Now that you have made your Dill Bread and if you still have a lot of left over whey, firstly, let us get started and experiment it on hair.

Whey is an excellent hair care product. Whey nourishes, strengthens and softens hair. You will probably find that after using whey on your hair, it is much healthier and shinier looking. And, because it is slightly acidic, whey helps improve the health of your scalp - where your hair gets its nourishment.

There are several variations of uses for whey on your hair. If your hair is not extremely filthy or oily, you can use whey in place of a shampoo to cleanse your hair. Just rub in thoroughly and rinse with cool to lukewarm water.

If your hair needs a thorough cleansing than shampoo first, and follow with a whey rinse. Leave on the hair for 5 to 15 minutes, then gently rinse with water.

Need some serious conditioning? Wet clean hair thoroughly with the whey, brushing with styling brush to distribute evenly, then let dry naturally. Rinse with warm water, dry and style. You are really going to love how soft and silky your whey-conditioned hair looks.

Another of my favorite hair care uses for whey! If you use styling gel, cream or mousse on your hair, try using whey instead. Just spray or comb whey through your wet hair and style as usual.

The whey adds great texture and body to hair, and is especially useful for fine or limp hair, because it does not weigh it down like many hair products. Just be sure to keep separating the hairs as you dry, or the hair will tend to clump together, just like gel, cream or mousse would do.

Whey is the best heat and humidity-resistant hair styling product that I have come across. Even in an extreme heat index of over 110 degrees F, the whey would hold your hair without collapsing.

And, not forgetting, you are getting the benefit of all that protein for your hair as well!

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Now that you have made your Ricotta, you will still have a lot of left over whey. You can now use it in bread baking, soup stock or even to cook pasta. Ricotta freezes fairly well, but is never quite as good as fresh. You can freeze lots of Ricotta in the summer to use in bread baking in the winter. The following Dill bread recipe uses both whey and ricotta in its preparation. However, if you do not have whey and Ricotta, this bread can be made with water instead of whey, and small curd cottage cheese instead of Ricotta. This is a delicious bread that makes excellent toast and grilled cheese sandwiches. This recipe makes two loaves of Dill bread.

Dill Bread Ingredients:

• 1/2 Cup. Whey
• 1 Tablespoon. Yeast
• 2 Cup. Ricotta
• 2 Tablespoon. Butter
• 4 Tablespoon. Sugar
• 1 small. Onion, minced
• 2 tsp. Dill weed
• 2 tsp. Dill seed
• 2 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 1/2 tsp. Baking soda
• 2 Eggs
• 1/2 Cup. Wheat germ
• 5-6 Cup. Flour

Heat the whey to luke warm and place in a large mixing bowl. Dissolve the yeast in the whey. Place the Ricotta and the butter in a microwave safe bowl and heat in the microwave until the butter just melts - about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes on high; be sure to stir it occasionally.

To the yeast mixture add the sugar, onion, dill weed & seed, salt, baking soda and eggs. Mix until combined. Add the wheat germ and the Ricotta, and mix well. Add 1 1/2 cups of the flour and beat on medium for 5 minutes. Slowly add another 1 1/2 cups of flour. Now switch to the dough hook and continue to slowly add enough of the remaining flour to create a fairly stiff dough. I use a heavy duty Kitchen Aid mixer when making this bread. If you have a “weaker” mixer, you may have to finish adding the rest of the flour by hand. Turn the dough out onto a floured board and knead until the dough springs back when you poke it - approximately  5 to 10 minutes.

Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours. Punch down, knead briefly and divide in half. Shape the dough into smooth loaves and place in greased loaf pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, about an hour. Alternatively, if you do not want to time the risings, you can just keep an eye on the loaves until they look right.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350° for about 50 minutes.

When the bread is done, turn it out of its pan and let it cool on a wire rack. Cut yourself off a piece and eat it while it is still warm. Yummy.

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Each time when you make cheese, you end up with a lot of whey i.e., The nutritious liquid left over from curdled milk when the curds are removed. Whey contains the water-soluble proteins, vitamins, and minerals in the milk. And there are many things you can do with this leftover whey. You can use it in bread baking and soup stock, and even to cook pasta. You can even drink whey plain or sweetened. And in a pinch it can be used to ripen your cheese if you are out of culture (* You cannot use whey that has been used for Ricotta or  Paneer for this).

One of the really neat things about making cheese is that almost every time you make a hard cheese you can also make Ricotta. Ricotta is Italian, meaning  “to cook again”. It is a soft, smooth, fresh, unripened Italian cheese usually made from the whey of goat, cow or sheep milk.

Ricotta is made by using heat to precipitate - separate out the remaining albumin protein from the whey left over from making lactic acid/rennet precipitated cheeses. Usually recipes call for the use of an acid, such as vinegar in precipitating the curds. I have found, that in most cases, due to the fact that you ripen the milk as you make your hard cheese, the whey has enough acid on it’s own and does not need the extra vinegar. I also find that leaving the vinegar out creates a smoother cheese. If you use the vinegar, the cheese will tend to be slightly grainy. Ricotta is not a high yield cheese, but it is worth the effort. Many recipes call for the addition of some whole milk to increase the yield, but I find this effects the texture - makes it grainier and I do not recommend it. I prefer my Ricotta - smooth.

* Note: That you cannot make Ricotta from the whey left over from making an acid precipitated cheese such as Paneer/ Queso Blanco or whole milk Ricotta. Reason being, you have already precipitated out all the albumin protein the milk has to give using acid and heat and there is nothing left over in the remaining whey to make whey Ricotta.

You can use your homemade Ricotta in almost any recipe that calls for cottage cheese. It can be used instead of cream cheese to make cheesecake. You can also stir in some herbs and eat it on crackers.

Traditional Ricotta Recipe, using only left over Whey

Making Ricotta is very simple. Over direct heat, heat the hard cheese whey to 200°. By the time it has reached this temperature you will see very tiny white particles - the albumin protein,  floating in the whey. The heat and acid from the ripe whey has precipitated the protein. You can add a little vinegar at this point if you really think it necessary ( 1/4 Cup. per 2 gallons of whey), it is up to you as it would not affect the Ricotta.

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 a couple hours.

When it has drained, place the ricotta in a bowl and add salt to taste. You will find that the Ricotta made from the whey of different cheeses has different tastes and textures. In my opinion, Feta makes the strongest taste as the taste increases as it ages in the fridge. Whereas, Mozzarella makes the best. Your Ricotta will keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge. Enjoy!

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Making Mozzarella is not that time consuming but it does take three stages which  can be completed in one day or could stretch over a three day period. If you start it one day, you should make sure to allow time to finish it the next day. If you forget to finish the cheese the next day, you can do it the next day after that but do not stretch any more days.

The following are detailed instructions on how to make Mozzarella Cheese.

However, I do not recommend that you try this as your first cheese attempt. Perhaps, start with something a little easier like Panir and work your way up to making this cheese.

Ingredients:

• 2 to 3 1/2 gallons fresh goat milk (not homogenized) or raw, unpasteurized goat milk.
• 4 oz. Thermophillic culture (Lactobacillus helveticus)
• 1 1/4 tsp. citric acid per gallon of milk - (I use 4 tsp.)
• 1/4 tsp. calf lipase (mild “piccante”)
• 1/2 tsp. Liquid Rennet diluted in 1/2 Cup. cool water
• 1/2 C. Kosher salt

Pour the milk into a double boiler pot set up and add the citric acid. Warm the milk to 91°. Add the culture and lipase.

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

Keeping the milk at 90° - 91° . Add the rennet and stir briskly for 15 seconds.

Cover and let set about 15 minutes, until the curd has “Set” or until you get a “clean break”. It takes less time to set than other cheese due to the high acidity. 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  (*Note:  Sometimes Mozzarella will set but doesn’t “break” quite the same as other cheeses, due to it’s desire to hold together and stretch, but you can definitely tell it is “set”).

