Raw milk mozzarella (Flint Hill Farms, Coopersburg, PA)
This raw milk mozzarella was made using 1 gallon of raw, whole cow’s milk, 1/4 of a vegetable rennet tablet, and 1.5 tsp of citric acid. I used bottled water to dissolve the rennet and citric acid.
Something that I did (without realizing it) was crush the rennet tablet between wax paper with the flat side of my knife. Then I slid the powdered tablet off the wax paper and into the water. This made the rennet easy to disperse in the solution, and it was clearly working. The curds obviously formed between 20-30 seconds and were thick enough to resist the spoon.
Milk + citric acid reaches 90 degrees, and I add the rennet. After a slow 30 seconds of stirring the rennet, the curds are resisting the spoon
After standing, 5 min, removed from the heat. Curds have cleared pulled away from the sides of the pot
After cutting the curds, I stirred gently and heated to 105 degrees. Curds clump together in the center of the pot
Heat to 105 degrees
After the pot reached 105 degrees, stirred for 5 minutes off the heat, then scooped curds into bowl. Temp is around 100 degrees
Before microwaving
After microwaving for 1 minute. More whey is released.
Drained off some of the excess whey into the sink
Pressed curds with gloved hands to drain whey
Temp is around 123 degrees
Microwaved in 10-20 second bursts, until 135 degrees was reached
Streched curds by shaping into a ball
The curds were hot and easily stretched.
During stretching and shaping, the curds became glossy
Continued folding and smoothing into a ball.
The entire stretching and shaping process took 30-60 seconds. Shaped ball was still very warm.
Pasteurized “Whole” Milk Mozzarella
I used the same technique in which I crushed the rennet tablet with the flat side of my knife between a folded piece of wax paper. The rennet and citric acid were the same as above. I had only 1/2 gallon of pasteurized whole milk, so I used another 1/2 gallon of 2% pasteurized milk for 1 gallon total.
Added citric acid and gently stirred milk until it reached 90 degrees
Removed milk from heat, and added rennet. Stirred for a slow 30 seconds. Noticeable curd formation by 20 seconds, and by 30 seconds the curds were resisting the spoon.
After sitting for 5 minutes, off the heat, lid on. Notice the curds are not as tightly formed compared to the raw milk curds above
After cutting the curds, I stirred them very gently and slowly on the heat to reach 105 degrees. I didn’t realize it, but my thermometer was poorly placed, and the mixture got hotter than I intended…closer to 120 degrees.
I spooned out the curds. They are smaller clumps than the raw milk curds above.
The whey after straining out the curds. The whey is “clearer” and more yellow than the whey from the raw milk.
The strained curds are warmer than I intended. When I did this for the raw milk, the curds were around 100 degrees at this point.
I heated for 20 seconds only (rather than 1 minute) to get the curds close to ~120-125 degrees. I strained the excess whey into the sink. The curds are stiffer and smaller than the raw milk curds. I choose this time and temperature because I was heating the curds to match the temp I got for the raw milk curds (after I heated those for 1 minute)
The curds are about 114 degrees at this point. I need to heat to 135 degrees for stretching
Microwaving for 20 seconds gets the curds to 135 degrees (after a few seconds of waiting for the temp to stabilize)
I folded the hot curds over and over. They are looser, and required more work to make them stiffen and become glossy.
As the curds stiffened, I was able to shape into a ball. The curds are less stretchy than the raw milk curds. The entire stretching and shaping process takes 30-60 seconds.
