Fresh Lactic Acid Coagulated Whey Removed Cheese General Discussion

[mainelycheese]

I did toss the rennet right away and then found out it was most likely NOT the culprit. I had been making cheese in Maine with raw milk, but had occasionally used store bought and it was OK. Well, not so much here. I had a couple of failed batches of Mozz here and also some really iffy fromage blanc...

Of course, the only farm I can find selling raw milk is on the other side of the city... so like 1.5 hour trip for me.

I will make the trek, but it will likely be a month or so before I can.

[iratherfly]

I think a good quality milk that is not homogenized and gently pasteurized will give you what you want.  I get mine at Whole Foods (It's also organic, local and grass-fed which makes it even better; it's almost too good for Mozz )

You don't have to go Raw. Just make sure the milk pasteurization wasn't HTST or UHT which is just too violent for the milk, it modifies the protein shape and kills everything in it, including coagulation related enzymes.  If the package doesn't say anything, a good way to tell is to look at the expiration date. Milk from a store with decent product turnover will be quite fresh so the expiration date is usually 10-20 days away.  If it's 25 or 35 days than this is obviously an overly pasteurized product.  Surprisingly many of the national organic brands do that, in spite of their premium prices (Organic Valley, Horizon).

Also, use CalCl2 whenever dealing with milk that has been pasteurized. It will make up for the calcium loss of the pasteurization and give you back that firm curd you are looking for.