Homemade Mozzarella Cheese

Mmm... cheeeeesy. Decided to try making some cheese. Although un-pasturized milk is ideal for cheese, it is technically illegal to sell it in Colorado unless you are a part of a milk share during which case you actually "own" a share of the cow. Instead, I found some milk that was pasteurized at a low temperature which seemed to work fine. This was my first time making cheese so I definitely took longer than the "30 minutes" that the recipe suggested. I also realized that some sort of hand protection (probably thick gloves of some sort) is quite necessary as your hands are submerged in very hot water (70C). Gloves would have definitely prevented much pain in my hands. The recipe that I used (featured in the cheese kit that I used) produced about six golf-tennis ball size balls.

Final product.

The low-temperature pasteurized whole milk that I used.

Separating the curds and whey.

Finished cheese with (out of season) basil, EV olive oil, and a balsamic reduction.