[Cheese] Mozzarella

[Corina]

Hi Rita,

Sorry to take a while to answer this--I was trying to save it til I 
had time to look for a diagram on the web showing how the curd is 
cut. I haven't had time still, but you could do a search! It's the 
same for any cheese that uses curds.

The basic method is to take a knife that's long enough to reach the 
bottom of the pot, and slice straight down and across the pot all the 
way across the top. Then give the pot a quarter turn and repeat, so 
you end up with a checker pattern. You now have a pot full of long 
skinny pieces, because each "square" piece in your checkerboard goes 
all the way to the bottom.

The next step may be a little harder to picture (it was for me), but 
is more straightforward when you are doing it!

You want to make those long pieces shorter, hopefully in a uniform 
way. To do that, retrace all your slices *with the knife at an angle* 
(keeping the angle the same), so it is cutting the pieces into 
shorter lengths. The measured cuts you have already made will guide 
your knife so that the cuts are relatively uniform. Once you have 
retraced all the cuts in one direction, then you turn the pot another 
quarter and do the same thing again, going over the pattern you made 
with the slices going the other way.

When you first start cutting, your knife tip will reach the side of 
the pot. When you get close to the other edge with your cuts, your 
knife will be hitting the bottom of the pot. There will be a space 
near the very end where you can not cut anymore with the knife at an 
angle, and you know there is curd that's not getting cut. Don't worry 
about that part, it will get cut when you do the other direction.

All this curd cutting stuff doesn't have to be perfect. As soon as 
you can start stirring the curds (remember to give them a little rest 
first), you can find and cut up any parts you missed and make them as 
uniform in size as you can. Don't stress about it--the curds seem to 
be pretty forgiving!

>Do you have any tricks or hints on how to cut the curd
>horizontally in the pot. I make my cheese in a square
>container and use a cake rack for the horizontal cuts

That's very clever! I wish I had a trick like that for a round pot.

>FYI 1 teaspoon is a world wide standard of 5 mil.

Oh! I'm glad you have a more exact way of calculating the conversions.

>1
>tablespoon for most of the world is 15 mil (3
>teaspoons), but for some unknown reason to me, in
>Australia it is 4 teaspoons = 20 mil.

Oh wow! Well, US and UK pints are different sizes too. I make a lot 
of British recipes and ended up buying a UK liquid measure.

>The blue cheese is not pressed, but put into a mold
>and it "solidifies" under its own weight, usually in
>24 hours.

Oh! Do you use a mold that looks like a plastic cup with little holes 
in it? I have tried to use molds like that, but I can never get 
enough whey out of the cheese before it starts to mildew (orange 
bathroom type mold).

I would love to hear how you make your camambert when you have a few minutes!

Happy cheesemaking,
Corina