Cheese for dessert?!?! Cheese making!

I fell in love with cheese when we last went to France,   I remember being at a convention in La Londe France,  with people from all over the world, and when they served cheese for desert, all the Americans looked puzzled.  Cheese for dessert, who had heard of such a thing?!?  Then we  stayed with friends in Lyon, France and we were delighted when they would bring out a platter of cheeses!  I have gotten to enjoy many fine cheeses in Belgium and I have even been to Asiago, Italy and enjoyed their very fine cheeses!      

 Cheese, what an amazing food!  I always had a unquenchable curiosity, I wanted to know how everything and anything worked.  How things were made and how they were formed.  And luckily I married a man that showed me that is was perfectly acceptable to tear things apart  and to explore!  So cheese, I needed to know how it went from milk from a cow (or goat, yummy) to this delicious texture!  So being the Renaissance Mama I am (and a geek at heart,)  I set out to have some fun with my son and got myself  a book called Home Cheese Making!  And we have been enjoying our own mozzarella cheese!

Making Mozzarella is really quiet simple and takes about 30 minutes,  it is perfect for making with children.  You need a gallon of milk that is NOT ultrapasturized, pectin, citric acid, rennin, cheese salt, and a thermometer.  You can also buy a cheese kit  that will have everything you need.  What I love about mozzarella, is that though sanitation is important, this is a quick cheese, you use a microwave too, and you do not have to worry as much about sanitation as you would with more advanced cheese.  Plus, we always make mozzarella when we are going to make lasagna.  A natural and easy extension is to make homemade whey ricotta cheese, oh it is so yummy.  But please take this advice and do not forget it like I did , always use a really good cheese cloth or you will see your yummy ricotta go down the drain!

Oh and gloves are helpful, this is my son pulling the very hot cheese!  The author of Home cheese making also has a youtube video if you are a visual person.  So, enjoy some fun and bonding time with your wonderful children, and have some fun making yummy cheese!

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