INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

@SallyinIndiana
Did you do the "quick mozzerella"? If so, that kind-of "cheats" the process of real Mozz making by using citric acid instead of using a culture over a longer period. The citric acid lowers the PH quickly and you can work with it right away.

What will help make that cheese more tasty is to do your heating of the curds in the whey (not the microwave). Assuming you are making 1 gallon at a time, you can heat the whey and add about 1/3 C. salt to the whey which will help tremendously with flavor.

I, personally, like mine salted so I taste the curd when stretching and I'll sometimes put salt right onto the stretchy curds and fold it back into them when I'm doing the heating and stretching.

The other option is to just salt it when you're eating it!


Did you use pasteurized milk from the store? It usually won't hold together to make mozz ... especially if it's ultra pasteurized which most of the milk in the grocery is now. The high heat process breaks the calcium bonds - and the calcium bond is needed to make a good strong curd. That's why a lot of the recipes tell you to put calcium chloride into the milk - to help with that issue. But it usually won't work for the ultra pasteurized.

Whey...feed it to your chickens! You can give it to them in a pan and they'll drink it right down....or mix some into their feed. Or put it on plants for fertilizer.

I know one family that used the whey rather than water to make kool-aid type drinks for their kids It also makes a great soup base for soups like cream of potato or other cream soups. But it will have some tiny flecks of curd in there that will change the texture a bit. As long as you don't mind that, it is usually quite yummy!


PS: It's called "sweet" because the milk wasn't cultured and allowed to ferment to lower the PH. But it's not sweet to the taste because of the citric acid :D
 
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@Leahs Mom

I used the recipe that took about 4-5 hours and no microwave. The milk never got on the stove but there was a pot of water that got boiled. The stretching took place in that water. but not while that water was on the stove.

Here is a link.
http://www.cheesemaking.com/Mozz-Culture.html

Here is the ingredient list
2 gallons of milk
1 packet of our thermophilic culture C201 or 1/4 tsp of the TA61
Rennet 1/2 tsp or 2.5 ml liquid rennet (single strength)
As much salt as you would like about 1/2 tsp.
 
Okay...got it.

Yes... use the whey instead of water for the heating/stretching. That helps it keep it's flavor nicely.

The first times I did mozz (quick), I used water and was quite disappointed with the flavor. Then I read several other recipes and learned to use the whey for heating instead of water. Totally changed the flavor!
 
Had to share how one little pullet caused anarchy and the battle of the sexes in my house! Our sweet Lav Orp seen above in my last post (with lovely editing by Mother2Hens) is the cause of all the trouble!

We got her home, and DH loved her, was mesmerized by her feathers having a purple tink. He and DS decided her name should be Princess Purple. But this was after DD and I had become very attached on the way home and named her Princess Belle. Boys against girls. Whose bird is it? Who gets to name it? Why do the girls get to name all the birds? My biggest surprise was that my 14 year old DS actually cared! Last year he did not really care about the chicks at all. But as they grew up and got personalities he is enjoying them. AHHH so now he cares.

So of course the only solution is to get a couple more Lav orps right! Belle is kinda lonely right now, although seems perfectly content to hang out with people as her companions. She is so darn sweet! After close to 24 hours of negotiations the boys conceded, this one can be Princess Belle IF we can name one of the other ones Princess Purple.

Who knew how one little pullet could cause such an uproar!
Aww, that's too funny! I am glad everyone is enjoying her.
Funny you mention it, my DH has taken over naming because I refuse to anymore. He and DDs argue over names all the time!
This is the very reason my LO are my favorites. Even my 2 year old rooster is just as pleasant as he could be. Its very rare to find an aggressive one, and if I do get a mean one, it does not stay in my LO flock.
Free range roosters I want aggressive of course, but my pet flock it won't work. And the size of these boys as adults, that would not be a good situation at all!
 

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