Welcoming The Baby Cheeses

Don't think for one second I am trying to be sacrilegious at Christmas time or any time. But when I posted on Facebook a few days ago that I had received the cheese making supplies I had ordered from Amazon.com to launch my "I want to learn how to make cheese" mission, my rather witty kid Derek commented that I was getting ready to "welcome the baby cheeses" for Christmas. Have to admit I laughed out loud at that as did a few others. Clever to say the least!

And so a few days later we located a source for some traditionally pasteurized milk, brought it back to the coach and made our first attempt at some cheese- choosing mozzarella as our first try. Halleluiah. It worked. Now I missed photographing a few steps along the whey (I mean way) because cheese making happens fast- by the minute, by the temperature, by the chemical recipe, and there were a few steps like stretching and salting that we just couldn't film and do properly so the photos had to pay the price. Next time.

So our first results were very promising. Cheese looked like and tasted like mozzarella cheese. Could have been seasoned a bit better- but all in all, not that bad! Definitely NOT a deal breaker or something to make us quit right here right now. Not sure what recipe we try next, but that is part of the fun of something new.