Makin Fresh Mozzarella with some cute helpers

[Scarbelly]

We have become good friends with one of our 4H families and their girls love to come cook with us. I decided to make some cheese today so I called and two of the three were available

Here they are heating up the milk


Curds are starting to form


Removing the curds so we can form the cheese


You can see the cheese in the bowl cooling while they made some bread with Mrs Scar - this one really gets into her work


This is the only shot I got of the cheese. They went thru it so fast it was almost gone before I could save some for their parents


Thanks for looking

[Meat Hunter]

Always good when ya got someone to help out. I really want to get on this cheese gig and I think, from what I read anyhow, Mozzarella is one of the best ones to start with. Love Mozzarella cheese. Ya done did good Scar.

[Scarbelly]

Always good when ya got someone to help out. I really want to get on this cheese gig and I think, from what I read anyhow, Mozzarella is one of the best ones to start with. Love Mozzarella cheese. Ya done did good Scar.

It is a no brainer - one of the easiest things I have ever made and damn tasty too

[Fire it up]

I really want to get on this cheese gig and I think, from what I read anyhow, Mozzarella is one of the best ones to start with.

Ricotta is supposedly simple too... some homemade cheeses, sauce and even pasta. That would make a fantastic lasagna!

Cheese looked like it came out great, I may not be that cute but would be more than happy to come over and snack on some fresh homemade cheese

[ALX]

[HawgHeaven]

Nicely done sir!!! And cute li'l helpers ta' boot!!

[chisoxjim]

way to pay it forward boss.

Its up to each and every one of us to teach the younger generations what food is, and how to make it. Otherwise they will learn to settle for questionable enhanced meats, Oscar Mayer, & Kraft for their food choices.

[TasunkaWitko]

awesome, gary - always nice to see some good, old-fashioned wisdom (in the form of DIY how-to and self-reliance) going from one generation down to the next - it provides hope for the future!

i'm out of points for now, but will try to remember on the re-load!

[Squirrel]

way to pay it forward boss.

Its up to each and every one of us to teach the younger generations what food is, and how to make it. Otherwise they will learn to settle for questionable enhanced meats, Oscar Mayer, & Kraft for their food choices.

Well said sir. Me sweet little Brianna is coming for spring break and wants to make cheese. That's awesome Gary what you and the missus do for the 4-H kids. We talked about this once before, but I think I would like to get involved in the way of food. Got any ideas? Guess I could contact the local 4-H folks.

[Scarbelly]

Well said sir. Me sweet little Brianna is coming for spring break and wants to make cheese. That's awesome Gary what you and the missus do for the 4-H kids. We talked about this once before, but I think I would like to get involved in the way of food. Got any ideas? Guess I could contact the local 4-H folks.

I would contact the local 4H group and see what they have going in the cooking area. Most of them have a really basic program where they teach them how to make one thing at a time like a meatloaf or something real generic. We take the kids that come out of that program and run them thru ours. We only do the class once a month so it does not interfere with their other activities and we stop when the start showing the animals in May.
Let me know if I can help - I have the recipes we have tested with the kids and have used for several years. I would take your classes in a heartbeat!

[shellbellc]

I know that people who make cheese will say to buy I think rennet or there is a way to do one of them with vinegar I think, but when I first tried doing the mozz, I bought this kit. I'm sure it's more expensive than just buying the rennet, but I felt safer going this route...

http://www.cheesemaking.com/30-Minut...cotta-Kit.html

[curious aardvark]

nice

actually that kit's very good value for money:

Kit contains enough ingredients to make Mozzarella 30 times using our own easy recipe! The whole process takes ±30 minutes!!! For those of you who have goat's milk, this recipe works like a charm. Our Mozzarella recipe may also be made with powdered milk (recipe included)! To see the actual recipe, click on the 'More Information" tab above. Recipe booklet also includes recipe for quick and easy Ricotta, as well as a small variety of recipes using these two cheeses.

CONTENTS: Dairy Thermometer (E3), Butter Muslin (U2), Citric Acid (C13), Vegetable Rennet Tablets (R4), Cheese Salt (S1) and Recipe Booklet

$24.95 for 30 batches of cheese, just add milk - works for me :-)

[Scarbelly]

I know that people who make cheese will say to buy I think rennet or there is a way to do one of them with vinegar I think, but when I first tried doing the mozz, I bought this kit. I'm sure it's more expensive than just buying the rennet, but I felt safer going this route...

http://www.cheesemaking.com/30-Minut...cotta-Kit.html

I also bought a kit and the reason I did is so we can send all the 4H kids home with enough to make one batch at home. I think the kit I got makes 36 batches

[nomorecoop]

Dude. That is cool. Points for sharing & points for showing the younger generation how to make outstanding from scratch food.

[Abelman]

Great pics and story, the best part is helping and teaching the kids. Great job all around!