Bethanial
Lovin' The Homestead
Led by Raven Ray, he made mozzarella - well, he wanted to, but had a milk fail. We all loved it, though, b/c it showed that even the experts can still have issues! We only had 1-1/2 hrs b/c of all the other stuff going on this day (South Georgia Growing Local Conference).
Seriously, their cows dried up, so he had to get the raw milk from a totally new source. He'd made one batch of mozzarella ahead of time, hoping to show us how to make ricotta, also, but had to spend so much time futzing with the other he explained how to make ricotta instead. He even doubled the rennet and still no curd!
We got to see (and play with if desired) pulling the mozzarella (from batch he made ahead of time), and OH! it tasted so yummy!!!! He shared that if you're not eating it right away, once you've got it stretched, then kinda "tuck" it into a ball for pretty presentation, but then set it in a bowl of ice water to set/hold the shape - otherwise, it'll flatten back out. It'll still taste just fine, but it looks better
I also learned why you see mozz and ricotta together in so many Italian dishes (and you seasoned cheese-makers prolly already know this, but I didn't) is because the ricotta is a by-product of making mozz! He does salt the whey a bit before stretching the mozz. Unless his wife tells him not to because she wants to use the ricotta to make cheesecake.
He does make the mozz one batch at a time (one gallon of milk per recipe), and then takes the whey from two batches to make ricotta. Out of 2 gallons + 1 qt of milk he averages 3 lbs of cheese - 2 mozz, and 1 ricotta. While not necessary, when he makes the ricotta, he adds 1 qt of milk to the whey; Raven said he finds it produces a slightly creamier/smoother end product. And since they have cows and the cost of milk isn't an issue, this is how he does it. But he emphasized that the added quart isn't necessary, but also not to expect quite as much ricotta.
As I said in the other post, his go-to book is Ricki Carrol's Cheesemaking; he had others, but recommends this one if it's the only one you can get. Ummmm (I didn't actually take notes, trying to remember what all I heard), he prefers liquid rennet to tablets, but said that could be because he started out using the liquid so it's what he knows. He does order his citric acid from Ricki's website (cheesemaking.com, I think), and says it lasts forever. Emphasized that the 30-minute Mozzarella recipe is NOT for goat's milk; need to use a different recipe for goat's milk. Also that the fastest he's ever made that 30-minute mozz (his go-to recipe) is 1-1/2 hours (this was a question somebody asked). Another question he answered - he's never used vegetable rennet, so couldn't give his opinion on that.
That's all my brain is releasing right now
If I remember more, I'll add to this. Enjoy
Seriously, their cows dried up, so he had to get the raw milk from a totally new source. He'd made one batch of mozzarella ahead of time, hoping to show us how to make ricotta, also, but had to spend so much time futzing with the other he explained how to make ricotta instead. He even doubled the rennet and still no curd!
We got to see (and play with if desired) pulling the mozzarella (from batch he made ahead of time), and OH! it tasted so yummy!!!! He shared that if you're not eating it right away, once you've got it stretched, then kinda "tuck" it into a ball for pretty presentation, but then set it in a bowl of ice water to set/hold the shape - otherwise, it'll flatten back out. It'll still taste just fine, but it looks better
I also learned why you see mozz and ricotta together in so many Italian dishes (and you seasoned cheese-makers prolly already know this, but I didn't) is because the ricotta is a by-product of making mozz! He does salt the whey a bit before stretching the mozz. Unless his wife tells him not to because she wants to use the ricotta to make cheesecake.
He does make the mozz one batch at a time (one gallon of milk per recipe), and then takes the whey from two batches to make ricotta. Out of 2 gallons + 1 qt of milk he averages 3 lbs of cheese - 2 mozz, and 1 ricotta. While not necessary, when he makes the ricotta, he adds 1 qt of milk to the whey; Raven said he finds it produces a slightly creamier/smoother end product. And since they have cows and the cost of milk isn't an issue, this is how he does it. But he emphasized that the added quart isn't necessary, but also not to expect quite as much ricotta.
As I said in the other post, his go-to book is Ricki Carrol's Cheesemaking; he had others, but recommends this one if it's the only one you can get. Ummmm (I didn't actually take notes, trying to remember what all I heard), he prefers liquid rennet to tablets, but said that could be because he started out using the liquid so it's what he knows. He does order his citric acid from Ricki's website (cheesemaking.com, I think), and says it lasts forever. Emphasized that the 30-minute Mozzarella recipe is NOT for goat's milk; need to use a different recipe for goat's milk. Also that the fastest he's ever made that 30-minute mozz (his go-to recipe) is 1-1/2 hours (this was a question somebody asked). Another question he answered - he's never used vegetable rennet, so couldn't give his opinion on that.
That's all my brain is releasing right now
If I remember more, I'll add to this. Enjoy 
