I should be spending this time doing other things besides blogging – i.e. unloading the dishwasher, reloading the dishwasher, getting this morning’s wash load into the dryer, sleeping
Anyway, I’m not. Right now, I’m deciding what to do with a batch of cheese that isn’t ruined, but I should have been watching it more. I goofed because I set the gallon of milk on to heat while looking up the exact proportions of citric acid and rennet to add so I can make my own mozzarella. (Might I add – YUM!) I got sidetracked with a nursing school application, and the next thing I knew, I was looking at milk that was scalded rather than gently heated to 90-degrees Fahrenheit. Whoops.
I hadn’t added a thing yet, so I added the citric acid. Wow, I went from hot milk to this in 5 seconds:
That would be lumps of curd in a cloudy-yellow whey. I’m sure it will be fine. I just won’t start with one solid lump that I have to cut then heat some more. And it’s definitely resisting melting into a lovely stringy mozzarella. Hmmm… I decided to drain the curds as best as I could and pack them into a small container so they could hopefully mold together into a solid mass. I’ll let you know how my ricotta turns out.
For your own cheese making adventures, I highly recommend The New England Cheesemaking Supply Company. Their website is full of information, encouragement, and step by step pictorial recipes for beginners and enthusiasts.
For me, well, I hope I didn’t just waste an entire gallon of raw milk and that curds are a forgiving sort.
tallrayofsunshine 