Making Cheese

This summer I really want to try my hand at cheese making. Last year I made some soft yogurt cheese but I'm ready to move to the next level and try a complicated hard cheese. This involves the use of rennet and a starter culture, and following a recipe to the letter. Unlike the soft cheese I won't taste the results of my efforts immediately, it will be a tantalising few months before I first cut into my cheese.

I've been reading up on cheesemaking for over a year now and I am sooo impatient to get stuck in. I keep looking at my two goats for signs of pregnancy and I'm hoping at least one of them is in kid.  We will know one way or the other when they reach their due date in roughly three weeks time. Unless they give birth I won't have a milk supply this year.

Being ever optimistic I have just ordered a few bits and pieces from a cheese making supplier in the UK and I'm waiting for the delivery like a child anticipating Santa's arrival on Christmas Eve. So assuming the delivery arrives safely, one of the goats has a successful birth and my cheese making skills are up to scratch we will be consuming our own home made cheddar and blue cheese by the end of summer.

I'm always thinking ahead for my next project and at the moment I'm toying with the idea of home made wine. Cheese and wine, the perfect combination!

Comments

[Lizz]

Sounds good with some stuffed grape leaves.

[HandyCraftyWoman]

YUM YUM is all I can say! I love these 'virtual tasters'. Your description of home reared foods are mouthwateringly evocative.

[Kathy]

Hi, I have just started subscribing to your blog, and seeing this post I simply must ask: have you watched any of the tv show 'The Good Life'??

Hope your goat is pregnant!

[Vallen Queen]

And they say Cork is the food capital of Ireland!!!
Don't forget the prosciutto!!!

[Cre8Tiva]

i can't wait to heas the results of you cheese making...now soft yogurt cheese sounds so good...blessings, rebecca

[katrien]

Hi Rebecca,
I can't wait to move into the new house and land. Another month or so, if all goes well --- it's too long! And then we'll have to concentrate on the house first, making it tighter and replacing the old boiler, and general fixin' up. So I doubt we'll get any serious veggies in, or even the orchard (I know: plant the trees first... but in June?). But nothing is stopping us from making cheese, right? Cheese, and mushrooms, yes!

[Lorna]

Hi Rebecca,

We're wondering if our goat is pregnant too - hasn't shown any signs of being on heat since she was last served (was served twice this time and twice last year - last year no kids from her). Am wonderng how long before the due date can you notice signs of pregnancy? What signs are there besides a swelling udder?

Thanks, Lorna

[n. & J]

Good luck with your goats and cheese! I've done a little research on cheese making too. Without goats my fiance are going to try our hand at fresh mozzarella as it seems the easiest and we have raw milk so it should work great.

[Wild Rose]

Sounds terrific! When's the party?

We have been buying some Irish Tipperary Cheddar and it is delicious. It costs a fortune, as it is imported, but it is far superior to anything else we buy here.

Good luck with the cheese making.

Marie x

[Rhonda Jean]

I've been meaning to visit you for a long time, and finally made it. What a lovely blog you have. Great to see you're trying cheese, I've done a little bit too. Good luck with the goats and the new eggs. I'll put a link to you on my blog and I'll be back.

[Eloise]

Nice that your making cheese. As for the wine I just had a go at that someone grew grapes in a nearby street and sold them at the local vege shop so I made wine last summer. But used a very old recipy book, which a bad idea. The old reciepy books produce very sickly sweat wine and apparently we use less sugar in wine now a days and I wonder if you can make honey wine.

[tim mccarthy,woodview,clonakilty]

Hello,So you want to make some wine,i`ve done here in south west cork in 2006(a good)summer,but the last 2 were ot good years for my vines.I do them outside,they are a black variety from holland,good for our variable climate.My first attempt at wine was good,wine was a little bitter but very drinkable with a good body and colour,almost felt like a real viticulturist.So this ear i hope for better,there is a few small vineyards down here,1 with acres or black grapes like mine and successful.I wonder are you too far north for grapes,anyway to get you started i can offer you prunings next jan. if you want and these will grow quite well.Wishing you well.