Buffalo Rising Online

I remember the first time, a few years ago, when I caught a cheesemaking demonstration on a cooking program. It was about 3AM, and for whatever reason, I was up watching cooking shows. I’d like to say that that was a one time deal, but it actually happens pretty often. The women on the program, dressed in hairnets and pristine white food industry-style jackets, swirled their hands around in a big briny tub, gracefully plucking out glistening mozzarella balls with ease. The voice over told me that I could do this at home. Certainly they must be talking to someone else.

I completely forgot about making cheese for quite a while. And then those soft shiny balls of mozzarella began to be my five-year-old’s favorite thing to eat. So when a local chef told me a story about making mozzarella at culinary school, the wheels started churning. A few months later Barbara Kingsolver’s “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle