A love of artisanal foods naturally leads to a desire to try your hand at making your own. Unfortunately, my first attempts at the ancient culinary craft of cheesemaking were, frankly, embarrassing.
Inspired after reading Barbara Kingsolver’s book “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life,” I had dreams of making my own mozzarella to top grilled pizzas and tuck between slices of heirloom tomatoes and basil.
I procured the milk, rennet tablets and citric acid to make the “30 Minute Mozzarella Magic” created by “Cheese Queen” Ricki Carroll, whose “Home Cheese Making” manual has inspired legions of novices to turn into cheesemakers. The founder of the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company in 1978 in an attempt to preserve the milk on her own farm, she has taught more than 7,000 people how to make cheese in workshops, not to mention the more than 100,000 who bought her book and presumably attempted it on their own.
With her beginner’s kit to guide me ($25 at www.cheesemaking.com), I dove in. I thought I followed the instructions perfectly. But when my first batch looked more like ricotta than the mozzarella I was attempting, I was discouraged enough to give up.
Thankfully, I ran into Paradise native Elisa Ranck Fleming, who was inspired by the same books, and dove into cheese making with her family.
As the Ranck family owns the Verdant View Farm, their unlimited supply of fresh milk afforded plenty of chances to experiment. They too had their own early failures. But once they got the hang of it, they added cheesemaking to the Farmer’s Apprentice programs at their bed and breakfast.
In addition to learning how to gather eggs or feed a goat, apprentices can try making butter, churning ice cream, or canning preserves.
“The mozzarella is really simple, so it’s a good one to teach,” says Fleming.
A cheesemaking apprenticeship was just what I needed to turn around my first failed attempt. Nothing beats hands-on training, and having experienced and confident cheesemakers to question throughout the process was invaluable.
Start with good milk
From the beginning, I learned why my attempt might have failed. Starting with local farm fresh whole milk is a definite advantage. Although I already knew not to use ultra-pasteurized milk, which is too heat damaged to form a solid curd, the milk I used may have been heated too much during the pasteurizing process. The closer to the cow, the better. There are a number of suppliers in Lancaster County licensed to sell raw milk, from directly on the farm to local stores (pick up a copy of the 2010 Green Pages to find a source near you).
As foodies know, the flavorful terroir of the cheese you create will vary with the grass the cows were eating when they made the milk, the soil quality, the weather, and even the genetics of the herd.
Using raw milk is a personal decision, and those who do so should try to use it for cheese within 40 hours. If there’s any question about the chance of the milk having pathogens, you should pasteurize it by heating it in a double boiler to 165 degrees for 30 minutes, then cool it quickly in an ice bath, then the refrigerator to below 40 degrees.
Pasteurized and homogenized whole milk is what most people will use, with the best results from local producers who use minimal processing and get it from cow to shelf quickly. Homogenized milk won’t work for hard cheeses, but can be used for soft cheeses like mozzarella. When using store-bought milk, you may want to add calcium chloride to help restore the balance between calcium and protein to form better curds.
Ingredients and supplies
Making cheese is basically removing the water from the milk to concentrate the protein and butterfat. To do this, in ancient times, people discovered that enzymes from the stomach of young ruminant would cause milk solids to separate from the whey and form curds. (The enzymes help the animal digest its mother’s milk). It proved a tasty way to store perishable milk.
Now extracted from calf stomachs, you can purchase rennet in liquid, tablet and powdered form. Vegetable rennet made from plants with coagulating properties is also now available for vegetarians.
While rennet helps the curds coagulate, citric acid helps the curds separate from the whey. Another mistake I made in my attempt at cheesemaking was to mix the citric acid, as well as dissolve the rennet tablet in tap water. Unlike the Rancks, I have chlorinated city water. It’s essential to use unchlorinated water, preferably distilled to make these ingredients liquid.
The Rancks get their rennet and other cheesemaking supplies from Miller’s Natural Foods in Bird-in-Hand. But they can also be ordered from the “Cheese Queen” herself at www.cheesemaking.com.
