About six weeks ago, I was reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, when I became obsessed with the idea of making my own cheese. "It'll be awesome!" I decided. And so, I set about to order the supplies for cheese: rennet, citric acid, and most egregiously, cheesecloth. (The rennet and citric acid are at least food. The cheesecloth, not so much.)
But even the cheesecloth would have been fine, had I actually, you know, used it. Except I didn't. The box has literally been sitting unopened for over a month. I am so not going to make my own cheese.
But maybe you are? If you want to try your hand at making mozarella, please leave a comment. I will select one person to receive my cheesemaking supplies. Included are the rennet, citric acid, and the butter muslin, so all you'll need is your own thermometer and a pot. And some milk. Read here to find out how to make the mozarella.
ETA: You have until Wednesday, July 2nd at 8:00 am to enter.
1 year ago
39 comments:
Oh! Me, me, me! Pick me!
Oh yes! I just tried my first batch a few weeks ago (plain, Andean style cheese) but got a book out to start experimenting with mozzarella, feta, etc! I hate to compete, but pick me!
Very nice offer, Arduous. Though, please don't pick me! :o) I just don't see myself making cheese. I found a nice local company for fresh mozz and I am happy 'bout that. Cookies about push me over the edge. Throw in a little cheese-making and the loony bin might just call my name. Besides, can you imagine how much cheese I would have to make for all these kids??? Yeesh...
ooh I'd love to try it...I got a book on making cheese a while back but haven't gotten around to ordering the supplies yet!
oh heck yes. I was just reading about cheese making this morning.
oh I would love to win a cheesemaking kit! I am really trying hard to make more of my own foods (next on the agenda: bread and jam!)and rely less on botht he farmer's market and the super market, but I'm struggling with the money aspect of all these ventures--especially as a college student without a job!! (grr!) :-(
so yes I would definitely love to win a cheesemaking kit!
I bought that same kit! I've made a few batches with my kids, and they really had a good time. My first batch didn't work at all, despite how easy it was supposed to be. I still don't know what I did wrong. The rest have worked, although I haven't moved beyond mozzarella. The thing that amazed me was how rich and dense homemade, whole milk mozzarella is. I've had to cut down to 2%. It is hilarious to make the string cheese, especially with 3 kids helping. I think I scare the UPS guy as much as Ms. Kingsolver scared hers.
I would love to try and make cheese. My 4 year old loves mozzarella and always asks for "the white cheese" on everything! How fun would it be for him to help me make his own!
Oh goody - pick me, pick me! I loved Animal, Vegetable, Miracle too. I would love to make my own cheese, but I've never been able to afford the equipment/ingredients.
no, no - pick me :)
I meant to order that kit as well when I was reading that chapter. I do make paneer sometimes so it should be something like that with a little bit more work.
Hahaha! I did the SAME EXACT THING after I read AVM! I made some mozzarella. It was fun. I will probably not do it again. At least not anytime soon.
Now if I had the patience to make some nice, hard cheeses.... that I would probably do. But when I'm making lasagna or pizza, the last thing I want is to lengthen the process by another 45 minutes!
After I read AVM, I decided I wanted to try to make cheese. I haven't tried yet, but I put it on my list of things to do during summer vacation. Pick me!!!
Please please please! One more thing for my husband to be embarassed about!
Me, me, me! Pick me!! My book club is going to try our hand at making cheese later this summer. Thanks for offering this up Arduous.
i love that you're trying to put your unused kit to good use in a good home, but what about the impact of shipping this kit (again... it having already been shipped to you i assume) versus the impact of people going to a local dairy to buy fresh local stuff? don't get me wrong, I'd LOVE to make the cheese, but i wouldn't feel right about having you ship it out again. maybe find a local taker?
Nice of you to offer this up to another. My son and I would love to try our hands at cheesemaking - great homeschool experiment for him.
Oh, ze cheeze! I would love to make ze cheeze except I am lacking in ze rennet and ze citric acid.
