Ricki's Mozzarella

New England Cheesmaking Co.

time: 1/2 hour

yield: 3/4 pound

Ingredients:

1 gallon milk

1/4 cup cold water

2 tsp. citric acid

1/2 rennet tablet or 1/4 tsp. liquid rennet

1 tsp. cheese salt (optional)

Directions:

1. break rennet tablet in half. crush the tablet in the bottom of a glass. if using liquid rennet, go directly to step 3.

2. add 1/4 cup cold water to dissolve. ( this will take awhile, so let it dissolve while you do the rest, stirring

occasionally as you work.)

3. pour your milk into a non-aluminum pot. sprinkle 2 tsp. citric acid into the milk and stir to mix.

4. * heat the milk to 88 degrees F. when the thermometer in the milk reads 88 - 90 F, add the rennet solution and

stir. (if using liquid rennet, stir 1/4 tsp. directly into the milk)

5. keep stirring on the heat as the milk begins to clabber. (this may take a couple of minutes.) when you have a

large mass of curd, clearly separated from the whey, take the pot off the heat. (you should be able to scoop out the

curd with a slotted spoon at this point. if it's still too liquid, let it set for 10 minutes, covered.)

6. ** when the curd is ready, you will be able to ladle it into a microwavable bowl.

7. microwave on high for 1 minute. drain off any whey. pick it up or use spoons to knead it like bread dough. then,

heat it up again for 30-40 seconds and knead it some more. if you like it salted, work 1 tsp. into the curd while you are

kneading and stretching. if necessary, microwave several times for 30-40 seconds until the cheese flows like taffy.

when it is smooth and shiny it is ready to eat. if you are going to wait, wrap it in plastic wrap or put it in a food storage

container and refrigerate or freeze.

* it is VERY important that you use a quality insta read thermometer. If the temp goes over 100 the cheese is ruined.

** if you don't have a microwave, you may want to put on heavy rubber gloves at this point. heat the whey up to at least

175 F. add 1/4 cup salt to the whey. shape the curd into one or more balls, put them in a ladle or strainer and dip them into the hot

whey for several seconds. knead between dippings with your hands or with spoons and repeat this process several times until it is

smooth and pliable.

the necessary supplies are available through:

http://www.cheesemaking.com/

it's not necessary to buy the kit. if I had had the recipe before ordering I would have just bought the rennet and citric acid.

my first attempt failed because the thermometer they sent with the kit was almost 20 degrees off. the mixture got too hot and

broke into a very small, grainy curd. when drained it became very hard but still was good with extra virgin olive oil. I haven't had

time to try it again but I'm planning on it this weekend. :-)