Making Mozzarella

We have an awesome family in our ward. They are pretty much self sufficient. They grow most of what they eat and have a lot of animals. They sell eggs and honey that they produce. I was talking to her a few weeks ago and she has some great ideas for things we can try with the young women. She suggested that we try making cheese.

The recipe for mozzarella only requires four ingredients: Whole milk, rennet, citric acid powder and salt.


Hannah thought it sounded fun so we decided to give it a trial run.


The recipe said it could be made in half and hour. It took us about and hour. You warm the milk up to about 55 degrees, add citric acid, slowly warm to 105 degrees, add the rennet and wait for the curds to form. This took a bit longer than anticipated, and at first I was afraid that all we had was a big pot of yuck.


You separate the curds from the whey, which can be a bit time consuming. Warm in the microwave several times. Removing any excess liquid between heatings and pull a bit like taffy adding salt as you go.


It was yummy, but could have used a bit more salt. It isn't really expensive, but not very cost effective either. We could have used the whey to make riccotta, we didn't. It was an adventure.

You are supposed to be able to shape the cheese. They suggested making it into logs that could be sliced for mozzarella and tomato salad. It cooled to fast for me. We settled for a lovely lump of cheese.