Carlie, thanks for your comment. It's a good question. Here's my answer: I'm going to ship the stuff via USPS. Since USPS already goes to every home Mon-Sat, the shipping impact is very minimal. And while I could give it to someone locally, they would probably use gas driving to and from my apartment to pick up the one package whereas when a package is mailed, its loaded in a truck with many, many other packages making the impact of my one package very minimal. It if helps I also walk to the post office. So that's why, in my opinion, mailing my package to someone in blogland isn't much worse than giving it away on Freecyle.
Ooo! I'm already making my own yogurt. I'd love to give cheese a shot.
arduous -- i'd agree that it's the lesser of the evils :)
Awe, c'mon, you are not even going to try ? I am sure it will taste delicious and it will be a lot of fun... plus, imagine next time you enter a stupid betting context (hypothetically) and two mean women beat the pants out of you, you can tell them "Oh, yeah ? Well, you enjoy your win, ladies, I am going home and enjoy some of that exquisite mozzarella of mine... ".
Man, it would be so cool.... OK, that's it, I am so making my own mozzarella...
I am sorry my Italian friend, but I am just never going to get around to making my own cheese. So I think I'll stick to buying my cheese at the farmers' market. Do you want to be entered in the giveaway? Because I'm so nice, I'll even allow you Canadians to enter. :)
hey arduous. i don't want to be entered (i'm lazy and lactose intolerant - bad combo). but i just wanted to say how awesome it is that you're giving this away, and that the giveaway is open to canadians. i can't enter half the contests i'm interested in 'cause they're for americans only! thanks :)
Great giveaway! But I am NOT putting my name in the hat for the prize! I am not quite green or domestic enough to even attempt such a project! I am just now getting comfortable with making our own bread! I tried making soy milk for DD but that just turned into a really disgusting science experiment in my fridge and she hated it! So back to the store-bought for now! I hope to join the ranks of the super self-sufficient in the near future and may attempt my own cheese then (but probably not)!
Oooh I'd love to try making cheese! And my boyfriend loves "make your own" schemes so I'd have a helper!.... *crosses fingers*
I have so many things like that! I've finally gotten rid of most of them, so DON"T pick me! :)
I just acquired something new... a breadmaker! I'm actually using it, though, and it cost $5 at Goodwill... I've made 5 loaves so far.
The YOGURT maker, however, will rot on my cabinet shelf forever, I fear... gift from my wonderful mother-in-law. And she gave it to me for very personal reasons...
Perhaps I should try to make yogurt.
please do pick me, at least if you can ship to Canada
Amanda
I've never read anything by Marjane Satrapi, but I'll have to check her out. I've only just recently gotten into reading graphic novels. I never liked comics when I was younger, but now that some of my favorite authors have also gotten into graphics, I'm starting to read more of them.
i couldn't live with out cheese its the best so making my own would be awesome!
Wow, this is so cool! I hope you pick me! My family and I have been making our own pizzas to save money and I've ALWAYS been interested in cheese making, I'd love this kit and I'd love you if I won! :) :)
I would be interested if Canadians may enter.
Oh, Please, I have been dying to make mozzarella and my nieces will be spending the summer with me and this would be a great chance to bond and learn together and,
Sorry, had to catch my breath.
Please, please, please.
I'm begging here in case you didn't pick up on that.
Tory Lord
Just so everyone's aware, I'm using a random number generator to give this away. So y'all can get off your knees, no begging is necessary!! :)
Cha, Arduous!? You didn't tell me that I would be competing with Canadians for the kit! Kidding!
Actually, it's making me rather sad to realize how much they get the shaft. I know, I know. I'm an oafish American and I should have realized this sooner! :-)
Oafish, yes. Magnanimous, no. I still want that durn cheese kit!
Oh yeah. Sorry about starting the begging!
I know, I have to say, I'm pleasantly surprised by how many Canadian readers I have! I knew I had a few, but I guess I have much more than that! Anyway, I am happy to offer this up to Canadians as well. I'm just like NAFTA!
Oh I would love this!!!!!!
This is so funny! My friend was just telling me about a cheesemaking nightmare! I will send her the link now...
I'll let the experts do the cheesemaking.
Megan
Ahh. I can't believe I missed this. I'm without a computer - yep again! - and am sooo far behind on blogs. I've commandeered my hubby's computer (while he's sleeping) to try to catch up. Oh well. Next time. Hope your cheese kit finds a good home!
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