Why Cheese Recipes Add Calcium Chloride to Store Milk

Pasteurization changed your milk. A quarter-teaspoon per gallon fixes the set.

Raw milk fresh from the animal has a calcium balance that rennet loves. Pasteurization, homogenization and cold storage disturb that balance — so store-bought milk often sets a soft, shattery curd that loses fines to the whey.

The fix

Calcium chloride restores the balance. The standard home dose in retailer recipes is about 1/4 tsp per gallon, diluted in about 1/4 cup of water, added to the milk before the rennet. It is a small bottle that lasts many makes — $5.45 for an ounce at the biggest US specialist.

The exception

Skip it for mozzarella. Retailer guidance is explicit that calcium chloride can prevent the curd from stretching. Pasta filata gets a pass; almost every other pasteurized-milk make benefits.