How to Make Mozzarella Cheese
ByWant to know what makes me excited (besides little plastic drawers)? The fact that with only two gallons of milk…I can squeeze out THREE great dairy products. With the two gallons of raw milk you see pictured below, I was able to make three eight ounce balls of mozzarella cheese…a half pound of butter…and about a cup of ricotta cheese.
Talk about milking something for all it’s worth! (Whoa…very cheesy joke.) (Which I feel is appropriate because this post is about making…cheese. Cheesy-ness abounds.) Anyway…
Even if you don’t think you’ll ever make your own mozzarella cheese…you may still have fun reading about how it’s made!
To make Mozzarella Cheese you will need:
- Two gallons of milk (I use raw, organic) (As far as I understand, you can use pasteurized and homogenized milk too…although you won’t get the butter and ricotta out of it since the cream doesn’t rise to the top.)
- 2 teaspoons citric acid dissolved in 1/4 cup water
- 1 cup cultured buttermilk
- 30 drops vegetable rennet mixed with 1/4 cup water (I get my rennet from Azure Standard or Wilderness Family Naturals.)
- 1 gallon water
- 1/2 cup sea salt
- Large stock pot
- Long knife
- Food thermometer
- Strainer
- Tea towels
Okay, ready to make cheese? You’ll need to block out about two and a half to three hours of time…but most of that time is wait time, not work time!
First, if you’re using raw milk…skim off the cream. You know I’m usually big on leaving in the fat…but the fat separates itself out of the cheese while you’re making it for some reason. So, skim it off, put it into another jar and save it for making butter!
Pour the milk into a large pot (I use my big stock pot). Stir in the buttermilk and citric acid mixed with water. Heat to 91 degrees. Remove from heat, put the lid on and let it sit for one hour.
Add the rennet mixed with water to the milk. Allow it to sit for at least 15 minutes, or until the milk solidifies slightly and it able to be “sliced”.
Use a long knife to “cut the curd” into one inch squares.
Let the curd sit about five minutes.
Heat the curd to 91 degrees. Remove from heat, place the lid on the pot and allow it to sit for one hour. After one hour, the curd and the whey should have separated.
Place a strainer into another large pot and cover it with a tea towel.
Pour the curds into the strainer/tea towel…straining out as much whey as you can. Save the whey!!
Rig up something fancy like this to hang your curds, making sure you have a bowl underneath to catch more whey that will drip out. I usually leave mine overnight as it takes several hours for all of the whey to be removed.
In the morning…remove the tea towel. Wow, a big hunk of cheese! Now…the fun part begins!
In your large pot…heat one gallon of water mixed with 1/2 cup salt. (Hint: I use Redmonds Real Sea Salt and it can be too chunky if I don’t try to dissolve some of it first. Therefore, I put my water and salt into a jar and shake it well, then pour it into the pot. The residue from the salt remains in the jar, leaving only salty water…without chunks!
Heat the salt water to 170 degrees. Meanwhile…
Cut the cheese (oh, my boys think it’s SO FUNNY when I say that…) into 1-2 inch squares.
Once your water reaches 170 degrees, remove it from the heat and dump in your cheese. Kind of stir it around for a minute or two until the cheese softens and begins sticking together.
Use a big wooden spoon to catch the cheese from the water. It should start sticking together and forming a blob on your spoon. Stretch the cheese. This part is SO COOL!! Dip it down into the hot water every once in a while to reheat the cheese so that it will continue to stretch, but try not to keep it in the water too long. Keep on stretching and dipping the cheese until it is shiny. This stretching process will take about 8 minutes. (Every once in a while I get a batch of cheese that just won’t stretch. It’s a bummer. The cheese still tastes fine…it just doesn’t look as pretty, shred as well, or melt as nicely. We eat it anyway!)
After you’ve stretched your cheese and it has formed a big long shiny wad, take it out and put it onto a plate.
I divide my cheese into three blobs. Squeeze out the excess water and shape the cheese into nice balls.
Place the balls into a bowl of cold water. This will take out the heat and help them hold their shape.
Tada!!! Mozzarella Cheese!
I’ll take time during my next two Frugal Friday posts to share how I make butter with the leftover cream…and ricotta cheese with the leftover whey!
So…have you ever made cheese before? Do you think this process looks like something you could do? You wanna come over and make cheese with me some time? (Then we can say “cut the cheese” together and laugh like we’re really funny.)
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My milk did not solidify. I first gave it the 15 minutes…then 1 hour. Should I just start over? : ( or wait even longer?
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Laura Reply:
May 19th, 2012 at 5:10 pm
Hmm, you probably don’t have to start over, just add more rennet and try again?
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I had a lovely ball of cheese in my tea towel, but when I cut it and added it to the 170 degree brine, it dissolved completely. It never stuck together. What did I do wrong?
