Earlier in the week we were gifted a gallon and a half of goat milk. I wanted us all to try it and make sure we were all o.k. with the taste of raw goat milk. We absolutely were! It is GREAT!
I was eager to make cheese with the milk, so that afternoon I got to work.
I went with a recipe that I found from one of my FAVORITE blogs Little Homestead in the City. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that blog!
Anyways, it was easy and delicious!
It will be great on omelets, on salads, with crackers, crumble on top of a french onion soup (oh yum), or as I am going to use it tonight…. in lasagna! Oh yum!
Here I used it for Shannon’s breakfast yesterday.
A fresh egg omelet with cheese and ham, and a side of goat cheese and salsa.
Shannon said it was amazing!
Here is a close up of the cheese.
Sorry the pictures are so terrible… the lighting at 5:00 AM is pretty dark. 🙂
I think you get the idea that the cheese was a SUCCESS! 🙂
Here is how I made it.
Goat Cheese
1 gallon of goat milk
1/4 cup of Apple Cider Vinegar
Pour your milk into a large stock pot and with a wooden spoon stir frequently until you reach 175*
Once you reach this temperature add your vinegar and turn your heat off. This will begin the process of curdling your milk and making all those incredible cheese curds appear.
I let my pot set for about 15 minutes and then begin dipping the curds out and putting them into a lined colander.
Once you have dipped out all your curds you are going to start straining out all your whey.
You will have quite a lot of whey so have a nice sized bowl under your colander.
After another 15 minutes or so, tie up your bag, remove your colander and hang your curds above the bowl so you can drain more whey.
Once it stops dripping so much you can remove the cheese.
You can add seasonings or herbs or leave it, as is.
The leftover whey is perfect for mixing with some feed or some stale bread and giving to your chickens, a GREAT source of protein for them.
Or, you can use the whey and some buttermilk to make up some ricotta cheese.
So here I am excitedly awaiting the arrival of our very own milk source. I am so tickled I can barely stand myself. So instead of going on and on… I guess I need to go can some tomatoes and occupy myself until she gets here!
Have a wonderful weekend everyone and if you can find yourself a good source of goats milk, don’t snub your nose… Try it! You might just LOVE it, like we do! 🙂
*** btw, this morning I made Shannon an omelet and put the cheese inside the omelet and let it melt. YUM-O!!!! It was fabulous and it melted BEAUTIFULLY!
Very nice, Chas! http://www.fiascofarm.com has some great cheese recipes that work well too! Then there's http://www.cheeseforum.org. They've got a very helpful discussion board. Hope to see more cheese real soon! Call if you run into trouble.
Promise me that it tastes different than the goat's milk my dad used to bring home. That had such a strong, "gamey" type taste! To me, cow's milk has no taste at all, but goat's milk does. Is it different with it raw? or is it because it goes "bad" very quickly?
It all sounds so GREAT! I would just love to find some goat milk and try it. I would also love to make my own cheese. You make it sound so easy. Blog about some more of your goat cheese recipes, if you get time. I would love to hear what else you are making with it!!