Making Mozzarella Cheese From Goat's Milk

 

And it is tasty!  I love cheese and figured that since I had fresh goat milk at the ready, I'd give it a try instead of feeding the milk to the chickens or dogs.  Or freezing it for later.

I had purchased junket rennet several years ago for something that I have no idea what it was for (probably for a custard or ice cream) but figured rennet was rennet.  According to some cheese makers you can't use junket rennet - that it is best with custards and ice cream -  but other cheese makers said that you can.  I went with the other cheese makers and, lo and behold, you can use junket rennet to make mozzarella cheese.

There is even a little instruction booklet inside the box that has the recipe for making mozzarella cheese with junket rennet. The recipe called for one gallon milk but I felt that would be too much so I cut the amount in half using instead: 1/2 gallon goat milk (pasteurized), 1/4 junket rennet tablet and 5/8 teaspoon citric acid.  


You can find the original recipe here and it is also listed below for you to print for later use.  The website also has other recipes that you can grab and more information about cheese making.


The junket rennet I found at the grocery store by the gelatin/pudding products.  Citric acid can be found in with the canning supply products.  Both you could easily find online somewhere, I'm sure.

I think the only thing I would change is near the end where you add 1 teaspoon salt to the 1 cup of curd before microwaving.  It made it a little too salty.  It wasn't unpleasant but a little too salty for my taste.  Maybe I didn't mix it in well enough??   And the only other note about this was that when it does call for cooking in the microwave for 45 seconds... if it looks like paste, don't worry.  I thought I had made goat milk paste, too.  It is about that consistency and I just kneaded it with the spoon, as directed, for a few minutes longer.  I was sure it was ruined and that it was only going to be good enough to seal the leaky watering can I use in the greenhouse by the time I was done.  But when I felt it was kneaded enough I dumped the glob into a small glass pyrex bowl, pressed it down, smoothed it about, covered and set in the fridge....wishing it good luck.


Well, it turned out better than expected.  No longer was it the consistency of paste but cheese, it was delicious (always a plus!) and I'm going to make another batch of mozzarella and smoke it this go around, along with some hard cooked eggs!

Don't forget to copy and print out the original recipe for your reference.


AMERICAN MOZZERELLA

by Dr. David Fankhauser, for Redco Foods 10 June 2003

"American mozzarella" is the cheese commonly used on American pizza. It is made using citric acid for acidification instead of bacterial fermentation as in other cheeses. It is very elastic, melts well and strings when hot.

Equipment

5 quart covered stainless pot with heavy bottom

1 cup pyrex measuring cup

2 cup pyrex measuring cup

Thermometer

Long bladed knife

Sterile handkerchief or non-terrycloth dish towel

8 inch strainer

Receiving container to catch draining whey

1000 watt microwave oven

Ingredients

1/2 tablet "JUNKET" Rennet Tablet
1-1/4 teaspoon citric acid
1 gallon milk(whole milk for a richer flavor or skimmed milk for low calorie cheese) 

Instructions:

1. Warm milk over gentle heat 88ºF (31ºC), take care not to scorch.
2. Dissolve 1-1/4 tsp. citric acid powder in 1/2 cup cool water. Add to 88ºF milk, stir well.
3. Dissolve 1/2 tablet Junket Rennet into 1/4 cup cool water. Stir thoroughly into warmed milk mixture. Let set undisturbed for 1-2 hours, until a clean break is achieved.
4. Cut curd into 1/2 inch cubes.
5. Warm the curds and whey over low heat, stirring gently to warm evenly and keep the curds separated until temperature reaches 42º C (108ºF). Hold at 42ºC for 35 minutes, stirring every five minutes to keep curds separated and off the bottom.
6. Collect curds by pouring curds and whey through a fine cloth held in an 8 inch sieve over a 1 gallon container, let drain for 15 minutes. Save whey to make ricotta if you wish (see recipe)
7. Break up curd, mix in 1 teaspoon salt thoroughly.
8. Place 1 cup of salted curd into 2 cup measure.
9. Microwave on high for 45 seconds
10. Separate hot curd from container with the back of a fork, knead with hands to distribute heat evenly. Heat again for 20 more seconds. Stretch and fold to make smooth and elastic, shape into a soft ball.
11. Drop into cold, salted water (1/3 cup salt per quart), let sit in refridgerator for a day, store in an air tight container. Use within a week or so.

Buttermilk biscuits recipe + self-rising flour instructions

I have no idea where I got this recipe from since I wrote it down several years ago but it is quick and easy.  It calls for self-rising flour... if you don't have that, no problem.  You can make self-rising flour!  It's easy, too. The recipe follows below the biscuit recipe.

Enjoy!

BUTTERMILK BISCUITS
2 1/2 cup self-rising flour
2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup butter or shortening
3/4 - 1 cup buttermilk**, sour milk, milk or whipping cream

Preheat oven to 450F. In medium bowl stir together flour and sugar.  Cut in shortening until mixture is crumbly (shortening in pieces about size of green peas). Stir in buttermilk until dough leaves sides of bowl.  If dry, add a little more milk.

On lightly floured surface knead dough just until smooth (note: this step is mostly to just get the dough together so you can roll it out ... don't knead like you're making bread).  Roll to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut dough with 2 1/2" biscuit cutter or can cut into squares. Place cut biscuits on ungreased cookie sheet with sides touching (for soft biscuits) or 1" apart for crunchy sides.

Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and enjoy with butter, your favorite jam or some ham/egg/cheese.

Makes about 12 biscuits.


