Make Cheese Inc. + Giveaway!
Remember my post about my Lotsa Motsa Kit I got my MakeCheese.ca via Kickstarter? No? Well, go check it out right here! In any case, CJ and I finally made our first batch last night and had to share- sooo cool!!! FYI this is a big picture post- lots of pics- not a lot of me blabbing!
For reference, the super cute box!
Look at that set-up!
This is the one buy you need to make your cheese- good whole milk. We went to Whole Foods and got a good organic brand. The better the milk, the better the cheese. Goat's Milk can be used too!
We first watched this video from Make Cheese Inc. to know how to make it! The instructions included are super easy to follow but we figured it couldn't hurt to watch and she had some great info in the video.
Some more set-up pics. We got our water boiling and such- if you can't tell our kitchen is pretty much all red and black.
We've got our solutions mixed and then the milk/citrus acid was on the stove! We used the thermometer from the kit at first and then later opted to our super premo one we own. Do you see in the bottom right pic how the curd is already forming on the spoon?
It's been heated to the right temp and off the stove- time to wait! I wrote a a blog post while waiting- haha. We ended up waiting about 20 minutes.
The weird part! We sliced the curd into little squares, first checking to see that the knife came out clean (it did). It looked crazy- I can't believe I'm making cheese!
The result after the first couple of stirs! See how clear the whey is? That means we did it right! Score!
Scooping out the curd! A little to a LOT! Can I just say that this is ONE batch- ONE!!! Out of THIRTY!! I can't believe this!!!
We flipped the curd a bit to help drain out the whey while not pressing it- we were lucky that is was really scoop-able- the quality of milk goes a long way!
The whey! You heat this up real hot (can't remember the exact number- I think 185 degrees F) and then dip the curd in before stretching and kneading and making mozzarella!
So I forgot to take any kneading pics until the very last one! Boo! It was cool though and we only had to re-dip a few of them!
This was our "trial" piece. We had to re-dip it but I think it looks pretty good and shiny. I did this one : )
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| Specialty salt one- see the dark crystals? |
We ended up adding salt to a few. One regular, one with a specialty salt, and one with salt and oregano from our mini-garden!
Voila! I knew they are random pics... you can see the difference in the shapes and the best ones were our last ones (like the last pic-middle row- on the right).
We couldn't help ourselves and immediately tried the salted and regular ones. Really good. We then cooled them in water baths. We had some for dinner and individually wrapped up the rest.
Dinner is served! I had already eaten one...
Jealous? You should be! This was amazing! We preferred the salted ones over the un-salted mozza so we will probably pre-salt all of them next time. The BEST though was the one with a bit of salt and our homegrown oregano! We have basil plants AND tomato plants too so the next batch will lead to caprese with homemade mozza with homegrown herbs, on top of homegrown tomatos and topped with homegrown basil! Drool!
We had some more after this plate that had one of our exotic salts (we have a few from a local cheese shop) and it was great too. This looks like a lot but we still have LOADS of cheese from this ONE batch. And we have enough for at least thirty more batches. It's craziness! More like crazy awesome! CJ commented that the regular mozza (as in salt sprinkled on top/not in the actual mozza) was one of the most flavorful he's ever had- and I'd agree. Super success!!
Now here's the kicker! Because of my late change in address, the Make Cheese company's spread sheets had me listed TWICE and I ended up getting a second kit a few days after receiving my first (it was re-directed to me from my old address). I didn't want to keep the free box without them knowing so I contacted them and offered to a) pay for the box now or b) use it in a giveaway-I'd just pay shipping to a reader! And what did they pick? B! That's right! One lucky reader gets to have a kit too! This is a $30 + shipping value but considering you can make 30 GIANT batches of mozzarella (or ricotta) from this kit only adding a gallon of milk from your pocket, this comes out to be worth much MUCH more! I'm thinking of getting their Feta Kit too because YUM! And I know more kits are coming! Check out their site makecheese.ca and enter here to win a FREE kit!
You know the deal! Enter below with Rafflecopter and Good Luck!
Posts
This is awesome, your pics make me want to go get some moz right now! lol
ReplyDeleteThe brie and feta sound fun!
ReplyDeleteHaha this sounds fun! I don't even know what cheese you could make at home. Brie? Gouda? Some kind of smoked cheese? No idea, I'd just love to try the mozzarella haha.
ReplyDeletemmmm brie
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh! I a cheese-o-holic! Maybe its the fact that I grew up in the wonderful cheese state... wi... or that I'm a huge cheesehead but I LOVE cheese!!! I'd literally make any cheese! I love parmesean but ofncourse tge beat takes years to age! This would be the best win ever!!!! Ahhhhh I need this! :)
ReplyDeleteI would have to choose either the mozzarella or brie to start off with. Those are my weakness!
ReplyDeleteFeta!
ReplyDeleteThis looks amazingly tasty!
ReplyDeleteMascarpone!
ReplyDeletebrie!
ReplyDeleteI so want to try this.
ReplyDeleteThis looks pretty awesome and tasty.
ReplyDeleteI love Mozzarella!
ReplyDeleteBrie, it's soooo delicious!
ReplyDeleteThat is such a neat kit! I think a mozza or other cheese kit that comes with herbs/seasoning to make different flavored cheeses would be really neat.
ReplyDeleteLooks sooo yummy!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to make brie, or perhaps a gouda. I like the idea of a flavored cheese too!
ReplyDeleteCheese is my weakness...especially with bread...yum! Making Swiss would be pretty cool, or Gouda, or Feta - I can't decide and your pics made me hungry :-)
ReplyDeleteLooks really neat my fiancé loves homemade mozzarella!
ReplyDeleteHomemade mozzarella would be awesome! I'd also like to try the feta kit.
ReplyDeleteMmmm Feta :)
ReplyDeleteOh man, I'd love to make mozzerella. I love, love caprese - I eat it at least once a week (when I was pregnant, I ate it like every day...).
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMade mozza in a food science class once, but couldn't remember how to do it again! Thanks for sharing! Would love to try the gouda!
ReplyDeleteDefinately Gouda would be fun to try!
ReplyDeleteI would try brie.
ReplyDeletenomfreebies at hotmail dot com
I've always wanted to make cheese. Mozerella has always sounded good. :p
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I have dairy goats and now we've got too much milk! I was just looking at finding a cheese making kit, this would be so cool (going to check out the company now too!)
ReplyDeleteoohh looks like a fun project!
ReplyDeleteGouda please!
ReplyDeleteI would love to try and make Munster cheese
ReplyDeleteI just looked and the Feta kits sounds like fun too!! I think it's be cool to try making a cheddar or blue cheese as well. This looks like a fun and yummy idea!
ReplyDelete