Our hot summer is continuing!
Meanwhile, the cheese saga continues.....
On Saturday, I decided to try again.
I had a bottle of whole milk, no organic or grass fed this time.
Plain old regularly pasteurized whole milk.
No ultra-pasteurization.
I was encouraged when I saw initial curdling
as I heated the milk and citric acid to 90 degrees.
I added my rennet solution.
I stirred gently, covered it, and set it aside for five minutes.
No luck.
I covered it again for five minutes more, as directed.
No luck.
In an attempt to salvage my investment of time and money,
I gently heated the milk mixture to 190
(the temperature at which I have made ricotta),
then poured it (using a ladle) through cheesecloth.
I collected much less curd than I do when making ricotta,
only enough to fill a 6-oz custard cup.
When I tasted it, I discovered that the texture is GRAINY
and not appealing at all.
At this point, I am giving up mozzarella cheese making.
I wrote to the company that makes rennet,
and suggested that if they think the rennet is at fault,
they might send me more.
However, I told them,
otherwise I am limiting my cheese-making to ricotta.
That has always come out pretty good!
They responded that this problem happens
if the milk was pasteurized above 168 degrees.....Sigh.
That's it for me!
That's okay, the regular ricotta recipe hasn't failed me yet!
I used to make ricotta with citric acid,
then I discovered that the vinegar method worked fine.
Here's a basic recipe, similar to what I've done in the past.
Some other recipes call for heavy cream to be added for a creamier ricotta.
How To Make Homemade Ricotta Cheese
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