After a lot of research, I decided to try to make mozzarella cheese at home. It was much simpler than I had ever imagined but very precise. I needed citric acid and vegetarian rennet (microbial), both of which were available at The Healthy Grocer in Mechanicsburg PA. Ultra Pasteurized milk cannot be used to make mozzarella, so I opted for non-fat powdered milk with a pint of heavy cream added, which I read was the best bet if you don’t have easy access to a local dairy farm.

The basic jist, milk, cream and citric acid are mixed  then heated slowly up to 90 degrees F.

At that point you add 1/4 t. of rennet which has been diluted into 1/4 c. of water. Mix for 30 seconds, then turn off the heat and let sit for 10 minutes. Cut the curd into 1 inch cubes and let sit again for 10 minutes.

Transfer to bowl, getting as much liquid (whey) out as you can. At this point it looked like I had failed. All I had was grainy milky mush. But I kept going, threw the bowl into the microwave for a minute. I got it out and VOILA, it was dispelling more whey and coming together in what appeared to be very stretchy soft cheese dough. I did as the instructions said and stretched it a few times. Returned to microwave for 30 seconds, and repeated the process until I had a pretty shiny ball of mozzarella!

I stuck it in the fridge then tried it an hour later. Not too bad, mostly tastes like milk in solid form, I didn’t add lipase (because it is an enzyme extracted from calves), this gives cheese it’s tangy sharpness. I didn’t even add salt so it truly is like eating milk and not like the cheese you pick up at the grocery store.

I think I’ll try again soon with adding different flavors, maybe even a few drops of liquid smoke for “smoked mozzarella”. I don’t like the overly milky bland taste of this mozzarella but will try to get around the taste factor by ways other than using lipase.

Complete instructions I used are here.