# Cheese making



## Rex (Nov 30, 2008)

Anyone making goat cheese on the list? With the economic down turn it sure gets you to thinking about keeping a few milkers around the place just in case things get much worse. We've made butter a few times which was very easy. I figure cheese making is much more involved.


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## Stephen (Jan 20, 2009)

Ok now heres a great topic, (exept with the wife, claims all goats stink, and the milk, and the cheese ) So Tell me the truth of the matter. 
I do like cow cheese, but I would think there would / could be many flavors of goat cheese based on diet, breed etc. 

Those who make own Cheese, Talk, and the how too's....
Is it cost effective to get a dairy milker and make cheese vs paying 10 to 13 bucks for 2lbs of tillamook cheese....

I have never had goat cheese yet... may need to go find some.


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## goingnutsmom (Nov 28, 2009)

I make soft cheeses. Mostly Chevre. Some I make plain and use it for cooking instead of sour cream. Some I make creamier and add herbs and use it as a dip or spread for bagels etc. This year I am planning on making Mozerella cheese and I might try my hand at some hard cheese. We'll have 6 milkers this year and so I think I will have a little extra milk to play with, LOL!! 

Mostly during the summer I made ice cream just about every day. Good thing for taking the goats our walking daily, :lol: 

Rex, how did you make butter? I can't get my cream to seperate. I would love to buy a seperater, but they are out of my budget.

I can post my recipe here if anyone is interested or do we want to start another spot just for recipes?

Also, if goats milk is fresh and clean and handled right, it tastes just like milk (but better  ). If there is a buck around, then yes, it will taste goatie. Out of all our milkers, I like all the milk except the one from the togg. Her milk is like skim milk and after a few days it tastes off. It's just her, I've had all kinds of tests done, but there is nothing wrong, she just has yucky milk and so it is good to use for the babies. She gives a little over 2 gallons a day. So I keep her around.


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## tiger408 (Jan 13, 2009)

We'll be attempting to make goat cheese this spring. I have eaten the soft goat cheese and that was excellent..and queso blanco is great goat cheese that is in a lot of mexican dishes... our neighbor said he will be more than happy to help us eat our homemade goat cheese because he said goat cheese is the best. 

I've spent all winter reading up on how to best keep the milk fresh, and how to make different cheeses. Now just waiting for Sugar to kid so we can have fresh milk to work with. LOL 

So we will be having all kinds of goat related adventures this spring.... in the kitchen and in the great outdoors.


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## Rex (Nov 30, 2008)

goingnutsmom said:


> Rex, how did you make butter? I can't get my cream to separate. I would love to buy a separator, but they are out of my budget.
> 
> I can post my recipe here if anyone is interested or do we want to start another spot just for recipes?


We always have left over milk in the fridge so before we heated it to feed the kids we would skim the cream off the top and put it in a quart jar. After a couple of days the jar was 2/3 full. We just shook it, and shook it, and shook it until it formed a solid lump in the middle. Then we skimmed off the milk, and put the raw butter in some cheese cloth and rinsed it under cold water kneading it to get the rest of the milk out of it. When no more milky fluid came out we added salt to taste and we were done. It was totally white.

I think this topic would be perfect for adding any cheese recipes you want to share.


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## sweetgoatmama (Dec 10, 2008)

Whether or not you can make butter out of your milk depends on the amount of butterfat in it. Some breeds, such as nubian, make better quantities of butterfat. Also, diet has a lot to do with it. If you have a big skim of cream on the top of the milk when it sits overnight you will have butter.

I make chevre which is a quick white cheese, and cottage cheese. It's harder but not impossible to make cheddar and other types of cheeses from goat milk. But chevre can be seasoned with all kinds of herbs and even cranberries and jams. You can also make riccotta which lead to things like cheesecake and lasagna.

Good stuff. And cost wise, it's much cheaper and better quality. The chevre that you pay $5 for a little piece of , you can make a huge batch of. Also you can freeze it for future use. I use buttermilk for the culture so just milk and buttermilk and whatever seasonings is all it costs.


