji]

I think there might be a double effect going on here with the '30 minute' citric acid mozerella. Pasteurization reduces the amount of available calcium in the milk, and the citrate in the citric acid sequesters calcium. Leading to poor curds.

For this kind of cheese, you want something that looks like this http://cheeseforum.org/articles/wiki-cheese-milk-coagulation/rennet-coagulated-good-quality-curd-checking-with-finger-clean-break-method-cheeseforum-org/

Not ricotta.

I think this mixture gives me enough of the non super heated milk fat to produce a good, firm curd that I use for aged cheeses made with cultures.

I thought the problem with the high temp pasteurization was that it messed with the casein micelles.

I'm sure you are correct. I used to get regular pasteurized milk that was non-homogenized (cream top) or sometimes I could get milk locally from a friend who has cows. Unfortunately, she married and moved over to Hesperia, which is a bit too far to drive for milk. I have an electric pasteurizer and did pasteurize all the milk I used. That milk made wonderful cheeses.

I experimented with various combinations and finally settled on the mix with the manufacturers cream, which I also use to make butter.

[Fat Guy]

I wonder how one gets hold of the lab-created, synthetic rennet that's the same as animal rennet. Isn't that what most commercial producers are now using?

Microbial rennet. Most internet cheese supply retailers sell it.

Do you have a link? I've only seen animal and vegetable rennet on the cheesemaking sites.

[tikidoc]

I wonder how one gets hold of the lab-created, synthetic rennet that's the same as animal rennet. Isn't that what most commercial producers are now using?

Microbial rennet. Most internet cheese supply retailers sell it.

Do you have a link? I've only seen animal and vegetable rennet on the cheesemaking sites.

Look upthread, I posted a link.