Mozzarella cheese lost consistency - crumbled

[jblosser]

Hello:

I tried making mozzeralla cheese for the first time this week. I used raw milk (2 gallons), lemon juice (instead of citric acid) and rennet. I got great curds, then heated them in the microwave to 135 (as the recipe suggested). Then the recipe said to work the curds (fold and stretch) until they grew firm and got a sheen, then to shape. Instead, after working them for about five seconds, the curds separated more and more, grew crumbly and dry, and eventually collapsed into a mess resembling cottage cheese left out all day. I tossed them into a cheese press to try to salvage them, but the resulting block (two days later) was dry, pasty and crumbly. Did I overwork it? Thanks all.

[Sailor Con Queso]

Too much acid. Lemon Juice is very inconsistent. Citric Acid is standardized and a better choice.

[awakephd]

But even with citric acid, you will read innumerable stories of failure and frustration here on this forum with the 30-minute moz. Moz in general is actually one of the hardest cheeses to get right - it has to hit just the right level of acidity.

I've had better success (still not perfect, but better), and much better tasted, by going with a traditional mozarella approach, acidifying by the action of added bacteria.

And by the way ... welcome to the forum!