Cut the curds into 1/4″ - 1/2″ pieces.

Cutting the curds can be the most confusing part, but just do not worry. Use a long knife held vertically and cut 1/4″- 1/2″ slices in the curds. Then turn the pot 90° and cut across in 1/4″- 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 would not be able to see the original cuts, but just do the best you can.

*Note:  Often times the Mozzarella curds can be a little trickier to cut than other cheeses. It will want to move around in the pot while you try to cut it. You may need to hold it steady with your ladle as you cut it. Just do your best; I know one will know if it is not cut “perfect”.

Do not stir yet.

Let the curds rest for 10 minutes. The curds are delicate right after you cut them and they need to “harden up” a little bit before you stir them.

After 10 minutes stir the curds gently with a slotted ladle.

Cut any large curds you missed when cutting the first time.

When dealing with Mozzarella, you will find it really wants to “knit” back together, especially if the ripening temperature got a little too high or you let the curds sit too long before stirring them. You may need to cut the curds apart with your knife and or ladle. Cut the curds by using the ladle and the side of the pot or by holding the curds on the ladle and cutting with the knife.

Keep the curds at 90° - 91°, covered, for an hour or so, stirring occasionally during the first half hour. I call this “cooking” the curds, even though you really are not cooking them per say.

“Cooking” at a higher temperature will result in a cheese with less moisture or drier cheese that is more rubbery and will yield less cheese per batch (*Note:  The higher the moisture of the cheese , it will yield more cheese out of the same amount of milk). You can experiment with this if you wish but just do not raise the temperature over 100° and raise the temperature slowly (not more than 2° every 5 minutes). Since this recipe works well for me so I do not experiment with it and just stick with holding the curds at 90° - 91°.

Stir once every 10 minutes of the first half hour of “cooking” for a total of three stirring sessions. After that, just let curd settle on the bottom of the pot where it will start to mat together.

Place a large colander lined with cheesecloth over a pot to catch the whey and pour the curds into the colander. If the cheese has become one lump, just reach in the pot and pull out the cheese and place it into the cheesecloth.

Tie up the ends of the cheesecloth and hang the curds to drain for 3 to 4 hours.

When the curd has drained for about 4 hours, remove it from the cheesecloth and “work” the curd OR, if you want to wait until the next day then place it in a gallon ziplock bag and place the bag in the fridge and “work” it the next day.

“Working”   the curd:

You can test the curd to see if it is ready to be worked. Cut off a small piece and put it in some hot water (170° ). Keep feeling it and see if it begins to melt. Once it starts to melt, take it out and see if you can stretch it. If it stretches with no problem, you can go to the next step. If it breaks when you try to pull it, you have not developed enough acidity and the curd needs to “age” in the fridge a bit longer, maybe even until the next day.

When the curd is ready to be “worked”, heat a large pot of water to 170° and add 1/2 cup Kosher salt. If you are working the curd the same day you made it then heat up the whey and use the hot whey instead of water; this makes the cheese even tastier and the curds “work” better as well.

Cut the curd ball in half. You are going to work only one half of the cheese at a time.

Cut the curd into approximately 1″ cubes.

Carefully dump the cubed curds into the hot water or whey.

Let the curd cubes heat for a moment and carefully stir with a slotted flat type ladle.

Squeeze the cubes with your fingertips to test. When the cubes feel soft throughout (not solid in the middle) they are ready for the next step.

Since the curds will continue to soften while you are moving them to the bowl, just let the largest ones still be a just little bit “solid” on the inside.

There is a line between not soft enough to “work” well, and too soft and runny, which you will learn with practice. The curds need to be soft enough, or they will not “work” and pull easily but too runny means failure. DO NOT let the curds heat too long, because if they get too hot and runny, there is no going back. Do not allow anything to distract your attention if you are working your curds.

