Frugal Tip: Make Cheese!

We recently started getting milk from a local dairy. It is WONDERFUL stuff. :) Some friends of mine and I have been talking a lot about making cheese... and the other day when I was delivering eggs to them, they told me they had gotten some rennet tablets and citric acid from a cheese supply. We did a little swapping for eggs, and I was ready to roll.

I found the instructions on this website. They are great instructions and very easy to follow. In no time I was stretching my mozzarella! I added a quart of cream to the milk to make for richer cheese, and the mozz was almost TOO creamy. I think next time I will skim off the cream before making mozz.

After the mozzarella was done, I made ricotta from the whey. I think next time I would add the cream back in at this step, and get a better yield. You can find the ricotta from whey instructions here. One gallon of whole milk, plus one quart of cream turned out a little more than a pound of mozzarella, and 14 oz. of ricotta. So then I made bread, and turned that cheese into the best lasagna ever.

Even the chickens ate well, after the last of the whey was poured over their pellets. I let it soak in overnight and they loved their morning mash! (so did Fluffy the cat!)

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