Savannah Wolfson thanks! I got tired of my kids breaking all the matching ones so bought a variety of different patterned Japanese noodle bowls. No big loss if we break one now.
So glad you’re back on TH-cam. Your cheese looks fabulous. Love the perfect logs. Do you have a video on how you made your cheese? I found the video on making the cheese.
Kristen, I came across your videos yesterday and was blown away by the high quality of content that you and your son are producing. Just fantastic - very sincere, and at times quite humorous. Regarding soft cheeses like mozzarella, I am confused as to why both citric acid and rennet are used by most everyone, whether the milk is from goats or cows. Both the acid and rennet acidify and separate the curd from the whey. I've had trouble lately with my curds basically "disintegrating" and combining with the whey and I am even dealing with the easier to work with pasteurized cow's milk! I know you are busy, but any quick thoughts? Please continue to share those great videos!
Thank you so much for your kind words! We work hard to bring videos that people will want to watch. As for the mozz, traditionally cultures are used to acidify the milk then the rennet is used to separate curd from whey. I have done it this way, but it's a two-day affair. In the case of "30 min" mozzarella, we are using citric acid to speed up the process and acidify the milk. We still need the rennet to separate curd from whey. At this point you may be thinking how citric acid or vinegar was used to separate out those curds in the first farmhouse cheese you ever made before you bought any rennet. The difference is heat. If you heat your milk then add the acid, the milk will curdle and you can separate curds from whey. If, however, you add the acid to cold milk, the milk stays intact. You can then use rennet to set the milk and get those nice big curds you want. That may be the issue you are dealing with. If not, here's another idea. Much of the pasteurized milk out there is done at high temps- not hot enough to be considered Ultra Pasteurized, but hot enough to damage the protein structure to where it won't make a decent curd. I would experiment with another brand of milk. If you find a brand that's setting a good curd, but is still a little softer than you'd like, you might notice that most recipes call for the addition on Calcium chloride when making cheese with pasteurized milk. This can mess up stretching in mozz, but it might be worth looking at. Sounds to me like you're dealing with an overly pasteurized milk. Feel free to find us at Hammock Haven Farm on Facebook and share pictures. That may help to diagnose the problem.
Thanks so much for your very helpful comments. I am switching to a local dairy (which I should have used all along and that should help. Also, I have been trying to heat the milk up to 55 degrees fahrenheit before adding the citric acid and I will start doing that at the very beginning as you mention with cold milk. I think that is part of the problem. If I am still having problems, I will add the calcium chloride as well. I would post on Facebook as you suggested but I am not on the site. I'm pretty sure that with your comments and suggestions, I can get this figured out, thanks again.
Good to see you posting again. I like that you do different things other than cheese making alone. I've deep fried Camembert in breadcrumbs before, now I shall try goats cheese. By the way, what variety of tomato was that you used?.....I'm currently growing San Marzano tomatoes as I understand they are perfect for sauces, and pizza topping.Have you thought about making Raclette cheese? Thanks again.
These are Roma tomatoes. They are great for canning, but good for eating too. Sounds like your San Marzano. I've not attemped Raclette yet, because it requires a lot of attention during aging, and I don't don't have that kind of time or space right now. It is on the list though!
I made Raclette myself and 'nursed' it for around 1 month before vac-packing, the result was very good, but lacked the rind of course. However, the flavour was there and it melted well.I miss-spoke before: it was fried Mozzarella I made, not Camembert, which is usually baked.I made the soup by-the-way, which was delicious.
Firstly, I love your content. You are living the life I want. Secondly, being a chef I have a few tips for you. Try cutting your chevre with a short piece of fishing line, about six or seven inches, wrapped around your two index fingers. Also, when doing the breading, use one hand for the dry ingredients and one hand for the wet. This way you don't end up with huge breaded fingers. And if you cut the chevre discs a little bit thinner you can use less oil. Thanks again for everything you post and keep up the good work.
I'm not sure why we had camera focus issues in this video. We are looking into it.
OH my goodness! That fried chèvre looks so yummy!!
Your bowls are always so pretty!
Savannah Wolfson thanks! I got tired of my kids breaking all the matching ones so bought a variety of different patterned Japanese noodle bowls. No big loss if we break one now.
