Homemade Cheese
I’ve started making some homemade cheese the last few months. It all started with reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (P.S.)
Back to cheese. I’ve made mozzarella twice now from the Cheese Queen’s recipe. The first time had it’s bumps and learning curve, but it turned out great (a little salty but great). The second time, my mozzarella turned out less salty, but the consistency was slightly grainy (this still could have been the salts fault). Not the smooth texture I was looking for. However, this hasn’t quelled my enjoyment of making cheese. The second mozzarella tasted great and I’ve really enjoyed the learning process.
Anthony got me a hard cheese making kit for Christmas and the Home Cheese Making: Recipes for 75 Delicious Cheeses
It has been drying and smells quite nice. It smells like cheese in fact. We’ll be waxing it today, and then it will go to the garage to age for a few months. The cheese was so easy to make, there were a few mistakes along the way, but overall the process was fun and we had great results. I’m looking forward to making another, and then possibly a Gouda or a parmesan or a…..
Strings and Yarn 
beautiful!
Your cheese is gorgeous! I’m jealous.
It’s funny you should post about this. I’ve been thinking about homemade cheese a lot lately. This is a website I’ve found pretty interesting.
http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Cheese/CHEESE.HTML
We’ve been making cheese here too after reading that book. Actually, my husband has mostly. Sometimes his batches are a bit salty so he has been trying to add less. The first time he tried it, he used skim milk but it works much better with whole milk. What we are compromising on is a half gallon of whole and a half gallon of skim… (I think that the biggest problem with making your own cheese is that the milk is so much heavier to carry than actual cheese when you come home from the store!). Anyway – it actually isn’t that easy to find milk that is not ultrapasturized here. All the organic brands are – but there is a brand called The Farmer’s Cow that is local that works, but of course it is very expensive… Anyway, it is funny how each batch has its own personality, isn’t it?
I read the book in the fall and loved it. I was doing so well with my shopping but I’m starting to fall off the wagon. You give me hope that it will be easier once summer roles around again.