Picture this: I had a quart of milk that was overdue to be dumped (but not turning yet) and nothing to do today. So I made fresh mozzarella from scratch!
I haven't made cheese since graduate school, more than 40 years ago. But I do know how.
Didn't turn out with quite the right consistency, but close enough. Taste was the same as good fresh mozzarella (cow's milk variety) and nice and creamy (thanks to the butter I kneaded in to imitate buratta.) I didn't have citric acid nor rennet, so I improvised with white balsamic vinegar.. Combined with heat, this curdles well.
Of course, had I the rennet and had I gauged the temperature, I could have imitated mozzarella texture better. But given what I had on hand and 30 minutes or less time, this was delightful.
I'm not at all sure that making cheese at home is ever any cheaper than buying it. Wasn't 40 years ago and doesn't appear to be now. It's just a thing to do. Might even try my hand with molds, such as those in blue cheese, but that's harder and has some risk.
Made a caprese tonight for fun. It worked!
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