Carefully remove them with the ladle to a large bowl. These curds are hot, so be careful. Take note that as you begin to work the curds, if you are rough with them, the cream will start to separate out

At first the curds may looks runny, do not worry, just keep going. Carefully take the curds in your hands and form them together into one mass. Gently fold one side over on the other to get it all to come together. Do not squeeze the curd or all the cream will come out and the finished cheese will be dry.

Work the curds gently at first, this will help it retain it’s cream. Keep a bowl of very cold water close by to stick your hands in when they get too hot from the curds. This cools them off and makes holding the hot curds easier.

Once you have got the curds come together so that you can pick it up, then just let the curd do the work for awhile:

Hold one side of the curd lump and let the other end begin to stretch under it’s own weight. When it stretches, fold up the bottom to the top and let it stretch again. As it begins to stretch you can start to help it along a little by pulling on it slightly. Keep stretching and folding. As you “work” the curds, they will stretch easier and easier. You will be able to pull the curds longer and longer. It becomes like pulling taffy (Except for the fact your hands are burning from the hot curd).

You will notice the nature of the curds changing. It will start to become shiny, smooth and elastic. When you get to this point,  you will know when you have about 10 to 15 good “pulls”

Place the cheese back in the water to warm them back for a moment.

Remove the cheese from the hot water and plop it into a mold.

Push the curd into the mold to even it up a bit. You do not have to get it perfect because the cheese is still very soft and it will even out as it rests and cools.

Repeat the “working of the curds” with the remaining curd.

Let the cheese cool at room temperature for a few  hours.

Place the cheese into the fridge overnight.

The next day, pop the cheese out of  the  mold and you are ready to make pizza.

Put the cheese in a ziplock bag and store it in the fridge. It is ready to use right away, but is much  better after a few days. Mozzarella  is one of  the  few cheeses that freezes  fairly well.

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As a complete food, milk is the sole food for infants and an important source of nutrients for children. However, when we hit adulthood, milk is often left out in our daily meals. More often then not, milk becomes an add-on to more adult beverages like tea or coffee. Contrary to what most people think, the fact is milk can play a role in contributing to your nutritional well-being, no matter how old you are and what lifestyle you subscribe to. To assume our bodies only required milk at the growing stages is wrong and this is a perception that needs to be addressed.

For Kids - Early childhood is a tremendous growth period across all areas of development. During this time, the body undergoes changes, both physically and mentally, Typically, the average child’s height doubles, and quadruplets in weight. To promote, encourage and sustain the growth, as well as to keep illnesses at bay, a growing child will required to be provided with all the essential nutrients.

Beyond just building a healthy body, it is also every parent’s concern whether their children are getting the right amount of nutrients to develop a healthy mind. Milk is an essential food source for toddlers, and young children, as it provides energy and nutrients for growth and brain development. Drinking milk at an early age also helps cultivate healthy habits as he or she will be more likely to continue drinking milk as teen and an adult.

For Teens - Boys and girls in this age group have high calcium needs that they cannot make up for later years in life. Calcium is a mineral that gives strength to our bones. It is also necessary for many of our body’s functions, including nerve, muscle and hormonal function. Unfortunately, peer pressure, the need to fit in and be popular amongst their peers often makes it ‘uncool’ to be seen sipping on a pack of milk.

During the teenage years, particularly from ages 11 to 15, your child’s bones are developing quickly and are storing calcium. Nearly half of all bones are formed during these years. It is therefore important that your teen gets plenty of calcium in his or her diet to prevent brittle bones later in life. Children and teenagers between the ages of 10 and 18 should aim for 1,000 milligrams per day, which is about 3 servings of goat milk or other high-calcium food. This amount is almost twice as much as the amount required by younger children.

For Adult - In our adult years, calcium and dairy products play major roles in bone maintenance and may help with the prevention of chronic diseases. According to an extensive five year study on over 1,500 young adults, researchers reported that the subjects actually reduced their intake of calcium and dairy products as they enter their twenties. Since peak bone mass is not achieved until the third decade of life, it is crucial that young adults continue to consume adequate amounts of calcium, protein and vitamin D found in dairy products to support health and prevent osteoporosis later in life.

