And the cheese making continues....

You all know how sometimes I say that goats are magic? Well, making goat cheese is kind of magic in itself. I got so excited that I forgot to get the camera and chronicle my cheese making process this morning. I left the cooked goat's milk in the pot, put the lid on it and set it on the sink for almost 20 hours. When I woke up this morning....VOILA! Goat cheese. I removed the cheese from the pan with a slotted spoon and put it into a colander that was lined with cheese cloth. Then, I tied the cheese cloth together with a wooden spoon and suspended it over a Rubbermaid container.

Now the cheese will drain for another 6 to 12 hours depending on the consistency I want. We taste tested the cheese right out of the pot and it was delicious. No goaty aftertaste. No strong flavor. Just a very mild, almost lemony flavor. I think that using the frozen goat milk is a good idea if you don't have a milk goat to get a fresh gallon of milk from. I think that if we had brought home a fresh non-frozen gallon of milk it might have had a stronger taste after a few days of sitting in the refrigerator.
This cheese is delicious. When it's done draining I will divide it up and refrigerate it or freeze some of it. I had some cheese that was left in the pot so I scraped it out, squeezed the moisture out  and added some garlic, salt and a bit of Herbes de Provence. Then I put it on some MONET vegetable crackers and sliced up some small tomatoes from the garden. This was my mid morning snack....

I'm thinking that this cheese making may become a big part of our lives. Look at this photo above...
two days ago that cheese was a gallon of goat milk and NO animal was harmed in the process. The tomatoes are fresh from the garden and the plate is one of my mother's set of everyday dishes. Recycle, reuse, plant a garden, research something new or something old that needs reviving. Start a small revolution. Pick up the trash on the side of the road and dump it in a trash can..... and don't get angry at the folks who don't know any better.
Do things that you haven't ever done before. Look at this. I made cheese from the milk of a goat. That's an amazing thing, don't you think?
Do one thing that returns the smile to your face.....

I'm makin' goat cheese today

See the big pot on the sink. That's going to be a wonderful goat cheese or Chevre. This is the first time that I have made goat cheese, so  if it all goes down hill from here and I didn't do the first part right, then this is my disclaimer.... I knew what I was doing, but something might have been wrong with the goat milk... or the recipe....or the thermometer.... or the culture...or the goats. Yea, I'll blame it on the goats. They can't talk back because they live on another farm.
When the Prospector went to the goat farm (where our goat boys were born) to get the trailer that took Brownie on his great adventure, he brought me a gallon of fresh frozen goat milk. The owner of the farm is so sweet. She gives us goat milk any time we want it....free. When she found out I was going to make cheese with it, her only request was that I bring some to share at the next meeting. Fair enough because a quart of goat milk at the store is almost $5.00 a quart. So I figure that this was a really good deal.
This morning after breakfast I reread the directions and started heating the milk. I had to pasteurize it first. This is a fairly simple process of heating the milk to 145 F. and maintaining the temperature for 30 mins.
After 30 mins. you place the pot of hot milk into a sink of cold water with ice in it. When the temperature cools down to 86 degrees (which it does rather quickly) you add a packet of Chevre direct set culture to it, stir it well and then cover it and allow the milk to set in a cool place.  That's where I'm at as I write this. I'm waiting. I'm not really good at waiting.... but I have to wait for 12 to 20 hours until it's firm. So I took a shower, went on line to read more about goat cheese making and took a look at Ricki Carroll's website at www.cheesemaking com. She's the lady who knows all about making cheese. She's the CHEESE QUEEN. Check her out if you're interested. I bought the goat cheese kit from her after I had taken a class from one of our goat club members.

You will enjoy this website and if you're interested in making cheese her site will really help. She even has recipe for Chevre Pound Cake and Whey Bread. This is the "whey" of  Little Miss Muffet fame. After all these years of reciting that poem I finally know what curds and whey are. The curds make the cheese and the whey is what will drain through the muslin tonight. Isn't this exciting? Curds and Whey....and NO Spiders.

And while I'm waiting for the milk to curdle, I leave you with a bumper sticker I ordered from Cafepress.com. I will add it to the others on my car....or I could slap it on the door of the goat's house where they will see it. It could be something for them to contemplate on days when they feel the urge to break into the vegetable garden or complain about their lot in life.
I will let you know how it goes with the cheese making....