Making the most of excess milk...

Pasture to plate in half an hour....

Now there are only two of us and still a lot of milk we've been making cheese.  So simple and yet so rewarding, from pasture to plate in 30 minutes for the Mozzarella we made today.  Above are some hard cheeses made with Kefir culture that we are experimenting with.

Very simple Mozzarella

Even if you don't have your own cow you can make this delicious cheese using regular whole milk.  There are a couple of ingredients you'll need;

5L Whole Milk (Grassfed raw is best)
2 tsp Citric Acid
1.5 tsp Rennet
1- 2 tsp Salt to taste

Begin heating the milk and add the citric acid as it heats to sour the milk and begin the curdling process.  You should aim for 37°C then add the rennet.  The milk will begin splitting, and you rise the temperature to 40 °C and let it sit for 5 minutes or so to separate.

Next step, using a slotted spoon, lift out the curds into a strainer above another bowl and add half the salt whilst gently working the curds to remove excess moisture.  The more you work out at this point the firmer the resulting cheese will be.

In the meantime heat the whey up to around 80- 85°C for the cheese stretching

This goes back into the hot whey to get conditioned and stretchy.  You begin to pull and stretch the cheese when its warm enough, a bit like kneading bread.  This process homogenizes the texture and you end up with a silky smooth ball that holds together firmly.  At this point squeeze to desired shape and transfer to cold water/ whey & remaining salt to cool down.

Super simple & tastes great.  This is REAL food!

Above are some hard cheeses made with Kefir culture that we are experimenting with.