Whey cool

PALMER — There were plenty of smiles Thursday as a room full of would-be cheese makers stretched their skills making fresh mozzarella.

The effort, led by Julie Cascio at the Palmer Cooperative Extension Service, saw a dozen Mat-Su Valley residents teaming up to learn to make the popular stringy concoction. Paired together, the small groups simmered their milk, added acid and rennet (which is what makes cheese coagulate into curds) and spent plenty of time watching thermometers.

While the final process of making fresh mozzarella was the most fun for the students — stretching the cheese, folding it over, then stretching again — they also learned there’s a lot of science that goes into each small, warm ball of fresh cheese.

“I always wanted to know how to make this stuff,” said Bob Shumaker, a Valley resident who raises some dairy cows. “I’ve milked cows for years and never made cheese.”

Early on in Thursday’s class, Shumaker was confident in his abilities as an amateur mozzarella maker.

“I just may go into the cheese business,” he said.

As the class continued and students like Hermine Filucci enjoyed success watching their gooey curds melt into mouthwatering mozzarella, Shumaker had to reassess his future plans. Along with partner John Weis, the pair’s first batch of cheese went sour.

“We’re hurting over here. Maybe I’m not ready to make cheese yet.” Shumaker said with a hearty laugh. But he did learn from the experience. “I know where we went wrong, John. We didn’t read the instructions.”

Filucci did, however, and was soon stretching fresh, white, stringy cheese between her fingers. Originally from France, a country famous for its cheese, Filucci said she was excited to learn to make her own, mainly because then she knows exactly what does — and does not — go into the final product.

Farther down the counter in the Cooperative Extension classroom, Diana and Megan Critzer were busy making their own batch. If all goes well, the newfound knowledge may benefit all at the Critzer house come Sunday.

“If they’re all really lucky, they’ll have some fresh mozzarella for Super Bowl Sunday,” she said.

But not if Megan has anything to say about it.

“They’re not getting any,” she said, adding that she wants to expand into making flavored cheeses and preserve the fresh mozzarella in olive oil.

As students watched their milk and rennet mixtures, Cascio gave them an overview of the precise steps that make a pile of indiscriminate curds into a ball of fresh, warm mozzarella.

After draining the curds from the whey, small handfuls are dipped into 175-degree water. Then, wearing gloves to protect hands from the heat, the curds melt into a ball and worked. It’s the working of the cheese that makes it mozzarella, Cascio said. By stretching the warm cheese, folding it upon itself then stretching again, it develops its signature stringy consistency.

“It’s supposed to be a stringy kind-of cheese, that’s why you pull it. This is what makes this cheese into mozzarella,” she said. “Also, that’s the fun part — the pulling.”

While some students like Diana Critzer said she plans to use her new cheesemaking ability to stretch her culinary talents, others like Weis have a more specific goal.

“I want to have fresh cheese on my pizza,” he said.

A construction worker by trade, Weis was injured on the job and couldn’t work for awhile. So, he took up baking bread, and one of his favorite things to make is homemade pizza.

“I’ve been making bread for quite awhile now,” he said. “Now, I could have something to (go with) that bread.”

Now that he knows how to make pizza dough and fresh mozzarella, Weis looks forward to realizing his ultimate dream. “That’s to have a pizza oven.”

If the Cooperative Extension were ever to hold a class on making a pizza oven, Weis said he’d be the first to sign up.

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.