Ingredients:

1 gallon fresh milk, you can use, whole raw milk, skimmed milk (2% etc) or pasteurized milk. Avoid homogenized or ultra-pasteurized milk

1.5 tsp citric acid

1 cup water to dissolve the citric acid

0.01 ounce rennet liquid or 1 tablet – you can use vegetable rennet for a vegetarian version

4 Tbsp water to dissolve the rennet

Kosher salt/non-iodied salt.

What to do:

Step 1

In two small bowls, mix the citric acid and water in one and rennet and water in the other, stir until dissolved.

Pour the milk into a large pot and add the citric acid mix. Warm the mixture over medium heat and stir slowly but constantly until the milk reaches 32ºC/90ºF. Remove from the heat once you reach the required temperature.

Add the rennet mixture to the warm milk and stir a few times slowly to mix well. Then cover the pot and set aside until the mixture ‘sets’. It should have the consistency similar to a thick yogurt or pudding that you can slice through.

Step 2

It’s best to create a grid pattern through the curds, first slicing one way, then the other with a sharp knife. Make sure to cut deep into the cuts, by touching the bottom of the pot.

Heat the curds to 41ºC/106ºF over and stir very slowly. Once temperature is reached remove from the heat and continue to slowly stir, for another 5 minutes. You will see the whey separateing from the curds.

Drain the cheese curds from the pot into a large colander lined with a cloth, cheese cloth etc. and allow the curds to drain into a bowl.

You can either set the whey aside now or use around half of it for the next step.

Step 3

Fill up a large bowl with hot water or heat up the whey liquid** (until about 76ºC/170ºF) and place the curds inside. It may be easier to divide the curds in half and do this in two portions. Keep the curds in the hot liquid for a few minutes. This is when the mozzarella is taking shape – the curds should become stretchy, a bit smooshy, and look a little like melted cheese.

Finally, remove from the hot whey/ water, add some salt and then stretch and fold the curds onto themselves, I used gloves, like how you would with taffy.Repeat until they become shiny and firm (usually just a few folds will do like between 3-7- don’t overwork it). Then roll into balls and quickly cool them. If it’s hard to shape into a ball or comes apart while stretching, place back in the hot liquid and allow to heat up a little.

How To Store

Serve the fresh mozzarella immediately or store in the fridge in the whey or a salted brine for up to a week. Enjoy!