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Laura Reply:
May 29th, 2012 at 12:23 pm
Cheese is super finicky. It’s hard to know what went wrong. That has happened to me before too. Hopefully it still tasted okay!
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Amanda Reply:
July 20th, 2012 at 6:38 am
I had that happen also. I saved the little crumbles…it reminded me of cottage cheese. It tasted like Mozzerella so we used it in lasagna as a layer and it tasted/worked great.
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I’m looking forward to cheesemaking. I have access to a dairy cow and have made butter and some Ricotta — who knew! However, I’m looking at a wine cellar appliance to also get into some aged cheesemaking. I’m so excited. Just taking smaller steps first.
I love your site! I am a stay at home wife (kids are gone). My philosophy in the area of household finances is if I can make it myself I do. If I can repurpose something for something else we need, I do. If I can use it (as a starter) to keep perpetuating it without the need to keep purchasing some product commercially, I will. I see it as my responsibility to be economical and keep my husband and I healthy. It is in the true spirit of being an advantage to my husband as a helpmeet. I love it.
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DOH! I didn’t read the post about making butter first! Oh well…I had the same “solidifying” problem with my milk, took your advice, added more rennet and “Whoo hoo, L@@KIE there!!” I have nice curds! Thanks for your lovely, informative posts (I used 2TBS of lemon juice…BTW….as I could not wait to get citric acid in the mail and I didn’t want to drive 30 miles to find it!)Today mozzarella, tomorrow ricotta! I am so happy!
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Susie Day Reply:
August 7th, 2012 at 11:20 am
I found citric acid at bi-mart of all places. Look for it with the canning supplies :-)
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I tried making th e mozzarella cheese ,I followed every step. It all looked like your picture,until it was time to stretch it. It didn’t stretch. I ended up putting it into 3 balls then I put it into the water. What could have happened. Thanks Donna
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Laura Reply:
May 29th, 2012 at 12:31 pm
Ugh, I hate it when all the steps go well and the cheese still doesn’t stretch. You likely didn’t do anything wrong – sometimes the temperature, humidity, and who knows what other elements keep the cheese from stretching. :(
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Our mozzarella dissolved in the water when we tried to stretch it. Do you know what we did wrong? Also, when we left it to drain overnight, it didn’t hold its shape all nicely in the morning like yours did.
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Emmie Reply:
June 14th, 2012 at 3:22 pm
I saw another recipe that called for calcium chloride. What do you think of that?
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Amber Reply:
June 22nd, 2012 at 5:09 am
Calcium chloride will prevent the cheese from stretching. So I don’t recommend it for mozarella cheese.
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LindseyforLaura@HHM Reply:
August 6th, 2012 at 11:21 am
Laura’s does that sometimes too. She said it is fine to eat, although she understands the frustration!
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We recently made mozzarella and it seemed to work fine except that the finished product was very very dense. It definitely wasn’t like a fresh mozzarella. Any ideas why?
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Laura Reply:
June 14th, 2012 at 3:02 pm
Hmm, I’m not sure. I have made this cheese several times, but I definitely don’t feel that I am an expert by any means. While following the same instructions, sometimes mine turns out well and sometimes it doesn’t.
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Karl B. Reply:
August 28th, 2012 at 4:44 pm
Quite possibly cut the curd too small. The larger your curd is to begin with the more moisture it will retain. Since mozzarella is a high moisture cheese you should cut the curds no smaller than an inch square. It may also help with the lack of “stretchability”
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So, I was wondering if you could use the buttermilk leftover from the butter?
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Laura Reply:
September 8th, 2012 at 7:59 pm
No, that won’t work for this. The buttermilk you use for making cheese needs to be cultured.
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Rose Reply:
October 26th, 2012 at 7:23 am
what if I make cultured butter? then it would be cultured buttermilk, would it not? it’s not quite as thick as the storebought kind, but it smells like it and use it in baking and stuff.
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Laura Reply:
October 27th, 2012 at 9:17 am
Yes, I’ve never done it this way – I usually use homemade, thick buttermilk. But I think it would work to use your thinner buttermilk from making cultured butter.
Will the rennet tablets work? Or must it be liquid rennet?
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Laura Reply:
September 17th, 2012 at 3:42 pm
Yes, I think that will work.
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Everything looked great until I put the ball of curds in the 170 degree water – then it disintegrated! I’ve made mozzarella before with other recipes that said not to heat the cheese warmer than 135 degrees. It seemed to me like the water was just too hot and it melted the curds. Is 170 degrees the right temperature? Otherwise, I was really impressed with the way the cheese seemed to be turning out.
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Laura Reply:
October 14th, 2012 at 9:01 pm
I’ve done this successfully at 170 degrees, but maybe try it at 135 next time to see how it goes. Glad it turned out well otherwise!
