Eating Her Curds and Whey..

Hi friends,

Happy Tuesday to you! Or better yet, happy LOST day for all you Lost followers out there.  After reading "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle", my friend Cindy and I ventured to make Ricki Carroll's (Cheese Guru) 30 minute mozzarella recipe.  Who knew real life people like ourselves could make cheese!?  Well we did it and we did it quite well I think.  I thought I'd post the recipe and instructions for you to try and make it as well.

Ingredients:
I found all of these ingredients minus the milk at a cheese supply store called "All Seasons" in Nashville.
1 Gallon of pasteurized whole milk (NOT ultra pasteurized milk)
1 1/2 tsp of citric acid dissolved in 1/4 c. cool water
1/2 tsp liquid rennet dissolved in 1/4 c. cool water
1  Stainless Steel Pot
1 Thermometer

Directions:
1. Stir the milk on the stove in a stainless steel pot, heating very gently. At 55 degrees add the citric acid solution and mix thoroughly. At 88 degrees, it should being to curdle.

2. Gently stir in the diluted rennet with up and down motion, and continue to heat the milk to just over 100 degrees, then turn off the heat.  Curds should be pulling away from the sides of the pot, ready to scoop out.

3. Use a slotted spoon to move curds from pot to a 2 quart microwaveable bowl.

4. Press curds gently with hands to remove as much whey as possible.  Microwave the curds on high for 1 minute, then knead the cheese again with hands to remove more whey.

5. Microwave 2 more times (35 seconds each) kneading between each heating.  At this point, salt the cheese to taste, then knead and pull until its smooth and elastic.  I recommend not pulling too much because I'm afraid it makes the cheese a little hard.

The End! You did it!  Next stop...Cheddar.

love,
Beth