Mozzarella: The Fail Continues

Sadly, this is Mozzarella Fail Part II.

While I'm tempted to dwell on the sad and very dismal results of my mozzarella making to date, I will instead point out that we have done many aspects that have dramatically improved over time.

Improvement #1:  I have learned quite a bit about dairy and milk pasteurization.

In mozzarella making it's crucial that you have milk that's either raw (depending on the state where you live), vat pasteurized or low-heat pasteurized.



In DC, there is no raw milk available. Side note: i have spent time learning about cow-sharing in nearby Virginia, where you can buy into a portion of a cow and get weekly raw milk! I have not opted for that as i can also get a gallon of vat pasteurized milk for $8 at my local organic market. I'm sure in Oregon and Washington there are cheaper, more prevalent options.

This milk cap shows that this is GOOD milk. Pasteurized, but not homogenized. Yum.

 

I think I'll stick with these low-heat/vat pasteurized milk that maintain the integrity of the milk proteins and nutrients, without risking bacterial infection. That seems like a happy trade off.

Improvement #2: a new thermometer! Look at that fancy digital display. Who's getting serious about cheesemaking? This girl with her high tech thermometer!

Improvement #3:  CURD!! This curd was made possible by the low-heat pasteurization.

This was the first time we made anything remotely resembling curd in all the it-so-simple-to-make-mozzarella blogs that show this checkerboard cut through curd.

No, seriously - it's CURD!! Like for real curd.

The curd turned into the next stage. Success! ... this was the last of the successful stages, really.

This photo does not show and improvment, so much as hope - before we knew the final outcome would be yet another failure. Aw, so innocently full of hope and excitement. 

We were legitimately SO excited. Thrilled! We had successfully made balls of mozzarella. Look at them!!

I was really tempted to just tell y'all that this was it. We made it! No one would be the wiser. But I would be. And Victoria. And that's a lie I just couldn't live with.

The truth? That cheese was disgusting. And hard as a rock by the next day.

This ad at Pret a Manger perfectly summed up how I felt the mozzarella has been mocking us this whole time!!!

But! It's been so much fun. My cheese making partner in crime has been with me through failure after failure - as has the wine.

One day, I will conquer this cheese!