So glad you’re back on TH-cam. Your cheese looks fabulous. Love the perfect logs. Do you have a video on how you made your cheese? I found the video on making the cheese.
Excellent video
Thanks for watching!
Kristen, I came across your videos yesterday and was blown away by the high quality of content that you and your son are producing. Just fantastic - very sincere, and at times quite humorous. Regarding soft cheeses like mozzarella, I am confused as to why both citric acid and rennet are used by most everyone, whether the milk is from goats or cows.
Both the acid and rennet acidify and separate the curd from the whey. I've had trouble lately with my curds basically "disintegrating" and combining with the whey and I am even dealing with the easier to work with pasteurized cow's milk! I know you are busy, but any quick thoughts?
Please continue to share those great videos!
Thank you so much for your kind words! We work hard to bring videos that people will want to watch. As for the mozz, traditionally cultures are used to acidify the milk then the rennet is used to separate curd from whey. I have done it this way, but it's a two-day affair. In the case of "30 min" mozzarella, we are using citric acid to speed up the process and acidify the milk. We still need the rennet to separate curd from whey.
At this point you may be thinking how citric acid or vinegar was used to separate out those curds in the first farmhouse cheese you ever made before you bought any rennet. The difference is heat. If you heat your milk then add the acid, the milk will curdle and you can separate curds from whey. If, however, you add the acid to cold milk, the milk stays intact. You can then use rennet to set the milk and get those nice big curds you want.
That may be the issue you are dealing with. If not, here's another idea. Much of the pasteurized milk out there is done at high temps- not hot enough to be considered Ultra Pasteurized, but hot enough to damage the protein structure to where it won't make a decent curd. I would experiment with another brand of milk.
If you find a brand that's setting a good curd, but is still a little softer than you'd like, you might notice that most recipes call for the addition on Calcium chloride when making cheese with pasteurized milk. This can mess up stretching in mozz, but it might be worth looking at. Sounds to me like you're dealing with an overly pasteurized milk. Feel free to find us at Hammock Haven Farm on Facebook and share pictures. That may help to diagnose the problem.
Thanks so much for your very helpful comments. I am switching to a local dairy (which I should have used all along and that should help. Also, I have been trying to heat the milk up to 55 degrees fahrenheit before adding the citric acid and I will start doing that at the very beginning as you mention with cold milk. I think that is part of the problem. If I am still having problems, I will add the calcium chloride as well. I would post on Facebook as you suggested but I am not on the site. I'm pretty sure that with your comments and suggestions, I can get this figured out, thanks again.
How did you make you logs so perfect?
I drain the chevre a couple hours in cheesecloth, then I salt it and put it in cylinder molds to continue draining. It gives them a nice shape.
I have got to get some , because my logs don't really look like logs lol
They turn out real pretty in the molds and in the end it's less expensive to just wrap logs in plastic wrap than to buy clam-shells.
Good to see you posting again. I like that you do different things other than cheese making alone. I've deep fried Camembert in breadcrumbs before, now I shall try goats cheese. By the way, what variety of tomato was that you used?.....I'm currently growing San Marzano tomatoes as I understand they are perfect for sauces, and pizza topping.Have you thought about making Raclette cheese? Thanks again.
These are Roma tomatoes. They are great for canning, but good for eating too. Sounds like your San Marzano. I've not attemped Raclette yet, because it requires a lot of attention during aging, and I don't don't have that kind of time or space right now. It is on the list though!
I made Raclette myself and 'nursed' it for around 1 month before vac-packing, the result was very good, but lacked the rind of course. However, the flavour was there and it melted well.I miss-spoke before: it was fried Mozzarella I made, not Camembert, which is usually baked.I made the soup by-the-way, which was delicious.
Firstly, I love your content. You are living the life I want. Secondly, being a chef I have a few tips for you. Try cutting your chevre with a short piece of fishing line, about six or seven inches, wrapped around your two index fingers. Also, when doing the breading, use one hand for the dry ingredients and one hand for the wet. This way you don't end up with huge breaded fingers. And if you cut the chevre discs a little bit thinner you can use less oil. Thanks again for everything you post and keep up the good work.
Thanks for the tips! We'll have to try them out :)
😋😋