Rikki Carrol has a recipe for 30-minute Mozzarela that I’ve tried before with success, but many years ago. So, I tried it again yesterday.

The recipe is in her book, so I’ll only summarize it here. I’m interested in hearing how this recipe has worked for others.

I made a normal Mozzarella by adding 2 tsp of citric acid to 1 gallon of store-bought whole milk (A&P). Gently heated the milk to 88°F, and it began to curdle. Stirred in 1/4 tsp of rennet diluted in 1/4 cup of well water. Then continued to heat (over direct heat) to 105°F. Here is where things went a little wrong. Since the milk was supposed to be curdling, I did not stir it. So the whey separated from the curds some. The curds got to about 105°F, but the whey got much warmer, maybe 120°F. So, I gave it a little stir to combine it and then took it off the heat and let it set to curdle further. I was supposed to get a clean break, but never really did.

Still, the curds had separated from the whey, so I gently scooped them into a microwaveable bowl. They were not the consistency of yogurt as desired by the recipe.

I squeezed out as much whey as I could, the microwaved the curds for 1 minutes. Using sterilized latex gloves, I then kneaded and massaged the curds. They were just falling apart and the consistency of cottage cheese—which may mean I was using milk that has been heat treated to too high a heat (according to the troubleshooting hints from the book). So, I just took small amounts of the curd into my hand and squeezed the whey out of it, then rolled it around and the curds began to mat. I did this several times and ended up with about 5 balls of curd each about the size of a golf ball. I put these back in the bowl and microwaved for 30 seconds. I poured off the accumulated whey and kneaded the balls together into one large ball, which was now holding together nicely. I did this two more times, and each time the ball of cheese got more stretchy and shiny. The last time I kneaded it into a large ball and then put it in a plastic container, covered by it’s whey. It is in the fridge, and we’ll try it tonight.

Sounds interesting Rick, please let us know how it tastes and any chance of a pic of the finished cheese? My family loves to make Pizza at home so I might give this a try.

Cheers
Andrew

been itching to make moza myself. as soon as im done with this gorgonzola im making right now I will try it. I got an article from harrowsmith country life, making moza, by margaret morris, writen by Darlene king. looks like a 6 hour process, so i will happaly report what happens. Rather do the long way and have it turn out then short hit and miss approach

If you want to make the 30-minute version, there is a set of explicit instructions with photographs on the New England Cheesemaking web site. If I had read that ahead of time, I’d probably have gotten my attempt right.

30-Minute Mozzarela

I think it’s a function of the milk used.  The first two times I tried the 30-minute mozz., it was the consistency of cottage cheese.  Good flavor, and great on salads, but not what I was looking for.  I changed to Hiland milk, available at Walmart in my region.  Since the change, all my 30-minute mozzarellas have turned out just fine.

The industry does not need to label exactly what is in the package, thats the big bummer, they dont need to say what they do to it, so its trial and error to find one that works, I thingk the US is the worse for it.