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I’ve seen other recipes without the cultured buttermilk. Will it still work if I leave it out?
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Laura Reply:
October 15th, 2012 at 5:48 am
I’ve never done it without the buttermilk, so I don’t know for sure.
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How long will the cheese keep
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Laura Reply:
November 12th, 2012 at 12:47 pm
For 3-4 weeks in the fridge.
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Thanks for giving valuable information
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Thanks Laura, your recipe has reached delhi, India, will give it a try for sure :)…Can I replace, citric acid with vinegar, rennet with yogurt and sea salt with regular iodised salt? Asking as wont be able to find above items in grocery stores in my area. Thanks in advnace for help and sharing such a wonderful recipe :)
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Laura Reply:
December 14th, 2012 at 1:11 pm
Ummmmm, I think I can answer yest to all of your questions, but I’ve never tried it that way so I’m not entirely sure!
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soph Reply:
December 30th, 2012 at 8:07 am
You can replace citric acid with yogurt. There’s no replacement for rennet if ou want curd formation unless you can find junket tablets in your area. I suggest you order some from nNew england cc cheesemaking supply company(That’s where I got mine). It’s not that expensive buying just the rennet tablets plus normal shipping. Just takes longer to arrive. And you do need a food thermometer. As for the salt, how about himalayan pink salt or rocksalt? Though salting it is of course optional..
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please, you can not call mozzarella. if you want to eat real buffalo mozzarella I send I of Naples.
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I was just wondering, what do/can you do with the left over whey ???? I saw you said to save it :-)
Thanks for the help. Also for the citric acid, can you use crushed up Vit.C? nobody sells it around here.
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Laura Reply:
January 18th, 2013 at 3:55 pm
You can save the whey to use when fermenting vegetables, although I haven’t done much of that to be able to give details. :) You can try the crushed up vitamin C, but I haven’t ever done that to tell you if it works or not.
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Jamie Reply:
January 29th, 2013 at 2:40 pm
I’ve heard adding it to cultured dairy products extends their shelf life
tremendously. Like mayo and sour cream. Haven’t done it myself though
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We tried this tonite and worked great. It did tart falling apart at the stretching step but we noticed it correlated with the temperature drop so we reheated the water back to 170 and it came back together and stretched fine. We tried to hold the temp around 170 til we were done with that step.
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I want to know what is rennet ? and is an alternate of rennet ?
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Laura Reply:
February 25th, 2013 at 8:42 am
I use vegetable rennet, explained here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rennet – but I’m not sure of an alternate.
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Rennet (non-veggie) is from the lining of calves. Read Little House on the Prairie, Pa kills a calf to have some rennet for Ma to make cheese. Somewhere I think I heard that millenia ago they stored milk in (ugh) calves’ stomachs and when they were ready to use it, voila! They discovered cheese! However they figured it out, thank Jesus for His amazing creation! :)
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Excuse me, I meant to say it is from the lining of calves’ STOMACHS. Sorry.
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Hi. :) I came across your post searching for information on skimming raw milk for cheese. I just made my first cheese today and I wanted to ask if you really only get that much from 2 gallons. I used raw, whole milk (1 gallon). I was able to get 18 oz of mozzarella, 13 oz of ricotta and 2 1/2 quarts of whey left over. If I halved your output, I see I was able to more of both cheeses. However, since I did not skim, I did not any butter. Are you results here typical and do you think the cream made the difference in quantity yielded? Thanks for whatever or input you can share!
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Laura Reply:
April 4th, 2013 at 8:29 am
Yes these are typical results. I skim the cream because it separates out usually anyway when I’m making cheese, so I hate to waste good cream when I can use it for something else! It’s amazing how much milk it takes to make cheese. That’s why cheese isn’t terribly inexpensive. :)
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Wow. Typos. I meant to say, did you think the cream removed from your milk resulted in the slightly lesser amounts than I was able to get. And thanks for whatever advice or input. Sorry about all that. I am typing on my phone at 2:20am. :)
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Hi, could you tell me how many teaspoons of rennet is 30 drops? I have tablets and it says 1/4 tsp = 1/4 tablet.
Also, I have looked at many other recipes before actually trying to make mozzarella and yours seems to be the only one that calls for cultured buttermilk and removing the cream. Could you tell me more about why you take those steps? At what point of the process does the fat separate from the cheese?
Thanks in advance
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I am on a mission to make as much of my food from scratch, and learn as many food preparation processes as possible. I found your post because I googled “how to make mozzarella cheese.” Thanks for such an excellent tutorial, I can’t wait to try it!
I already get raw whole milk and make butter from the cream. Thrilled to hear I can make ricotta from the whey as I feel wasteful throwing that out. I am definitely going to do the mozzarella – just need to find some vegetable rennet in my part of the world.
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