Friday, October 30, 2009

Cheese kit arrives!

For my birthday I asked for Leener's Delux Cheesemaking Kit. It arrived this week! Thanks Dad and Barb! It includes everything to make the following cheese: Mozzarella, Ricotta, Yogurt Cream Cheese, Lemon Cheese Spread, Neufchatel, Queso Blanco, Large Curd Cottage Cheese, Queso Fresco, Farmhouse Cheddar, Monterey Jack, Yellow Colby, Traditional Cheddar. All I have to do is add milk and follow the directions in the booklet.


They start us out with Mozzarella. Here I have set out the five things needed to mix in the milk to make the mozzarella. Incidentally, in the background is some sauerkraut I made.

Heating the milk. The instruction booklet is on the counter.

The cheese has separated into curds and whey.
After draining the whey, which will be used to make ricotta, I am to microwave the curds and knead them with a spoon.

After microwaving and kneading a somewhat miraculous transformation happens and I am suddenly holding mozzarella cheese.

Which I formed into balls and a bigger piece. It was delicious.

If you don't want to go whole hog for the deluxe cheese kit, you can purchase just a mozzarella/ricotta cheese kit. They are both very easy and fast cheeses to make. If you like mozzarella cheese, I highly recommend it.

3 comments:

Sara K. said...

WOW!!! That is so cool!!! Ever since I read B Kingsolver I have been wanting to make some queso!!!

Shawn S. said...

Me too! I've had the Leener's page open since you've posted this.

Anonymous said...

You didn't tell me about this. Where do you get this kit? MOM