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## mytimeranch (Dec 24, 2008)

My two does kidded last week so I can now play around with some cultures! Today I am going to make some kefir and when it is mellow I will strain it in some cheesecloth for kefir cheese. It's easy and delicious.

Diana
Eureka


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## alps acres (Dec 16, 2008)

Hi Rex,

We make cheese quite often. A simple cheese is done with a gallon of milk and a half cup of vinegar. Heat milk to 186 degrees, remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup of vinegar. Let stand 10 minutes, then drain through cloth. You can squeeze out the liquid if in a hurry or let it drain for an hour. The cheese can be used as is, or garlic, chives, etc. added to it. It's great in lasagne or creamed as a dip for crackers. If you let it hang/drain for several hours it can be sliced.

There are others that are easy also, just using rennet or buttermilk. Temperature is more important with those. Then there are pressed and molded cheeses with more elaborate cultures. The vinegar cheese works for us for many uses. Hope this passes on some ideas.

nance


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## sweetgoatmama (Dec 10, 2008)

A package of powdered Hidden Ranch or herbal salad dressing mix is a great way to flavor soft cheeses. Just add it after you've strained it. Lots of herbs for very little money, plus this lovely buttermilk flavor. If a whole package is too strong you can just use it to taste.


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## Rex (Nov 30, 2008)

alps acres said:


> Hi Rex,
> 
> A simple cheese is done with a gallon of milk and a half cup of vinegar. Heat milk to 186 degrees, remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup of vinegar. Let stand 10 minutes, then drain through cloth. You can squeeze out the liquid if in a hurry or let it drain for an hour. The cheese can be used as is, or garlic, chives, etc. added to it. It's great in lasagne or creamed as a dip for crackers. If you let it hang/drain for several hours it can be sliced.nance


Thats sounds easy! What is the name of the resulting cheese?


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## aspentre (Jan 23, 2009)

I have Lamanchas and I have developed a feeding schedule that makes the milk so good that it is better than cow. It just feels good going down. Smoooooothe. I had to fiddle with the diet a little at a time but my husband said that the last batch was the best. The unfortunate thing about this diet is that you only get about 10 gallons with it because they eventually stop milking and diet is the only reason I could think that they stopped. I freshen them and make packgoats out of babies and great cheese from moms milk. I also make soap. I am still in the develpment stage of that but the soap makes you hands feel so soft after drying your hands. Goat milk just makes a great soap too. I do wish I had more property because I am addicted to goats.


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## eastcoastpacker (Jun 3, 2009)

When we got our goats last year (first-timers with goats, and had them less than a year now), we have decided to start being more self-sufficient as time goes on. So we are making everything we can out of our goat milk. 

It has been amazing to me, the negative responses I have gotten from people when you mention goat milk or anything pertaining to goats. What gives? 

I love my goats and count them as blessings everyday!


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## tiger408 (Jan 13, 2009)

Actually made my first attempt at goat cheese today. I tried the recipe for the soft cheese made using vinegar. It was super simple to make and turned out great. My daughter is coming home from college tomorrow for a visit and can't wait to try it.  

Know what you mean about the negative response when mentioning goat milk. We have that same problem right here at home. Bill won't drink it... but my son prefers the goat milk over regular cow's milk. Go figure. LOL Bill's first try of goat's milk was from someone who kept their buck in the same barn they milked in. Not a good first experience. 

Actually I am rather excited because a friend of mine is going to teach me how to make the aged cheeses pretty soon. She is just waiting until the current lot of kids is weaned so we have more milk to use.


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## goingnutsmom (Nov 28, 2009)

Here's the recipe I use I can't claim credit and as it was sent to me a couple of years ago on the internet by some friends. I do not know who the original poster is. My notes: I use the liquid rennet and I let it sit 12-16 hours. I hang the cheese till it is done dripping for a soft spreadable cheese and longer if I want a dryer cheese. When finished hanging, I add sea salt and chopped fresh chives. I've used this for spreading on bread and crackers, stuffing in manicotti shells and added it to any dishes that called for sour cream.

