Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Got this from my mom, and am now buying it for my boyfriend's sister as a present. This cheese making kit is actually a really great gift to give someone who is mildly interested in either cheese or cooking at home. It's a little expensive considering that you can buy all of the ingredients separately in bigger quantities for less money, but I think that for a gift, a prepackaged gift like this is absolutely perfect. So I tried the cheese making kit for the first time about three weeks after my mom had given it to me, set out to do something inexpensive and fun at home rather than going out on a Friday night. I followed the instructions to a tee and...failed miserably. I figured I was a massive idiot, so I went to the interwebs and found a few YouTube videos to watch. After getting stuck in a YouTube vortex for quite a few hours I discovered something quite amazing, it wasn't me that was the problem! The instructions in this kit are not clear AT ALL, and in fact, they're written in a way that makes the process more difficult than it has to be. Okay, so anyway, after watching the videos again, I tried making mozzarella cheese again and...ta da--it came out delicious and mildly aesthetically pleasing. I was so excited by the results that I tried making ricotta the following night (this was one hair raiser of a weekend as you can tell) and that also came out pretty delicious. So, here's my review: four stars, because the products all work together when you do actually put them together, and the kit is really fun, but these damn instructions are written terribly. Update: I've continued on my journey to becoming a fromagère and have continued making cheeses since I originally posted this review. I have to say, while this cheesemaking kit is a really fun gift, you can totally buy the ingredients individually and get more bang for your buck. For example, I bought this Regency Natural Ultra Fine 100% Cotton Cheesecloth 9sq.ft, this Liquid Animal Rennet - 2 oz., this citric acid Citric Acid Powder - Ultra Fine Pure Powdered Crystals - Natural Preservative Food Grade Quality (16 oz) , and this Cheese Salt 8 oz., for about the same price BUT, I use the cheese salt for lots of other things (making pretzels for one) and the citric acid is my all purpose household product. It would have been cheaper all together had I purchased less of the citric acid, but I recently discovered its many uses and have been using it for making bath bombs, cleaning my garbage disposal, making fruit smoothies, AND kicking ass in the cheesemaking game.