Goat Milk

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Chevre, means “goat cheese” in French. It is a soft, molded, fresh cheese. It has a texture similar to cream cheese, though slightly drier, and is lighter and fluffier. You can usually substitute chevre in recipes that call for cream cheese or ricotta.

It is quite simple to make and does not require a lot of special utensils. It also does not consume a lot of goat milk or time to make and it is one of the simplest.

You can make this cheese as “bag cheese” or molded. If you wish to mold it, you will need molds like in plastic containers with holes in the bottom, to make this cheese.

Once you have your molds, you are ready to make your very own Chevre.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 gallon of fresh goat milk or raw, unpasteurized goat milk
• 1 oz. mesophilic culture
• liquid rennet

Special supplies:

• 5 Chevre molds, or
• Fine cheese cloth (butter muslin)

Remember to sterilize all your equipment before you begin.

In a stainless steel pot, warm the milk to 72°.

Add the culture and stir well. Now you need to add 1/5 of a drop of rennet. Or measure out 5 Tablespoons of water into a small cup. Add to the water 1 drop of liquid rennet and stir well. Now measure out 1 Tablespoon of the rennet dilution (this one Tablespoon contains 1/5 of a drop of rennet) and add it to the milk. Stir well.

Cover the milk and place the pot somewhere that it can sit undisturbed and will stay about 72° for about 18 hours. But, you can let it go for 24 hours. What you do is place the pot in the cold oven until the next day.

When the milk has coagulated, you are ready to drain the curds or mold the cheese.

How to make  “bag cheese” ?

Pour the curds into a cheesecloth lined colander. Tie up the ends and hang the bag and let drain 6-8 hours. When it is thickened, salt to taste and enjoy. Unblended, this cheese substitutes nicely for cream cheese.

How to make  molded cheeses ?
Pour off any whey that has separated from the curd. Place your molds on a rack over a large baking pan. A lot of whey will drain from your cheese, and you will need a large pan to catch it. Carefully ladle the curds into the molds.

Let the curds drain for two days at room temperature or you could drain the cheese in the fridge if there is enough space.

After the cheese has drained you can carefully unmold them into your hand. Sprinkle all the sides of the cheese with a little Kosher salt and wrap them in plastic wrap. The cheese will keep for about 2 weeks in the fridge.

How to enjoy Homemade Chevre?

The best way to enjoy your homemade Chevre is on crackers. It can also be used in any recipe calling for “goat cheese” and can be substituted for cream cheese.

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This recipe is a full-fat version for making cream cheese that uses only goat milk cream. If you prefer a lighter version, you can substitute part of the cream with goat milk.

Anyway, I do not recommend using less than half cream, though, in order to get the best flavor and texture for homemade cream cheese.

The small amount of rennet used to make cream cheese is what gives it the additional firmness over other soft cheeses such as quark or cottage cheese. Remember, always add liquid rennet to a few tablespoons of water first and never directly to the milk.

Ingredients

• 1 quart goat milk cream
• 2 Tbsp. cultured buttermilk
• 1 drop double strength liquid rennet dissolved in 2 Tbsp. Water

In a stainless steel pan, warm the cream to about 70° F, stirring to ensure even heating. Add the buttermilk, and mix thoroughly. Stir in the rennet and water mixture, and again mix thoroughly.

Cover the pot and allow to sit for 24 hours at room temperature. Sprinkle about 1/2 tsp. salt over the mixture, and then whisk lightly to mix.

Pour the cream into a cheese cloth lined colander placed over a bowl to save the whey for future  use. Let drain for about 12 hours.

At that time, you can collect the cream cheese from the cheesecloth and place into a bowl for storage in the fridge.

Alternatively, if you’d like a drier, molded cheese, you can place the cream cheese into a cheese mold or a small plastic container with holes in the bottom to further drain and increase the body of the cheese.

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Though it is not traditional but,  it is nice to be able to make ricotta out of plain whole goat milk you can buy at the store. This Ricotta cheese  will be drier and not as smooth and creamy as the traditional old-Fashioned Ricotta cheese. Anyway, it tastes great and can be used as a ricotta substitute in most recipes.

Ingredients:

• 2 quarts whole goat milk
• 3 Tablespoons white vinegar or ¼ Cup fresh, lemon juice
• ¼ tsp - ½ tsp salt to taste

In a heavy pot, over direct heat, heat 2 quarts of whole goat milk to 200°. Add 3 Tablespoons of white vinegar or 1/4 Cup of fresh, strained lemon juice. Make sure to bring the temperature back up to 200°. You will realize that very tiny white particles called albumin protein, floating in the whey. The heat and acid from the ripe whey has precipitated the protein.

Remove the pot from the heat and set it, covered, to rest undisturbed for about 15 minutes.

Line a colander with very fine cheesecloth, called “butter muslin”. You must use a very fine cloth here, or your cheese will pass through the regular cloth. If you do not have fine cheesecloth, use a clean cotton cloth. Place the colander over a big pot so you can save the whey and carefully pour the whey into the colander. Be very careful because the liquid is hot. Tie the ends of the cheesecloth together and hang the ricotta to drain for an hour or so because the longer you hang it, the drier your finished cheese will be.

When it has drained, place the ricotta cheese  in a bowl, break up, stir and add salt to taste. This Ricotta cheese will keep for about a week in the fridge.