SIMPLE CHEESE

INGREDIENTS: 
Two gallons goats milk 
1/4 cup cultured buttermilk 
Â½ tablet Rennet (or two drops of liquid rennet) 

PROCEDURE: 
Warm milk to room temperature (68-70Â°F) 
Dissolve 1/2 of a rennet tablet in 1/4 cup luke warm water. 
Stir in buttermilk, mix thoroughly. 
Stir in rennet, mix thoroughly, cover, let sit for 12-24 hours. 
Check for clean break. The curd should be firm enough to cut into 1/2 inch cubes (see page on Making 5 gallons of milk into cheese for pictures). Some recipes call for stirring the curds into a slurry, and pouring into a fairly tight weave bag to drain. However, if the weave is too loose, such as with a single layer or two of cheese cloth, the fine curd will run through at first. I far prefer to cut the curd as it makes for more easily separated curds and whey. 
Ladel the curds into a sterile cloth in a strainer (or colander), and suspend in a refrigerator or cool place. 
Let the whey drain for 24 hours in a cool place. 
Salt to taste (about 1-2 teaspoons), store covered in the refrigerator for a week or two. This cheese will not keep for much longer. It freezes very well.


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## Stoneyridge (Apr 21, 2009)

I just started milking a couple of months ago, and am having a great time learning to make cheese. I generally make a 'difficult' cheese on the weekend (cheddar, Monterey Jack, etc take about 4 hours to make), then I'll make a soft cheese like chevre or Mozzarella during the week. Once you get the basic process, it's really not hard at all.

There are lots of recipes on the internet. There's a cheese-making forum that has good information on the process and includes many recipes. They only fiasco I've had so far is Asadago - I'll have to try that one again this weekend.

I've also been making my own yogurt, and it's SO much better than store-bought. 

Diane in KY


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## goaties4me (Feb 23, 2009)

I make cheese also. I really enjoy it. I like the rennet made cheese best. You can use the buttermilk, yogurt, sour cream, etc for you cultures as long as they are cultured. I also like the squeaky cheese. It's about the same as the buttermilkl/rennet cheese posted only after the curds are set they are cut up small and then the heat is turned back on low and over an hour slowly heated while stirring gently intermitently until the curds are cooked so they look like cooked egg whites. Then they are drained and YUMMY!!! This makes the best cottage cheese too!

A couple tips from the other posts.... you can't use table salt. You really do need the sea salt and it's popular now so easily found.

Also, if the milk tastes off, the doe may well have a copper, cobalt or other mineral deficiency. There is usually a reason for the off taste!

No bread making or sour dough use when or just before making cheese as the yeasts can get into your cheese and ruin it!

For straining milk, I found some mens hankerchiefs at the dollar store and they are GREAT! 4/$1 is a bargain in my opinion. A plastic or stainless strainer (flat bottom is best) is very convenient and something to sit it into that will hold that gallon of whey is also crucial.

Aged cheeses are the more difficult and also require extra equipment and such. The soft cheeses and mozz don't. Soft cheeses will drain out and can be carefully allowed to "dry out" some so they can even be grated to some extent.

Don't throw your whey out as there are lots of uses for it including baking bread, cakes, cooking veggies/pastal/rice, soups, feed chickens/pigs, water tomatoes, berry plants, and more.

I have a goat milk, cheese meat group if anyone is interested. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GoatMilkCheeseMeat/
My fav (the best IMHO) cheese only group is Goat Cheese Plus on yahoo.

The simple cheeses are really easy to make after a couple times and fun too! The big thing is having the equipment to make them. (Stainless).

Have fun and remember the price the stores charge for a few ounces of what YOU can easily make on your own!

Shar


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