Has Anyone Made Mozzarella?

We’re not really bakers in this house, so while everyone else is making bread, we’ve decided to try our hands at making cheese.

We got a starter kit and basic coaching from the guy who used to make Valley Shepherd’s amazing fresh mozz daily at the Reading Terminal, and we have 4 gallons of raw milk coming from a terrific local farm this afternoon.

Anyone been through this process? Any tips?

Never done Mozz, but we do Ricotta all the time and that could not be more simple. We spread that over nice bread (often homemade) with some roasted cherry tomatoes.

That being said, I would imagine Mozz would be a bit more time consuming and complicated. Would love to hear how it goes!

I have, but only a couple of times, and it’s been a few years. My biggest tip is to have a large bowl of ice water on the counter to cool your hands. And have 2 people ready to pull, because then you can take turns pulling the hot cheese. We used silicone kitchen mitts to pull the cheese – we should have had some insulation inside them, they didn’t seem to insulate much once they heated up.

I’ve tried and failed.

Thanks, Lee. That sounds like great advice.

I have but it’s been years. Also from a kit. The most important thing is ultra pasteurized milk won’t work. You’ll end up with ricotta, which isn’t bad but it’s not mozzarella.

Yep - we have raw milk.

The mozzarella in our neighborhood (Carroll Gardens) is too good to pass up and readily available. Good luck though.

Oh sure - I can easily get excellent mozzarella here in Philly, too, made daily.

What I can’t get, since Valley Shepherd closed, though, is fresh mozzarella that has never been refrigerated. It has a subtle texture difference before it contracts in the fridge that I adore, and which it never regains even after coming back up to room temp. I got to love that “alive” feeling when I could get it that way at Valley Shepherd if I came in before a certain time.

Do any of these places make mozzarella from scratch?

Most commercial establishments use ready made curd for their mozzarella.

To my knowledge, any commercial operation not linked to a dairy will use curd. I’m sure there are some exceptions somewhere.

it’s actually pretty easy and as you can imagine, if you’re using great milk which you are, the results are sublime.

Good article, especially the link to an explanation of why mozz that’s never been refrigerated is better. I once did a blind test with the guys in my office and they were shocked by the difference.

never would have o-curd to me to try. Looks whey too hard. Let us know how it comes out and we need pictures.

I have too many old Jewish relatives to repost the puns…

Here’s our first attempt. While the process is technically easy, it’s clear it will take a lot of practice and temperature /stirring tweaking to get the texture exactly right. Our first attempt was a little dry and dense, not silky. We used a gallon of the milk, so have 3 more batches in the next few days.

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Outstanding. Japanese plate?

Thanks! Yes, these are from Nagoya, purchased when Jonathan was a poor student/chef there and just getting into pottery. We work with much more serious artists now, but still love these early acquisitions.

would love to see a thread of some of your pottery.

I don’t know if we are talking about the same Valley Shepherd but the one I know in Long Valley is open.

I used to think fresh mozzarella sucked but that was because I had only had the refrigerated versions. I have an Italian place down the street from me that makes it daily and never refrigerates it. Really good stuff!

Same operation, different location. I’m talking about the one in the Reading Terminal (see my OP), which closed a while ago.