6.26.2008

Making Cheese

Yes, you read that right. Making cheese. Not making a grilled ham and cheese or macaroni and cheese. But actually making cheese.

I've been reading (or, rather, slowly savoring) Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. And when I got to June (the chapters take you through a year of food life), I absolutely couldn't resist making cheese. That's because Kingsolver made it sound like such a fantastic process. (I also want to move to a farm and grow all of my own food now, but that's another story. For now, we'll stick with the cheese.)

So I hopped on the website for New England Cheesemaking Supply Co. and purchased a book on cheesemaking and a cheesemaking kit—complete with everything you need (except the milk) to make up to 30 batches of mozzarella and/or ricotta.

Here's the kit. It comes with a recipe booklet, 8 oz. of citric acid, 8 oz. of cheese salt, 1 yd. of cheesecloth, a dairy thermometer, and 10 rennet tablets.


And so my cheesemaking adventures begin.

4 comments:

Kristin said...

Hi Julie - I just stumbled upon your blog, and I really enjoyed it.

I've read everything Barbara Kingsolver has ever uttered (LOVE her!), and was tempted to order cheese making supplies, too. Good luck, and let me know how it goes.

Cara Hall said...

Ha, Mike ordered the cheese making kit too! The mozzarella was devine.

Julie said...

I'm glad you found my blog, Kristin! I am absolutely enamored with Barbara Kingsolver too. I'll be posting about my first cheese-making experience this week so I hope you'll keep reading!

Julie said...

Cara, when I got to that chapter I actually wondered whether you guys had tried it——I figured you wouldn't have been able to resist either! Have you made any ricotta yet?