As for utensils, you’ll need a large stainless steel pot. The Rancks have found a double boiler works best for them, so make that two stainless steel pots.
“With our electric range, we found we had hot pockets, so using the double boiler shields the temperature from spiking,” says Fleming.
Measuring that temperature is also important. You’ll need a thermometer that reads between 80 to 120 degrees. If you want to wing it, 85 degrees feels lukewarm and 103 is hot but tolerable.
You’ll also need a knife, a colander or slotted spoon, and a microwave-safe bowl.
The process
Making cheese is like making bread, it’s a simple process, but you need to gain a feel for it to be successful. I found another of my rookie mistakes was impatience. Waiting for the curds and whey to separate, and then to coagulate, is essential. I was stirring too much, hence the ricotta-like results. When my apprenticeship yielded a white cheese mass separate from the clear whey, I was thrilled.
“If you take the curds off too early, they’ll be too soft. If they’re heated too much, they’ll melt,” cautions Fleming. “You want them to be just firm enough.”
Then the fun began as we kneaded the piping hot result like dough, stretching it like taffy, and popping it in the microwave to ensure it stayed hot through the process. We molded it into a glossy round and sprinkled it with salt. For special occasions, the Rancks will braid it or form other decorative shapes. We enjoyed it fresh and still warm on plain crackers so they wouldn’t overwhelm the delicate, mild taste.
Learning by doing, or watching
Cheesemaking apprenticeships at Verdant View Farm are $15 per person.
“Locals are certainly welcome,” says Elisa, adding that a tour of the farm and visits with the farm animals are included. Reservations are required, call 687-7353 or email reservations@verdantview.com to sign up. If you’re lucky, you’ll also get a tour of the specialty cheeses Elisa’s brother Aaron has been cultivating for the past two years, taking artisanall to a whole new level with his parmesans curing in the root cellar. His mother Ginny “babysits” them, wiping and turning them each week.
For step-by-step instructions and photographs, visit Carroll’s website at www.cheesemaking.com. You can also order a mozzarella and ricotta starter kit online, with enough supplies to last at least through 30 batches.
30-minute Mozzarella
Yield 1 pound
Ingredients:
1 gallon milk
1 1⁄2 tsp powdered citric acid dissolved in 1/4 cup cool water
1/4 tsp liquid rennet diluted in 1/4 cup cool water (if using rennet tablets, follow conversion instructions on the package)
Add the dissolved citric acid solution to the cold milk. Heat slowly to 90 degrees in a stainless steel pot over medium-low heat. The milk will begin to thicken like yogurt.
Gently stir in the diluted rennet for 30 seconds and turn the heat to low. In about 5 minutes, a firm curd will form, separating from the clear whey. If the whey is still white, wait a few more minutes.
Take off the heat. Use a knife to cut the curds into chunks. Scoop them out with a slotted spoon into a colander.
Reserve the whey.
Press the curds gently with your hands, squeezing out as much whey as possible.
Transfer curds to a heatproof bowl, microwave on high for a minute, pouring off the excess whey.
Knead the curd like you would bread dough, folding it over and over to distribute the heat, continuing to squeeze out excess whey. It will be almost too hot to handle (about 135 degrees), so either use rubber gloves, spoons, or tough it out.
If it’s not hot enough to stretch, you can return it to the microwave for 30 seconds at a time until the curd is smooth and pliable.
When the cheese stretches like taffy, it’s done. Roll it, braid it, and have fun. Best eaten fresh, it can be refrigerated for a week.
Whey Good
In true Lancaster County fashion, nothing is wasted at the Ranck’s farm. Once all the whey is pressed out from the cheese, it is used to make biscuits, which are a popular treat at the bed and breakfast.
Here is the recipe:
Cheese Whey Biscuits
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup whey
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
4 Tbsp. butter
1 cup Parmesan or cheddar cheese, grated
Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Cut in butter. Add whey and mix lightly just until combined. Add cheese.
Drop on greased cookie sheets. Bake at 450 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Remove immediately from cookie sheets. Best when served hot. Serves 10.