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What did I do wrong?Food/Science Question

11 years ago

Made my standard tomato rice soup recipe the other day. Sauteed onion, celery, carrot. Added stock, some cooked rice, tomatoes,& herbs. Cooked a while. Pureed.
Just before serving, I added the remaining cooked rice and the milk. The milk turned the soup into a gelatinous mess. I think I made cheese.
I was able to salvage it, fairly well. I heated it more and blended more. It really ended up with a cheesy flavor however.
This is a recipe I have made before with no issues. I can think of 2 possible culprits
1)I used my home canned tomatoes which were perhaps more acidic than store bought tomatoes. However, it seems sort of unlikely that I haven't previously used my own canned tomatoes-possible, but unlikely.
2)It has something to do with the fact that it was raw milk- unpasteurized, unhomogenized.
Or maybe it is a combo of the two, or something else.
Anyone have any theories?

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Comments (4)

jimster
11 years ago
If you followed current standards of acidity for home canned tomatoes, as you most probably did, they were way more acidic than store bought ones. And that definitely could curdle the milk. After all, some types of cheese are made by curdling milk with acid.

I don't know if the type of milk was responsible. Just a contributing factor would be my guess.

Jim

This post was edited by jimster on Wed, Dec 12, 12 at 22:21
grainlady_ks
11 years ago
From my "Book of Odd Knowledge", purloined from who knows where....

How to prevent homemade tomato soup from curdling.

-Add tomatoes to milk rather than the milk to tomatoes.

-Have both milk and tomatoes hot when they are combined.

-Don't "hold" the soup - serve it as soon as ready.

-Thicken either the tomato juice or the milk before they are combined.

-Evaporated is the least likely milk product to curdle; non-fat dry milk is the most likely to curdle.

-Grainlady
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localeater
Original Author
11 years ago
Okay, I figured it was the acidity of home canned tomatoes. Darn.
I also did some research and it turns out that raw milk is higher in calcium than pasteurized milk. When you make cheese out of pasteurized milk you need to add calcium to it or it will not gel as cohesively. So between the higher acidity and the higher calcium content I effectively created the 'perfect storm" of cheese making.
Next time, in addition to trying your tips, I think I will also try to restore the tomatoes to neutral pH by adding some baking soda before I add the milk.
Thanks.
suzyqtexas
11 years ago
Don't know what you did wrong, but have you ever tried buttermilk instead, I think it's delicious in tomato soup!

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