Mascarpone is a mild and creamy fresh cheese made from cream only - a delicious ingredient in many desserts and foods.
Ingredients for for ½ kg cheese:
1 litres of cream 1/4 tsp tartaric acid - or 2 tbsp. lemon juice
Optional:
1 pinch of Mesophilic starter culture - or ½ dl buttermilk or soured milk 1-2 drops of rennet
Steps:
Heat the cream to 85°C.
Dissolve tartaric acid in 2 tbsp water.
Add the dissolved tartaric acid to the cream and stir well.
Cover with a lid and refrigerate the cream for about 12 hours while the cream thickens and slowly seperates into whey and curd.
Pour the cream into a collander lined with cheese cloth and suspend it over a bowl or pot to collect the whey.
Move the curd back into the fridge to drain for another 12 hours.
The cheese is now ready to be savoured - or stored in a suitable container with lid.
Stays fresh in the fridge for nearly 2 weeks.
Note: Tartaric acid can be substitued by a mesophilic starter culture or buttermilk and/or a few drops of rennet. Do not add the culture to the cream until after you have heatet and cooled it to temperatures below 40°C