**how to make a substitute for 1 cup buttermilk - 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar plus enough whole milk to make 1 cup.  Let stand 5 minutes before using.  Or you can use 1 cup whole milk + 1 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar or 1 cup plain yogurt. (Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book 1981)




SELF-RISING FLOUR

All purpose flour
salt
baking powder

Using dry measure, measure desired amount of flour into separate container as follows:

FOR EACH CUP of FLOUR, add 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.  Mix to combine. Can be made ahead of time and stored in an air-tight container to be used later.

Homemade baking extracts

I don't know why I didn't think about this sooner, but something to consider with the rise in the cost of foods or the scarcity of certain items.  If you bake, don't over look extracts.

BackwoodsHome has an excellent article in making homemade cooking extracts.  Go and print it out for reference.

http://www.backwoodshome.com/homemade-baking-extracts-by-linda-zimnick/

If you give it a try, I'd like to hear your comments on making homemade cooking extracts.  Pros and cons.

Stretching Your Meals From Days Gone By

Today was the shopping trip down south.  And, as usual, I made a mental note of prices.  Prices are jumping, my friends.  And not by a little.  A bag of flour that I purchased last month (December 31st, to be exact) had about $1.25 increase.  In the meats section pork prices were still rising, as was chicken.  Bacon packages are now 12 ounces instead of 1 pound.  But they still want 1 pound pricing. Beef prices are dropping a little, not all of it (the high priced cuts are still high priced) but cattle prices are down some.  Rice and some produce are still rising.  But I did notice that the nutritionally questionable stuff , like boxed do-it-yourself-helper, were on the 'cheap' end of things. I guess it is to make you feel like you are getting a 'bargain'?

This past year has been a great challenge.  Our income is oil field related.  Enough said.  So with all the snowy days, I have been researching ways to stretch our meals and still provide us the nutrition we need.  As stated before, I like cookbooks.... older cookbooks.  Not the more modern cookbooks where you need to have some rare expensive spice or a can of prepared 'something'.  That's not really making meals with homegrown produce or common ingredients.

 With the high cost of meat and dairy I've had to become creative in stretching the meal out for our family on a limited budget.  The boys seem to have hollow legs and some days it just doesn't seem like the pot roast goes far enough for a family of five.  If I do have a roast of some sort that is big enough for leftovers, I'll turn it into chili, soup or tacos.  But it starts to get 'old'.  Not every roast is on sale, nor very large.


So I turned to history. The Great Depression and wartime meals.

During WWII Canada, America and Great Britain all had some kind of rationing program at home to prevent the general public from becoming angry with shortages and to prevent the wealthy from buying up whatever they wanted (except on the black market it created).   Items that were rationed were things like fuel, fuel oil, clothing and food.  There were going to be shortages and rationing controlled the use of those items whether you were rich or poor.

So let's look at a sample of a food ration for an adult for ONE WEEK in Great Britain (a child would receive 1/2 of the ration): 

Bacon and ham (3-4 slices/rashers) 4 oz
Other meats – 2 small chops
Butter 2 oz  
Cheese 2 oz Margarine 
4 oz Cooking fat 
4 oz Milk 3 pints Plus 1 packet dried milk per month  
Sugar 8 oz Preserves (every two months) 
1 lb Tea 2 oz Egg (shell egg) 
1 Plus 1 packet dried egg per month Sweets 12 oz

Other items were based upon availability.  But if you grew or raised your own, you weren't so restricted.  It is very interesting and I believe quite relevant to our time now.  I have seen on local shelves where a product sells out and it is not restocked for several weeks without any explanation.

Below are a few links that I have run across with recipes during that era.   Some have booklets and some are just a collection of recipes.  Save them if you can or print the ones out you think you and your family will enjoy.

http://recipecurio.com/category/rations/

http://www.recipespastandpresent.org.uk/
 (has a link for wartime recipes, too)

http://wartimecanada.ca/document/world-war-ii/recipes/victory-cook-book


http://wartimecanada.ca/archive-categories/eating

These are a few that I have run across.  Do a search online for WWII recipes, or rationing recipes and see what you can find.  Some people have posted individual family recipes.  

The Great Depression also had its time of troubles.  Our property was part of the Homestead Act and I read about one of the family members.  She stated that during the Depression they had a really nice car, but no fuel to drive it.  And they eeked a living out by selling cream and eggs. 

Below are a few more links on cooking during these times: 

http://community.tasteofhome.com/community_forums/f/30/t/44025.aspx
  
Great Depression Cooking with Clara (she also tells stories of this time.... like how a neighbor showed up one day with a shopping bag to help herself to Miss Clara's vegetables out of her garden, without asking!)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRKls2LLMqU-uK2csT6FOKw

(some links that I've already posted but a lot of links here)
http://www.morewithlessmom.com/index.php/2013/10/08/great-depression-era-recipes-real-food/

Look around in thrift shops, used book stores, or libraries for cookbooks made during the 1930's or 1940's.  I was fortunate to find a set of cookbooks done by a group of Home Ec teachers at a thrift store.  Don't be afraid to make up your own recipes to stretch out your meals.  Keep an eye out for cookbooks from an era where people actually cooked using fresh ingredients and not canned ingredients.  Check out estate sales, or yard sales, and look for a grandmother's cookbook/recipe collection.  Even the handwritten ones may be worthy of your time.

The Settlement Cookbook has some good recipes, too.  This you can save as a pdf 

http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/cookbooks/books/settlementcookbook/sett.pdf

Glean as much information as you can, while you can.  And while it is still on the internet.   Only you care about your family and their nutritional needs.