Making Cheese

[sherribabee]

I make mozzarella all the time and would be happy to get together somewhere with whoever, whenever, and make some. It's pretty easy.

So I think you should definitely plan this...I'm in!

Jamie

Cool Jamie!

So what type of stuff/facilities do we need for the cheesemaking? Would we have to take this adventure into someone's kitchen?

[chromedome]

The CIA course is heavily slanted to promoting California cheese, but tuning out advertising is second nature to me so I'd forgotten about that. The explanation of the process is very decent and the videos were interesting (to me, anyway) but the best part of the whole thing was the links at the end of each module.

Here are a couple of them:

A detailed article from a homesteading magazine

Cheesenet

[sherribabee]

Cheesenet

OMG! This is one of the greatest sites EVER!

*drool*

[picaman]

So what type of stuff/facilities do we need for the cheesemaking? Would we have to take this adventure into someone's kitchen?

Definitely in someone's kitchen. To make mozzarella the way I do, we'd need:

--a stove

--a microwave

--a big cooking pot and a bowl

--a gallon of milk per person

--a wooden spoon

--a thermometer

--cheesecloth

--a large strainer/colander

--Junket rennet tablets

--citric acid

--buttermilk powder/buttermilk

--salt

I think that's everything. I have plenty of all the odd ingredients like rennet etc. The best milk, of course, would be buffalo milk, which is available at Gourmet Garage and other places, but it's relatively expensive. To be honest, when I make it, I just use a gallon of whole milk from the grocery store. I made bocconcini in olive oil for holiday presents that way this year, and no one complained

Jamie

[sherribabee]

I made bocconcini in olive oil for holiday presents that way this year, and no one complained

Man! how do I get myself on your holiday list for next year?

[sherribabee]

OK, so it looks like it's just a small handful of us that want to do this. Would anyone be interested in offering up their kitchen for this little experiment? I would -- if I actually *had* a kitchen.

If we do this, we should consider the logistics -- how long will this take? Do we each come with our own ingredients/equipment or do we designate someone to get all the ingredients and such and then just fork over money?

Ideas? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

[picaman]

Would anyone be interested in offering up their kitchen for this little experiment?

Kirk and I will be happy to host, if everyone doesn't mind the schlep to Inwood (upstate Manhattan @ 207th St.: ~1/2 hour from midtown on the A.)

If everyone brings their milk, I have everything else.

Jamie

[JosephB]

I'd be happy to host the cheesemaking session. West 70th near West End.

I'm away this weekend. How about next Sunday, 1/15? If the weekends are not good for folks, we can do a weekday evening.

Of course, we want Sherri's great photos!

What about doing this on eGCI? We should certainly copy it to the Cooking Forum.

[JosephB]

Actually, 1/15 won't work. Let's try for a weekday.

[sherribabee]

What about doing this on eGCI? We should certainly copy it to the Cooking Forum.

Ooooo...good idea.

I'll be out of town on the 15th, but can do either a weekend or a weekday evening.

How long does it take to make cheese?

[slkinsey]

I'm interested too! Making mozzarella does not take long. Other cheeses, needless to say, take a lot longer.

Might be fun to make some cheese and then make some pizza with the cheese right away. Mozzarella starts to decline in quality almost from the very moment it is made.

Might also be interesting to try it with different milks. Goat mozzarella, anyone?

[picaman]

I'd be happy to host the cheesemaking session. West 70th near West End.

Sounds good to me--I don't have to clean I can still bring some of the harder things to find if necessary--rennet especially. I have two kinds of rennet, so we can experiment with that a bit if we want.

slkinsey Posted on Feb 4 2004, 12:28 PM

Might also be interesting to try it with different milks.

I like this--maybe everyone could volunteer to bring a different kind of milk. Regular whole milk from the grocery store is fine, but I made it once with milk from the Union Square greenmarket (the purveyor escapes me at the moment: R-something Dairy?) to very good effect--their milk is not homogenized which makes a difference. Goat milk would be fun to try too, as would raw milk if anyone knows where to get some--the ideal is supposedly milk that is neither homogenized nor pasteurized.

Anyway, how about the evening of the 17th?

Jamie

[slkinsey]

Ronnybrook is the place from the Green Market. Their milk is so superior to regular mass-produced milk that it is hardly the same product.

[picaman]

Ronnybrook

That's it. There was a noticeable difference in the taste of the final product.

Jamie

[sherribabee]

Buffalo milk?

Goat milk?

Buttermilk?

(I imagine we'll want to keep human milk off the list )

[picaman]

Buttermilk?

Not sure how this would work as there's not as much fat content (I think...) but we can try it!

