Yesterday was cheese-making day. Or should I say attempt at cheese-making day. Actually, it all started last Saturday. I wanted milk that wasn't ultra-pasteurized so Leo and I made plans to go to a neighboring farm which is housing the last of our remaining milk cows. I am not fluent in Pennsylvania Dutch and Leo is; it just made it easier.
We walked into the dark barn just as the evening chores were beginning. Greeted by five youngsters and their dad, we were also assailed with the scents of all that go with a barn. But, it wasn't a bad smell, at least not to me. It kinda made me sad for how it used to be when we had a barn filled with Holsteins. I never thought I'd say that I like the smell of cow breath in a hay scented barn on a cold evening that left every breath hang in the air for just a second before dissipating.
Not only the smells, but even the sounds made me feel nostalgic. Squeaky milkers with a not-quite-right seal, the gentle mooing, the sound of grain being chewed, the huff of a cow as she laid back down in her stall, the jangle of a chain against a metal pipe.
Since we had gotten there before even the first cow was milked, we waited and watched. The children all watched too, except they watched us, curious and wondering about our presence in their barn, but not saying a word...just watching. I tried a few of my Pennsylvania Dutch words on them but only got a few half-smiles. I think they were being polite at my odd pronunciation and completely random assortment of words. It's a little hard to put "cat", "a little", and "cow" into a meaningful sentence. Especially without pronouns and verbs. I could've told them, in Pennsylvania Dutch that they had nice legs. I am sure an even more awkward silence would have followed. Don't ask why I know that particular phrase.
Soon, a steaming pail of milk was collected and poured into our gallon jug. With a thank you and a smile, we were homeward bound, milk in hand.
Fast forward to yesterday.
I gathered the needed supplies and ingredients: Milk, rennet tablets, citric acid and salt, large pot, wooden spoon and thermometer. I followed this link:
http://heart-hands-home.blogspot.com/2011/01/homemade-mozzarella-cheese.html
Rennet tablets were rather difficult to find; I finally found these at Springs Store. I now have 16 tablets and the recipe called for 1/4 of a tablet. You do the math. Until I use them all up, I may be an expert cheese maker. (Believe me, it'll take that long!)
I heated the milk and somehow thought 90 degrees was warmer than it really is. Oops.
And it takes a long time to cool back down to 90 degrees from 120 degrees. Grrrr.
Note to self: Next time, just stand there with the thermometer; it will save time in the long run.
Once the milk was the correct temperature, I added the rennet tablet. The link I used said the "thickening" would only take 8-10 minutes. The packaging insert said 1-2 hours. Well, I added another 1/4 tablet after mine didn't set and waited the 2 hours. Ir worked. Finally.
After I drained off what seemed like way more (or should I say whey more?) than a gallon of liquid, I was left with a pile of curds that when microwaved in short increments of 30 seconds, looked like this:
I tried to shape it into the smooth log of mozzarella cheese, just like the picture on the website.
I finally gave it up, plunged it into ice water and pulled out this:
While it doesn't exactly look like mozzarella cheese, it tastes like mozzarella cheese and even melted on top of our stuffed peppers tonight. It's kinda like a mass of mozzarella stings and folds. For a first try, I'll take it. Besides, I have ingredients for another 31 tries. And at the neighboring farm, the farmer told us to come by anytime for more milk. It may be time to learn a second language, or at least add to the vocabulary I already know. I looked it up and "cheese" is "kais"(I think pronounced like "case).
Love (or lieb),
Dianne
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