New to making, grew up with Cheese

[atalanta]

Hi!

I just started cheese making about a month ago, but my cheese love started when I was little.

My mom belonged to the "Cheese of the month" club way back when. I don't even remember what she received in those boxes. But this led to her buying a cheese shop and when I was old enough to drive, I'd be working there weekends. I bet you can imagine the toasted cheese sandwiches I made there! She expanded and purchased another cheese shop closer to home. Eventually cheese shops became passe and she sold both.

I've recently started in with cheese making and am soon going to start my 3rd batch. I'm still taking baby steps (the mozzarella/ricotta route) but will eventually start on something a little more complicated, once I can consistently get good results. My first batch was perfect - 3 lovely balls of mozzarella and about a half cup of ricotta from the whey (I used raw milk and 1/4 rennet tab). The second batch, the curds didn't form right but at least I did end up with a nice bowl full of ricotta (local pasteurized homogenized whole milk and two 1/4 rennet tabs). I'm thinking that I stirred it too much the second time and that broke the curds so I'll be trying that milk again (it's less than half the price per gallon than the raw milk).

I started with the Cheese Making Kit from NE Cheese (I'll often do a kit or class to get me started even though I could do it myself cheaper). I ditched the directions (because the Amazon reviews said they weren't the best) and just used the supplies. It came with 10 rennet tabs so I should be good for a while. But I am looking into powder or drops so that I can scale it down further.

See you around the boards!

[valley ranch]

Hi, Sound good, you love cheese and you're making it, just like most cheese makers.  I'm almost as new here and you are but, I'd like say welcome all the same. I'll look for you on the forum, see you around. We all like pictures, look around and see what people have been doing and let us know what you're up to. Thank you for coming by.


Richard

[atalanta]

Thanks, Richard. I'll post pics of my first batch soon (it was a food porn pic ). I'm hoping to learn from other people's experiences and hope to make not as many mistakes (rather make new ones LOL )