Ingredients
- Tall stock pot
- 2½teaspoons of citric acid powder
- 2 gallons of cold goat milk, raw or pasteurize
- Thermometer
- 1/2 teaspoon liquid rennet
- 1/4 cup cool water
Preparation
Mix citric acid powder into cool milk for 2 minutes. Heat milk to 88 degrees Fahrenheit in stock pot, using a thermometer to check the temperature. You are not trying to pasteurize the milk. If it becomes too hot or too cold, the rennet will not make cheese curds.
Dissolve rennet in 1/4 cup cool water. Add rennet and water to the milk and stir for 14 to 20 seconds. Cover pot and allow milk to remain still for 12 to 15 minutes while it forms curds. Check the curd formation after 15 minutes but do not disturb before the time has lapsed because this may prevent the cheese curds from forming completely.
Cut the curd into 1/2-inch cubes. Let cheese curds remain undisturbed for 5 minutes. Apply low heat and stir gently to keep curds separated. The curds will shrink as the whey is expelled from them. Slowly heat the curds to 108 F over 10 to 15 minutes. Turn off heat and continue to stir every few minutes for an additional 20 minutes.
Drain curds in a colander for about 15 minutes. You can dip or pour them out of the pan and save the whey to make ricotta cheese if desired. After the curds sit, they will be stuck together in a colander-shaped clump. Remove and cut curd into 1-inch by 1-inch strips. Lay the strips in a crisscross fashion in a large bowl.
Mix 1/4 cup salt in 1/2 gallon of water and heat to 170 F. Add the salt water to the bowl with the curds, making sure there is enough to cover them.
Using a wooden spoon or a pair of spoons, begin to stretch the curds in an upward motion (like stretching taffy with a spoon). It will begin to get stringy, and look plastic-like and shiny. Stretch it for about 10 minutes, then place the whole thing on a board and knead it as you would bread dough, shaping it into a ball. This takes the excess moisture out of your cheese.
Place the cheese in a plastic mold. You can place your plastic mold in a bowl of cold water until it is firm or just put a lid on it and place it in the refrigerator overnight.
Your goat-milk mozzarella is ready to eat! Enjoy it in chunks or slices, or grate it and use in recipes. Store in airtight containers and refrigerate. It will remain good for two weeks.
Excerpt from the Popular Farming Series magabook Goats with permission from its publisher, BowTie magazines, a division of BowTie, Inc. Purchase Goats here.
Also recommended:
Goat-farmer’s Cheese Recipe
Simple Goat Butter Recipe
Goat-milk Chive Butter Recipe
Goat-milk Yogurt Recipe
