Homemade Mozzarella

Homemade mozzarella cheese is actually quite easy and fun to make and you get rewarded with delicious fresh cheese!

Let’s start with the fact that I love cheese. No, I mean I really, really love cheese. I love cheese on sandwiches, cheese on meat,  cheese in cake, cheese on popcorn, and cheese with so so so many other things. So when I found this Gourmet Mozzarella Cheese Kit from Makers Kit (sadly, no longer available, but this Mozzarella Cheesemaking Kit looks just as good!). I thought it would be a fun Christmas gift for some of the other cheese lovers in my life. It’s cute and fits into a stocking. Plus, it’s like giving an experience. Not like giving a trip across Europe type experience, but still, a cheese making experience. But with these kind of things, it’s best to try it for yourself before you give it. Right? Well I think I might have found myself a new hobby. Seriously.

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I can honestly say that I was nervous about making cheese. I kept thinking I was going to be wasting a gallon of milk and a bunch of time. Well, it turned out I did neither. I made the cheese, it turned out great, and it really didn’t take very much time at all. Like maybe 30 minutes. I’m not going to lie, I was pretty proud of myself. The kit from Makers Kit, had the instructions, a dairy thermometer, rennet, citric acid and some Italian spices…all packaged together in a cute little milk jar. It was too easy.

Supplies:

1 gallon organic whole milk (make sure it is NOT ultrapasturized, otherwise it won’t curdle)

Mozzarella Cheese Making Kit (affiliate link)

salt (cheese salt, Kosher salt, whatever salt)

Large pot

colander

measuring spoons and cups

rubber gloves

Immediately after adding the citric acid there was a little curdling, which you can see on the spoon.

After adding the rennet, a huge amount of curdling happened. It was like magic. At least I thought it was pretty darn cool.

After the allotted time for resting after adding the rennet was up, I started to get nervous. You have to cut up the curd to help separate the whey. The cheese in the YouTube videos I watched appeared firmer. But I kept on trucking…and it worked out just fine. I did a second batch and followed the directions a little closer and it looked the way it was supposed to. Totally my error, but it turned out great anyhow!

Half way through the process, like Little Miss Muffet, eating playing with curds and whey. I didn’t eat it at this stage. Hey, does anyone have a tuffet I can borrow?

I can’t believe how much whey/water was in that milk.

The fun part is stretching the chesse. Oh an this is the time to add some Kosher salt to it too.

At this point it gets molded into a ball, or whatever shape. I kind of wanted to make it into a pumpkin shape or brain…you know, for Halloween. Or a wreath shape at Christmas. Oooh I’m getting ideas!

Slice up that homemade mozzarella, add some crusty bread, heirloom tomatoes, fresh basil, oil and vinegar and fire up the grill! It. Tastes. Amazing.

Have you ever made cheese? Do you think you’d like homemade mozzarella?