Author Topic: Mozzarella - Acidifying Curds In Whey, By Draining, Or By Washing?  (Read 5302 times)

Vaudevilleorange

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When increasing the acidity of a curd, and not using additives or cultures...if you don't drain and hang the curd but instead leave it in its whey over night... is that better or more efficient in lowering the PH then draining and hanging it and keeping the curd in the refrigerator for a day or so?

Here is another way of putting this question. What is the best way to get a curd to the correct acidity, say for mozzarella, without using store bought inputs?


Sailor Con Queso

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Re: Mozzarella - Acidifying Curds In Whey, By Draining, Or By Washing?
« Reply #1 on: July 05, 2011, 02:06:23 PM »
Traditional European cheese makers let milk naturally acidify all the time, but for the average hobbyist, that is a difficult and somewhat dangerous thing to do. You should never try this with pasteurized milk because all of the naturally occuring bacteria have been killed off. By letting the milk just sit overnight, you are allowing both naturally occurring and contamination bacteria to multiply. So even very tiny quantities of coliforms or disease causing bacteria can become a real problem. If you don't want to use "store bought" cultures you can use buttermilk (mesophilic) or yogurt (thermophilic). With Moz you would use yogurt. One way or another, you can't skip the bacteria.

mhill

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Re: Mozzarella - Acidifying Curds In Whey, By Draining, Or By Washing?
« Reply #2 on: July 08, 2011, 12:40:40 AM »
With raw milk the natural "blend" of bacteria will vary from farm to farm (or pasture) as well as potentially season of year.

Tomer1

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Re: Mozzarella - Acidifying Curds In Whey, By Draining, Or By Washing?
« Reply #3 on: July 08, 2011, 08:03:22 AM »
I dont follow, are you suggesting not adding culture just rennet (can rennet even work without acidification?) and let the curds acidity naturally?

MrsKK

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Re: Mozzarella - Acidifying Curds In Whey, By Draining, Or By Washing?
« Reply #4 on: July 08, 2011, 01:35:58 PM »
The way I'm reading the question is that it applies after the curd is set, NOT prior to adding the rennet.

I acidify my mozzarella curd at room temperature, after rinsing it with a gallon of cool tap water.  It takes about 24 - 36 hours for it to acidify enough to stretch, but that works well with my life.  Many people do not rinse the curd and are able to stretch at about 6-8 hours.

I use yogurt as my culture and it works beautifully.

Vaudevilleorange

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Re: Mozzarella - Acidifying Curds In Whey, By Draining, Or By Washing?
« Reply #5 on: July 08, 2011, 10:10:25 PM »
Interesting...what exactly does the rinsing do?...do you cut the curd, let it sit, pour off whey, and then rinse it? OR cut curd, hang, and then rinse it? OR something else?

MrsKK

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Re: Mozzarella - Acidifying Curds In Whey, By Draining, Or By Washing?
« Reply #6 on: July 09, 2011, 02:30:14 PM »
Rather than answer your questions individually, I have linked to the thread with my recipe for two-day mozzarella .

I think that rinsing or washing the curd helps to prevent the curd from acidifying too quickly.  I'm sure that Linux has the more scientific answers.

The two day method works for me because I don't typically have enough time in one day to tie it all up with cheesemaking.  Gotta take care of the cow and the garden some time!

nilo_669

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Re: Mozzarella - Acidifying Curds In Whey, By Draining, Or By Washing?
« Reply #7 on: February 03, 2013, 01:24:41 PM »
        Yes you can acidify curds with or with out using cultures but there's a difference with the taste and flavor of stretched cheese. The taste of Mozza without cultures imagine drinking milk left out at room temp overnight . or With cultures you could could make your mozzarella in less time say at least 8-10 hours. Italian's make their cheese from start to finish at that time frame and some are doing it pasteurized and some raw. Ive made both with the same recipe and results are different . Raw is better !!!!!!! Thats the wonder of adding Cultures to the milk , simplifying the process of cheese making Pasteurize or Raw milk especially for us hobbyist.