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Feta is a salty Greek cheese, usually made with either goat or sheep’s milk. Feta is neither soft nor hard cheese but in-between. It is wonderful crumbled on salads and crackers, and can also be used in cooking.Unlike most cheeses, it is ripened in brine. Feta develops quite a strong flavor and if you like “hardy” cheeses, you must give it a try.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 gallons goat milk - ( use a little over 3 gallons for raw, unpasteurized goat milk)
• 4 oz. mesophilic culture
• 1/4 - 1/2 tsp. Kid or Kid/Lamb Lipase powder
• 1 tsp. Liquid rennet dissolved in 1/2 Cup water
• Kosher salt
• Brine: 1/2 Cup Kosher salt per 1/2 gallon of water (boiled and cooled to below room temp.)

In a double boiler pot set up, warm the goat milk to 86°. Add the culture and lipase. Lipase is the enzyme that gives Feta that great Feta flavor.

Stir well and let ripen, covered, for one hour.

Keeping the milk at 86°, Add the rennet and stir briskly for 15 seconds. Cover and let set about 30-40 minutes, or until you get a “clean break”.

You can check for a clean break by sticking your knife, or thermometer, into the curd at an angle. Pull straight up out of the curd; if the curd breaks cleanly around the knife and whey runs into the crack that is made; you have a “clean break.” Once you see this for the first time, you will know just what I mean.

Cut the curd into 1/2″ pieces.

Cutting the curds can be the most confusing part, but just don’t worry so much. Use a long knife held vertically and cut 1/2″ slices in the curds. Then turn the pot 90° and cut across in 1/2″ slices the other direction, making a kind of checkerboard pattern. Now hold the knife at a sideways 45° angle and retrace your cuts. Turn the pot 1/4 turn and retrace the cuts. Turn it again and cut and then one final turn and cut. By the last turn you probably won’t be able to see the original cuts, but just do the best you can. It is alright if think you did not cut the curd perfectly.

Do not stir yet. Let the curds rest for 10 minutes.

After this rest period, stir the curd gently and cut any pieces that you missed when you first cut the curd. Hold the curd at 86° for 45 minutes, carefully stirring occasionally to prevent the curd from sticking together. This process of “cooking” the curd helps the curd “toughen up” as well as release it’s whey.

Place a big colander over a big pot and line the colander with a large piece of dampened cheesecloth. If you dampen the cheesecloth, it will stick slightly to the colander, holding it in place.

Carefully pour the curd into the colander. Tie the corners of the cheesecloth together and hang the bag to drain.

After 3-4 hours, take the cheese down and turn the cheese over in the cheesecloth, from top turned to bottom. This turning will “even up” the cheese into a nice form. Otherwise, it will have a rough form cheese; it is edible, just not so attractive.

Let your cheese hang and continue draining for about 24 hours, at this point it will start to develop a distinctive odor. Inform your family of the odor if you need to.

After your cheese has hung for about 24 hours or so, remove it from the cloth and cut it into usable size cubes (about 2-3 inches). Sprinkle all the sides of the cubes with kosher salt and place them in a sterilized, large, seal-able, container. Cover and let sit at room temperature for 2-3 days to “harden up” the blocks. The blocks will continue to release whey during this time; that is normal.

Transfer the blocks (and their whey if you wish) to a large sterilized glass container. Add the brine. Do not add the brine too soon, the cheese sometimes starts softening up. The cheese is still good; you may just want to use it in cooking instead of for crumbling.

Age for at least I month before use in order to develop flavor. Your Feta cheese will keep in its brine (refrigerated) for a very, very long time ( up to a year), and will only keep getting better (stronger). On occasion, you may find some mold forming on top of the brine. When this happens, just skim it off, the cheese is still fine. If a piece of the cheese was sticking above the brine, it may mold. Just remove it, the rest of the cheese is still good.

Always remember that it takes a lot of milk to make a little cheese. And how much cheese you get will also depend on other factors, like type of milk used, fat content of milk, stage of lactation of the goat that produced the milk, handling of curds, temperatures during cheese making and hang time, just to name a few.

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Yogurt is high in calcium and protein and includes bacteria that are beneficial to digestion and goat milk yogurt is always cool and refreshing.

Similarly, goat milk yogurt desserts are a great way to “chill out” from the summer heat and this dessert recipe is doubly so! Cold and creamy, with just a hint of that unique goat milk tang, yogurt goes well in many cold and frozen treats.  Add the tangy taste of yogurt to the zip of lemon in a cold dessert, and you can feel your body temperature dropping as you Eat and Enjoy…………..

These Yogurt Lemon Squares are delicious, elegant, and amazingly simple to create.

Ingredients

• 1 3 oz. box lemon gelatin
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 cup goat milk yogurt
• 2 Tbsp. goat milk

Add the boiling water to the gelatin, and stir until completely dissolved. In another bowl, mix the yogurt and milk together until smooth. Pour the yogurt mixture into the gelatin, stirring to combine thoroughly.

Lightly spray the bottom and sides of an 8″x8″ pan with cooking spray. Pour the mixture into the pan, and chill in the refrigerator for several hours until completely set. Cut into squares, carefully remove with a spatula, and serve.

How to enjoy Yogurt Lemon Squares?

Yogurt lemon squares go well with graham crackers or other lightly-sweetened cookies, as well as fruit. Top with whipped topping, powdered sugar (just before serving otherwise, it will melt), or a lemon twist.

Instead of squares, you could also make “rounds” by using a muffin pan instead of a square pan. Or, if you have kids, use a gelatin mold to create a dessert that will really make them smile. You can also make yogurt lemon “ice cubes” by using an ice cube tray. And one thing I am certain is………summer will be a lot cooler with this dessert on the menu.

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