EIC

Mozzarella is a traditionally southern Italian cheese made from Italian buffalo's milk by the pasta filata method. Fresh mozzarella is generally white but when seasoned it turns to a light yellow depending on the animal's diet.

Ingredients

• ▢1 gallon fresh milk I prefer fresh, whole raw milk for the absolute best results. However, you can also use skimmed milk (2% etc) or pasteurized milk. Avoid homogenized or ultra-pasteurized milk though!
• ▢1.5 tsp citric acid
• ▢1 cup water to dissolve the citric acid
• ▢0.01 ounce rennet liquid or tablet – you can use vegetable rennet for a vegetarian version
• ▢4 Tbsp water to dissolve the rennet
• ▢Cheese salt aka kosher salt/non-iodied salt.
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Instructions

Stage 1 – Prepare the milk

• In a bowl, mix the citric acid and water and stir until dissolved.
• Meanwhile, in aseparate bowl, mix the rennet and water and stir well until dissolved.
• Pour the milk into a large pot and add the citric acid mix. Warm the mixture over medium heat and stir slowly but constantly until the milk reaches 32ºC/90ºF. Remove from the heat as soon as you reach the required temperature.
• Add the rennet mixture to the warm milk and stir a few times slowly to mix well. Then cover the pot and set aside for 5 minutes.*
• After about 5 minutes, the milk should have 'set' and be a consistency similar to a thick yogurt or pudding that you can slice through. If you can cut through it nicely in a straight line, you can move to the next step. If not, set aside for another 5 minutes and try again.

Stage 2 – Prepare the curds

• To cut the curds, It's best to create a grid pattern through the curds, first slicing one way, then the other. Make sure to cut deep into the cuts, by touching the bottom of the pot.
• Then, heat the curds over medium heat and stir very slowly but constantly. Try not to break the curds too much. They only need to reach 41ºC/106ºF so they will warm up quite quickly (this heating will help the curds to toughen slightly).

  Remove the pot from the heat as soon as the required temperature is reached. Continue to stir, slowly, for another 5 minutes. During this time, the curds will begin to separate from the whey.
• Scoop the cheese curds from the pot with a slotted spoon, into a large colander lined with cheesecloth/muslin or a nut milk bag and allow the curds to drain into a bowl (as this whey can be used) for around 5 minutes.
• You can either set the whey aside now or use around half of it for the next step.

Stage 3 – Shaping the mozzarella

• Fill up a large bowl with hot water or heat up the whey liquid** (until about 76ºC/170ºF) and place the curds inside. It may be easier to divide the curds in half and do this in two go's.

  Keep the curds in the hot liquid for a few minutes. This is when the mozzarella is taking shape – the curds should become stretchy, a bit smooshy, and look a little like melted cheese***.
• Finally, remove from the hot whey/ water, add some salt and then stretch and fold the curds onto themselves (using gloves), like how you would with taffy.

  Repeat until they become shiny and firm (usually just a few folds will do like between 3-7- don't overwork it). Then roll into balls and quickly cool them. (See in the video).

  If it's hard to shape into a ball or comes apart while stretching, place back in the hot liquid and allow to heat up a little more to shape into the final, smooth ball. You can also make small mozzarella balls (Bocconcini).

How To Store

• Serve the fresh mozzarella immediately or store in the fridge in the whey or a slated brine for up to a week.

  You can also freeze the mozzarella for up to six months