Learn To Make Cheese

We enjoyed this post at Eight Square Meters about a computer science grad student’s first cheesemaking efforts.   With basic equipment like a thermometer and just milk, lemons and rennet, he turned out some lovely mozzarella cheese balls to share with family.  We sense this will not be his last cheesemaking endeavor.

There is also a link to his Flickr site which has tons of step-by-step photos.  Really helpful if you’re not quite sure what to expect when making homemade mozzarella cheese.  bon appetit!

Eight Square Metres » Cheese Making Part I: Mozzarella.

We liked this informative mozzarella-making demo. It takes you from cutting the curd through stretching and forming the mozzarella cheese. Unlike a lot of cheesemaking videos, it’s set in a home kitchen so you can see the setup people have – their utensils, bowls, etc. It will make you want to try your hand at cheesemaking yourself!

Fresh mozzarella cheese is one of the most popular cheeses that people are making at home.  It is a quick, fairly easy process that requires minimal equipment.

The basic things a beginner needs to make homemade mozzarella cheese at home are:

• fresh mozzarella cheese curds
• sea salt
• large pot for boiling water
• large and flat-bottomed stainless steel bowl
• wooden spoon
• latex gloves (unless you like immersing your bare hands in painfully hot water)

If you don’t have a cheesemaking supply store nearby, there are plenty of online sources such as the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company. Or, they offer fabulous cheesemaking kits for mozzarella, ricotta, goat cheese, mascarpone and more in a range of prices.  They include recipes, gadgets like thermometers, vegetable rennet, even instructional dvds.