Say Cheese!

How to make fresh cheese at home.

July 22, 2014

Melanie Baron,

Amelia is no stranger to the kitchen. We’ve been cooking together since she was a toddler, mostly baking and making simple meals. Last week, while snacking on her umpteenth cheese stick of the day, she asked me how to make cheese.

Hmmm. Good question. I had no idea, so we turned on the computer. Within seconds, we were watching videos about cheese making, and it didn’t look all that hard. A facebook query elicited the suggestion that we buy a cheese-making kit, which contains a few hard-to-find ingredients and very simple instructions.

And now we’re hooked.

It really is simple. To make about a pound of fresh, delicious mozzarella cheese, you need a gallon of whole milk, and three key ingredients that are included in the kit: citric acid (a powder that isn’t nearly as scary as it sounds), rennet tablets, and cheese salt. There are plenty of explanations online about the science behind cheesemaking and what each of these ingredients does, but mostly Amelia was interested in the separation of curds and whey, and we distracted ourselves while the milk heated by speculating about what kind of cheese Little Miss Muffet may have been snacking on.

Basically, cheese-making involves heating, stirring, straining, and stretching. And of course, tasting.

But the process also incorporates observation of change of states from liquid to semi-solid, using a thermometer (in the kit!) to monitor temperatures, and pulling cheese as far as your arms can reach like taffy.

We learned a bit about food science, had some fun, and best of all – we have enough supplies to make another 39 pounds of cheese!