Goats Cheese Almost Got The Better Of Me

Last year I made the most simple form of cheese which involves straining the moisture out of yogurt until it reaches the consistency of a cheese spread. It only keeps for a few days in the fridge so it has to be made as and when it's required. You can do this with shop bought yogurt or use your own home produced milk if you have it. The process is simple and not much goes to waste, it's also a wonderful thing for the children to get involved with. I think showing them how food is made really broadens their horizons on so many levels. They begin to think about animal welfare, ingredients, the labour involved and of course the flavours. When we buy yogurt in the supermarket now they seem to have far more respect for their food and little goes to waste. Even if they don't finish something, they'll think about which animal could eat it safely or where to compost it.

Since the simple yogurt cheese making all went so well last year I was determined to try and make 'proper' cheese this year. I did a bit of research into which might be the best book and I invested in Ricki Carrols 'Home Cheese Making' which I have found to be a fantastic book. It not only has hundreds of recipes in it but also ideas and case studies from many home producers and small artisan business people. There's great explanations of the whole history and process of cheese making, as well as the essential individual recipes. Having read through the book several times I then decided on trying to make a simple farmhouse cheddar cheese and ordered some sachets of starter and rennet from Moorlands Cheesemakers in the UK.

The next step was waiting for the goats to kid which induces lactation, and once the kids were a month old I began to take just a  morning milking which gave me between one and two litres of milk. A lot of milk is needed for a small amount of cheese so it took me about five days to save two gallons (nine litres). Unlike cows milk which produces golden yellow cheese, goats milk  produces snow white cheese and butter.

All set and enthusiastic I began heating the milk up to 85F which took quite a long time and then added a pinch of the starter.  After leaving it to stand for forty five minutes I added the rennet. After another forty five minutes the milk had magically turned into a delicate white jelly which meant it was time for cutting the curds into one inch blocks.

I then put the pot into a sink and slowly brought the curds and whey painstakingly up to 100F over the course of half an hour by adding warm tap  water at first and eventually hot kettle water to the sink. The curds were gently stirred all the time and shrank in size as the moisture seeped out, forming the yellow greenish whey.  Once at 100F it was left to sit for five minutes.

The contents were then all poured out into a muslin lined colander, and the curds hung to drip. After a set time, the curds were then placed into a clean bowl and broken down gently into walnut sized chunks, I added salt and then packed the curds into molds with drainage holes.

For molds I used small tubs and drilled holes around the base and sides. I didn't have suitable 10, 20 and 50lb (25 kilo) weights to place on the molds for the suggested timings and it was at this point I came close to losing patience with the whole exercise! Luckily Lena our WWOOFER came up with an ingenious idea; using clamps instead of weights.

The next morning I released the clamps and finally we peeled off the muslin and set the little cheese rounds on a wooden board to air dry for a few days. When the rind developed the cheese were painted with melted bees wax and now it's sitting in the scullery for a month to ripen.

I can tell you it was a marathon task and I was exhausted by the end of it all. At one stage, when I realised I didn't have anything to improvise for the weights, I was on the verge of chucking the lot in the bin!!!  I think it's something we will do on rare occasions as special treats and seasonal gifts for friends and family. Stay tuned to see how the cheese turns out.

If you fancy having a go at cheese making it's essential to follow a proper recipe to the letter because the timings and temperatures are vital to the final result. Using scrupulously clean equipment and researching the pros and cons of pasteurised versus non pasteurised milk is also compulsory before the fun begins.

Comments

[gaile]

wow! What a process. I am impressed at your resolve to tackle it and not give up, and look forward to hearing about the result! Thanks for sharing the process with us. Is there anything you do with the whey after, or is it given to the animals?

[Scribhneoir]

Wow, well done, I hope you sleep well after what sounds like a hard day's work! I can't wait to hear how the cheese turns out...

[Lizz]

How wonderful Rebecca!

[paddymacfisto]

I have been reading your blog with amazement over the last few weeks. I think you've really outdone yourself with this post. I'm ridiculously envious of you getting to make your own cheese. If ever I have the courage to start a smallholding of my own I will count this site amongst my inspirations. Excellent work, both a joy to read and a valuable resource. Excellent post with great pics.

[Lorna]

My goodness, Rebecca, you have surpassed yourself with the cheese - well done for sticking with it.
I've just posted an award for you on my blog today, paste and pass it on to 7 others if you wish.
Lorna

[tory]

Congratulations. I bet it tastes delicious.

In future, when you need to improvise weights, you can use a variety of cleaned stones. I keep five largish rocks for weighting down dolmades when I make them. (Or candied grapefruit peel). Just place the stones on a plate inverted over the dolmades. Presto, it presses slowly down and everything cooks perfectly.

My mom just uses really old fashioned irons (the kind you used to put on the stove to heat up). You used to be able to buy these very cheaply at yard sales/flea markets but I can never seem to find them.

If you need a specific weight, just weigh the stones or iron.

[Rebecca (Sallygardens Smallholding)]

Tory ; Of course, silly me! I have lots of those old irons around the house acting as door stops. But the cheese was so small that balancing weights over them on a plate would be tricky, especially as to start with the cheese is slightly mounded up over the top of the mold.

Lorna; thanks a million, I'll be over to your place in a mo to read all about it.

Gaile ; I used the whey to make another kind of cheese - ricotta, although the yield is very small but worth doing to get every little bit out of the exercise. The remaining fluid I gave to the dogs and cats. We don't have pigs at the moment, but even if we did, it's illegal to feed whey to them as it's an animal waste product, plus the cheese has been made in my domestic kitchen and any foodstuffs through a kitchen where meat is used can't be fed to pigs either. This is to avoid possible foot and mouth cross contamination.

[Alan]

Cheese! Love it. Way to stick with it. I've been meaning to post an update on our cheese adventure, but life keeps getting in the way.

We have been having great success with some of the semi-soft cheeses, mostly Mozzarella and Feta (we use tons of both). Tried our first pressed cheese, still waiting to try it. Now that our cow has freshened we have a surfeit of milk so we will be making cheese, yogurt, and butter more than once a week.

My favorite book for goat milk cheese is "Goats Produce Too!" by Mary Jane Toth. You can get it from Hoegger Supply Co or Caprine Supply, both are on line.

I've enjoyed watching your progress.

Luck!

[Goatsgoatsgoats]

I make goat cheese, and it is a painstaking process. The end result is certainly worth it, though. I love the way that the cheese turns out, and I actually love making the cheese itself. I give it as gifts, and we eat it in everything. :) I read several books about cheesemaking before I started, and each batch turns out better than the one before.