Many thanks to Kathy Love in Tucson, Arizona for sharing her pictures from a demonstration she did showing how to make 30 minute mozzarella in a slow cooker. This will be of special interest to those of you who use a pH meter, (totally optional) because you can see her calibrating it in these pictures.
She used the recipe at our website (cheesemaking.com) which is based on the recipe in our 30 Minute Mozzarella Kit. (Click here for the recipe.)
Kathy works at the University of Arizona in the College of Medicine. She did this demo for a program called Camp Wellness.** She had her students help with this demonstration, so you will see many different hands in these pictures.
Along with the pictures from that event, she sent us a few pictures from other events at the university:
From a recent work celebration. Clockwise from top left: Herbes de Provence and plain Chevre, Orange Cranberry-Pistachio and Sultana-Herb Chevre, Luminous, Fourier Blue, and Triple Creme (center; I used the NECS coeur a la creme mold). The triple creme is Jim Wallace’s recipe using Geotrichum 15 – a big hit! The 2 blues are my own creations-drawing on recipes and techniques from Jim and Gianaclis Caldwell. Luminous is a rich, creamy blue; Fourier is gloriously sharp and flaky.
Cheese tasting at the university (clockwise from top): Spartan (a mild alpine-style), Antakya (piquant, hard grating cheese; pressed in a manchego mold & rubbed with oil), Osee (crumbly, washed curd), and Red Exodus (named for a favorite Biblical passage – the Red Sea mass departure. It is cheddared using Thermo B-type and KAZU cultures). Spartan and Red Exodus were to be natural rind, but I wanted to experiment with a cheese coating. Osee was meant to be consumed as a young cheese, but I got caught up making a lot of Jim’s treats. In the end, it aged for a total of 13 months. I didn’t know how it would turn out, but it had a sumptuous complexity.
Ricki’s 30-Minute Mozzarella featured on a work celebration cheese and fruit platter.
Cheese equipment and supplies displayed for university co-workers and students. (If you are interested in knowing exactly what this picture includes, Kathy listed it all at the end of this post.*)
Kathy’s 30 Minute Mozzarella Demonstration
I make 30-minute mozzarella quite frequently, as well as a few other 1 – 1 1/2 gallon recipes. I find my slow cooker is an easy way to whip these out without turning on the stove. I just remove the lid handle and place my timer thermometer probe through the hole. I usually tape down the probe wire to hold it in place. This process has made my smaller cheeses a breeze with easy clean-up.
Sanitizing the area
Calibrating pH meter – 7.01 buffering solution (Note: I like to check pH throughout my cheese making with strips and/or a meter, but it is not required.)
Calibrating gram scale.
Measuring citric acid.
Measuring cheese salt.
Mixing cool, non-chlorinated water into citric acid.
Pouring diluted citric acid into slow cooker.
Quickly stirring in the pasteurized and homogenized whole milk.
Heating milk on ‘High’ setting to 95F. (I find 95F is a good temp for the P&H milk I use.)
Measuring organic double-strength liquid vegetable rennet, to be diluted in non-chlorinated water. (Note: As the slow cooker process takes a bit longer, I prepare the rennet solution just before reaching the initial target temperature. I may add a touch more rennet if it is near the expiration date.)
At 95F, the inner pot is removed from the warmer and then the rennet solution is stirred in for approximately 30 seconds (using an up & down motion).
Pot is covered and left undisturbed for 15 minutes. (I find 15 minutes is a good time for my brand of milk, as well as rennet type.)
Cutting curds into checkerboard pattern.
Pot is placed back in the warmer on ‘High,’ and curds are heated to 105°F. Curds are slowly stirred until the final target temperature is reached. Upon reaching 105°F, the pot is taken out of the warmer for an additional 2-5 minutes slow stir. (I prefer 5 minutes for a firmer cheese.)
Draining curds in a flour sack towel-lined colander.
Drained curds. Curds are microwaved in a heat-safe bowl for 1 minute, then the whey is drained off.
Quickly working the cheese with gloved hands. Curds are microwaved two more times, 35 seconds each time – draining and kneading each time.
Adding cheese salt after the final heating.
Stretching the curd. As a side note, the microwave at work was super powerful,
so it probably didn’t require the full time. In order to cool the curd down a bit, we
simply kneaded it a bit longer.
Thank you, Kathy!!
* Clockwise from back left: Cheese making books, Ricki’s 30-Minute Mozzarella & Ricotta Kit, (in the pot) pH meter electrode/thermometer probe on clamp, large pot clip for timer thermometer, Feta molds, butter muslin, 250 ml test jar, Saint Maure mold, Tallegio mold w/divider, curd knife, spruce cambium strips, cheese ladle, stainless steel mold, soft cheese mold (large), square Pont-Levesque mold, 4-5 lb. Tomme mold, butter paddles, Fourme d’Ambert mold, Canestrato mold, pyramid mold, marble/wood/glass cheese dome, digital cooling temp controller (in Camembert mold), Petit molds, Coeur a la Creme mold, clay dishes (for Saint Marcellin), cheese salt, citric acid, Manchego mold, Crottin mold, Tetilla mold, 24″ stainless steel spoon, round plastic follower, stainless steel follower, digital nutritional scale, electric pan (for cheese wax), cheese wax, thermometer, gram scale & calibration weight, homemade activated charcoal, pH meter calibration solutions, pill cutter & crusher (for tablet rennet), digital timer thermometer base, pen-style pH meter, delicate task wipes, portable pH meter base, pH indicator strips, cleaning solution for pH meter, cheese coating, draining rack, waterproof heating mat
** I have personal trainer/fitness nutrition certifications; my main work is administrative and culinary-based, though. The program lasts for 9 weeks, and regular cooking classes are part of the curriculum. I prepare a celebration banquet for the graduation ceremony. Students then return to take alumni classes.
