Thank you ashanti... . Now davidt4 turn... Yes please for that recipe.
Cheers
davidt4,
May 12, 10:24am
Mozzarella 2 litres of full cream milk - use silver top 1 teaspoon of citric acid ½ teaspoon of rennet 1/4 cup of water
Stir citric acid into the milk. Heat until just past blood temp [will feel pleasantly warm] Mix rennet with water and stir into milk, will now be separating into tiny flecks. Allow to rest off heat for about 10 minutes until milk has set.
Using a knife cut the curds across and then down. Using a large spoon, start turning the curds over and gently stirring them. This helps to release the whey. Stir until curds are well broken up.
Pour into a colander with a clean chux cloth for lining. Allow the whey to drain for about 15 -30 mins. (cont)
davidt4,
May 12, 10:25am
Mozzarella (cont) Use rubber gloves. Put the drained curd into a plastic bowl and place in microwave for 1 minute on high. Remove, squeeze and pull the curds. They should scrunch up on the first zap but with each successive burst in the microwave will become more workable. The important part is getting the curds to an elastic state which will allow you to stretch and the then fold the into the? traditional mozzarella ball shape.
When the curds have reached this stage they will be shiny and smooth. Place in bowl of cold, salted water and allow to rest for about an hour. Don't put the cheese back into its whey as this will dissolve it over night. ?
davidt4,
May 12, 10:31am
Mozzarella - my experience I've made this recipe three times. The result was really nicely flavoured but not as luscious as Italian fresh mozzarella and (sadly but predictably) not as delicious as fresh buffalo mozzarella. It is easily as good as NZ mozzarella, probably because it is totally fresh. The low cost is a real plus! I have used it as a last minute addition to pasta with fresh tomato sauce, on home made pizza and as part of an antipasto plate drizzled with ev olive oil.
valentino,
May 12, 11:12pm
Thank you davidt4... . Another added to my list... . and is starting to grow... Great stuff. Especially when one knows these posters and are proven. Cheers.
valentino,
May 12, 11:14pm
OOOps, should had added... that these posters are in NZ and are proven... left out "in NZ" bit, sorry.
davidt4,
May 12, 11:19pm
Haloumi report I'm halfway through maing ashanti's recipe and it's looking good. I've used Ridge organic whole milk. Will report later.
valentino,
May 12, 11:24pm
Great stuff davidt4... . . Gosh, you are quicker than me and that is saying a lot, just done my weekly shopping at the supermarket and guess what, more full cream milk. Cheers.
ashanti,
May 12, 11:39pm
If you want access to fresh milk Peter at cottage crafts is making a "milk map" where you can find people who will sell milk, (you can sell up to ltrs)I am on it but too far away from you both, what a shame! I have two lovely jersey cows and have just bought another from my neighbour next door, I will stop milking them in about another two months, and am trying to freeze as much milk as possible so I can still make cheese
ashanti,
May 12, 11:40pm
oops meant to write sell up to 5 litres Good luck with the haloumi
valentino,
May 13, 1:13am
Noted your profile as a farmer or should one say. . a farmstayer ! ! ! and with Jersey cows... all the better and yeah, noted Kaitaia... hmmmmm, wonder if davidt4 could go up. . LOL... Gosh, just to get hold of 5 litres of fresh cows milk. . YUMMMMM ! ! ! ! Most farms near us in Auck has Fresians, mainly for town supplying... not quite there but still good all the same. I think most of the waikato farmers will be wintering or starting to then all on for spring again... Cheers
davidt4,
May 13, 2:34am
Haloumi report All done! And I have four neat little rolls bathing in whey, looking just like the real thing. We'll have some for dinner tonight. And while I think of it, would any of you cheesemakers be interested in a lovely recipe I have of Greg Malouf's Turkish haloumi & spinach pie? I think it's on Trademe Cooks but is likely to be hard to find.
ashanti,
May 13, 2:38am
davidt4 good on you that recipe would be great, thanks very much. There is a supplier of goats milk in wellsford- milk available from august - I am thinking about going down to get some if I can't find any closer to me up here
valentino,
May 13, 2:53am
That sounds lovely to me as well davidt4. That goat's milk place, I think they also sell cheese presses and moulds. Also vege rennet as well. Thinking the username is something like peternz61... . sells some sort of culture, is this the same place ashanti. Have you got anything from them yet. Cheers.
valentino,
May 13, 2:58am
Thank you davidt4 for the spinach recipe... . noted the topic "Haloumi" with the recipe. Cheers.
ashanti,
May 13, 3:19am
Yes I bought one of their larger cheese moulds and some vegetarian rennet, I had never made cheese with vegetarian rennet, can't say I notice much difference. I also bought one litre of rennet from renco, at $22. 5 including postage, much cheaper than the smaller bottle from the supermarket, if you make a lot of cheese
valentino,
May 13, 4:51am
ashanti, that is interesting re Renco. . Can one buy such quantity directly from them. . How did you go about it. Cheers.
valentino,
May 13, 4:52am
Hmmmm, should had added... how long in reality does renco rennet keep (liquid form that is), thank you.
davidt4,
May 13, 4:54am
Renco Valentino - the small bottle of rennet that I used today for my haloumi expired in 2000 ! It has been kept in the fridge.
ashanti,
May 13, 6:50am
Just send a chq to renco for 22. 50 enclosing your request for 1 ltr of rennet and give them your postal address- you will have to ring them and get their postal address , I am not sure if I am allowed to give out their phone number or postal address on this forum
valentino,
May 13, 7:13am
Re Renco... you have 2000, still works... I have 2 bottles, one best b4 may 02, the other best b4 may 04 and using the may o2 with no problems but was just wondering if anyone really knows their life expectancy... perhaps like wine or whiskey, and Re Renco itself, one could send an email after a google search perhaps... especially if one really gets cracking and do a few cheeses as one wants to... . Many thanks... .
davidt4,
May 13, 9:35pm
Further haloumi report We had two pieces for dinner last night (as part of a chick pea, bean and capsicum salad). I fried it briefly before serving. The flavour was great but the texture was harder than I am used to - it was slightly granular. The folded pieces had unrolled in the brine. So I'm going to try to find out where I went wrong - I wonder if I cooked it too long. I also made some ricotta from the whey (got about a tablespoonful) and it was absolutely delicious.
valentino,
May 13, 10:10pm
davidt4, did you just used whey only... and no milk in making the ricotta... That recipe above re Cottage/ricotta whatever, used both the whey and milk, made up quite a bit and is lovely. Cheers.
davidt4,
May 13, 10:14pm
ricotta Hi valentino, I made the ricotta with whey plus a quarter volume of milk - it was just an afterthought trying not to waste the whey. The recipe I used said that the whey must be used within an hour and I left it a bit longer than that. I don't know what difference that made.
tixy,
May 13, 10:46pm
Another thought for your whey... is to use it to make soup. I have a recipe but cant get to it at present (laid up with a broken leg and various other bones) but if you google it, I'm sure plenty will be available. It is an excellent base for soup and you can use in place of stocks too. The other things I do with it are: pour it onto the plants (although not too often as it blocks the air from getting to the roots if you do too much), it is an excellent organic fert and also I feed it to the chooks - they adore it. i have numbers available for the labs to get cultures from if you are interested.
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