Homemade Mozzarella Cheese!

This is it! The big one! The one you've all been waiting for. In today's blog, I'm going to teach you how to make mozzarella cheese at home--from your food storage! The recipe calls for 2 c. half and half, but if you're making it from food storage, use boxed whole milk. It's in the juice aisle, and the box it comes in looks like a juice box. Use two juice boxes per recipe of cheese. You can also use 1-1/2 c. olive oil, but your cheese won't be white. It'll be kind of an off-white. It'll still taste good though. The recipe sounds intimidating, but it only takes a little over half an hour, and it really is quite simple. This recipe makes approximately 3/4 a pound of cheese.

Tools:

Large stainless steel stock pot
Meat or dairy thermometer (one that goes down to at least 70 degrees F)
CALIBRATE YOUR THERMOMETER FIRST!
Slotted spoon
Rubber gloves (like the kind you use for cleaning, only make sure they're only used for food)
Microwave

Ingredients:

1/2 Rennet Tablet (near the Jell-O and Custard; the brand is Junket)
1/4 c. bottled water (non-chlorinated
1 gallon reconstituted dry milk, minus 2 cups (after you mix the milk, let it sit out for a few hours so the flavor can blend)
2 c. half-and-half (not fat free!)
2 tsp. citric acid (you can find this at a health-food store or a pharmacy)
1-2 tsp. non-iodized salt (also called cheese salt or canning salt)

Steps:

1. Crush 1/2 rennet tablet in 1/4 c. cool, non-chlorinated water.

2. In a large stainless steel pot, combine the milk (minus the two cups!) and the half and half. Turn heat to medium.

3. Sprinkle 2 level tsp. citric acid into the milk and stir gently using the slotted spoon. Slowly heat milk to 88 degrees F. You will start to see your milk curdle.

4. Once your milk has reached 88 degrees F, add the dissolved rennet. Continue stirring slowly every few minutes until the milk reaches 105 degrees F. Remove from heat. At this point, you should have some chunky or stringy curds. If your curds aren't huge, let them sit for a while, and they'll get bigger.

5. The milk will separate into white curds and yellowish-green whey. Once it does this, you can scoop the curds out into a microwave-safe bowl or pour into a strainer lined with cheese cloth. Pour off as much of the whey as you can.

6. Microwave the curds on high for 1 minute, drain off excess whey. Knead cheese with your hands--make sure to use your gloves--until cool. While you're kneading, you can add your 1-2 tsp. salt.

7. Put cheese back in the microwave, heat on high for 35 seconds, knead, and repeat. Cheese is done when it is shiny and stretches like taffy.

If you're creative and you like string cheese, you can shape it into rods or other shapes and eat it just like string cheese. It's also great on crackers, lasagna, or wherever else you use cheese. It melts just like the stuff you buy from the store. And be sure to tell all your friends you made your own cheese--they'll be amazed!