Jamie

[Katherine]

Buttermilk?

Not sure how this would work as there's not as much fat content (I think...) but we can try it!

Jamie

Buttermilk doesn't contain enough fat to make a yummy cheese, and it's already too ripened, so the cheese you make will come out oddly too sour, and rubbery in texture. If you want, you can use it as a starter, instead of purchasing starter.

[LDLee]

My wife started cheesemaking two years ago. She primarily makes goat cheeses. The ricotta is so much better than any you can buy. Chevre is outstanding as well. There are several books on Amazon.com. When I get back to Houston, I will find out from her what the best book is.

[JosephB]

Any interest in reviving the plan to get together to make cheese?

[picaman]

Any interest in reviving the plan to get together to make cheese?

Count me in.

Jamie

[girl chow]

I am now absolutely obsessed with making mozzarella cheese thanks to Laurel's cheesemaking party

and I think I've found the perfect combination: garlic, fresh herbs and mozzarella.

People at work are expecting me to bring a fresh batch of mozzarella every Monday (this weekend, I made fresh mozzarella with roasted garlic and thyme. It's delicious).

So now that I'm actually making the cheese, I've found a problem. I can find citric acid and rennet and all the usual supplies online or at Beecher's. No problems there.

But I need milk. Good milk! And, as it turns out, with cheesemaking, the milk requirements can be pretty specific.

When making mozzarella, cheesemakers suggest using non-homogenized milk. Why? Becuase, in simple terms, the process of homogenization distorts the milk proteins and you seriously have to shove the curds together to get a good solid piece of cheese. (I'm sure a food scientist would just love my horribly oversimplified explanation). I've found when making cheese with non-homogenized milk that the final product is creamier and is a lot easier to work with. My experience with homogenized milk has been a royal pain. It makes an OK product, but there's a lot of heating of the curd, kneading and stretching and patience involved.

So I have found one decent place in my neighborhood that sells non-homogenized milk, the Faith Dairy in Tacoma. They sell non-homogenized milk, called Creamline, that produces a creamy, rich mozzarella.

But are there other dairies out there in the greater Puget Sound area that carry good cow's milk that is not homogenized? I'd like to try a wide range of cow's milks to see if there are different flavor profiles from different cows.

How about raw cow's milk? I think I read that to get raw cow's milk here, you basically have to buy a share of a cow or a share in a farm because you can't technically purchase raw's milk (or is that totally wrong?)

Also, where do I go to get goat's milk? I really want to make chevre.

If you know of any resources, please post here. If I use your source, I'll make you some garlic mozzarella

[laurel]

This site lists how to get in touch with peopel offering cow and goat shares:

http://www.realmilk.com/where2.html

I'm jealous that you have co-workers that actually eat real food... I stopped bringing food in to work because it seems that the only thing that people will eat here are krispy kreme donuts.

[Schielke]

I might be able to get some Raw Milk info. Katie's Aunt in Port Angeles knows somebody who sells raw milk up there. Shipping of course might be an issue.

[chuck]

Boy, if non-homogenized milk is good for mozzarella I bet raw milk would be great. I found realmilk.com a week or so ago and called the Fort Bantam Creamery on Vashon Island. It's a teenaged girl who has one cow. Sounds good but she's all out of shares and there's a long waiting list she says. She did offer to connect me to some other folks but I haven't done it yet. The other places on the list sound good too, and there's one listing for goat milk.

The only other option I know of is at Whole Foods in Seattle. They sell Straus Farm milk, which is low-temperature pasteurized and not homogenized. Better call ahead to make sure they have some though.

Let us know what else you find.

[girl chow]

Thanks for the link Laurel! I have sent out some e-mails for some more information. Some of those look promising.

Schielke, give us the goods on your raw milk source! After you, like, get married and all that stuff (isn't the wedding this week or something?)

Chuck, thanks for the tip on Whole Foods selling Straus Farm Milk. I was doing some research and just discovered there is a Whole Foods in Gig Harbor, which is only about 30 minutes from my house. I went to the Whole Foods web site and did not see the Gig Harbor site listed, so maybe it's a different chain? Sound alike company? I'll have to go check it out this weekend.

I already went to Metropolitan Market in Tacoma. They sell all kinds of organic milk, but all of it is homogenized. I called Marlene's in Tacoma, a fantastic natural food store, but the lady on the phone said they don't carry non-homogenized milk (I'll have to go there and see for sure, she thought homogenization meant pasteurization ... I tried to explain it to her, but she wasn't getting it).

Thanks to all for posting potential sources. I owe you all cheese!