For individuals with a hectic lifestyle and irregular meals, goat milk can be a good supplement for sustenance. The fact is milk is a wholesome food, providing energy and all the essential nutrients. After a tiresome and exhausting day at work, drinking a warm glass of goat milk before sleep can help you relax and soothe your nerves.

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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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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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Queso Fresco means Fresh Cheese and is semi-soft cheese. I prefer cheese with lots of flavor, and this Queso Fresco has many variations. Queso Fresco is of Latin American origin. It is lightly pressed and ready to eat in just a few days.

Correct temperatures are very important in cheese making, so ensure to use a good thermometer. The easiest way to control the temperature of the curds is to use a homemade double boiler. Place the cheese making pot into the canning kettle and place on the stove. Fill the canner with water up to the level of the milk in the cheese making pot. Then place a thermometer in the water of the canner as well as the milk. This way you can tell the temperature of the water, which in turn, helps you control the temperature of the milk and curds.

Ingredients:

• 2 gallons of unpasteurized goat milk

• 4 oz. mesophilic culture

• 1/4 tsp. calf lipase powder (mild “piccante”)

• 1/2 tsp. Liquid rennet dissolved in 1/4 Cup water

• 2 Tablespoons kosher salt .

Bring the milk to 86° and add the mesophilic culture and lipase. Stir well and let set, to ripen, for 1 hour. Add the rennet and stir briskly for 15 seconds. Cover the pot and let the milk set for 45 minutes, or until you get a clean break. Hold the milk at a temperature of 86° for the entire time.

Cut the curds into 1/4″ pieces with a stainless steel knife. This always seem to be the trickiest part of cheese making, but take your time, and don’t worry if all the curds are not cut to exactly 1/4″. After you have cut the curds, do not stir them yet. Let them rest, undisturbed for 10 minutes

Now, you can stir the curds and cut any that you had missed. If you stir the curds with a big wire whisk, this will cut any curds you missed automatically. Raise the temperature of the curds to 95° over the next 20 minutes, stirring occasionally so the curds do not stick together. Let the curds settle for 5 minutes, undisturbed.

Drain the whey from the curds. You can conserve drained whey and use for whey based cheese making like Ricotta. Now, leave the curds in their cheese making pot that is placed inside the canner. Make sure the water in the canner is kept at 95° and this will allow you to hold the curds at a temperature of 95°. Hold the curds at 95° for 10 minutes, stirring with your hand occasionally so that the curds don’t stick together.

After you have held the curds for at 95° for 10 minutes, stir in the salt. At this point in the cheese making you could spice up your cheese by adding some herbs, such as chives, or even minced jalapena peppers, if you’d like.

Line a cheese mold with cheesecloth and add the curds. Press the cheese at 10 pounds for 10 minutes, remove it from the press, flip it over and place it back in the press. Continue pressing at 20 pounds for 1 hours and then raise the weight to 35 pounds for 6 hours.

After it has pressed for six hours, remove the cheese from the mold and let it air dry on a rack overnight. The next day, put it in a ziploc bag or wrap it and refrigerate the cheese for several days before testing. Honestly, it is worth the wait. If you taste the cheese too soon, it may seem “rubbery”. Additionally, the flavor will develops during the short “aging” process. Queso Fresco cheese will keep for several weeks in the refrigerator. Previous experience proved that this cheese does not freeze well.

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Now that you have this rubbery ball of cheese, what do you do with it or how do you enjoy it? Paneer is like tofu,  it will take on the flavor of the food it is cooked with. Just cut it into bite-sized cubes and throw it into chili or spaghetti.  If you love pasta cooked in whey you can always save whey just for this purpose. Try serving your chili over vermicelli cooked in whey, topped with a sprinkle of cheese, some sprouts and a dollop of goat yogurt.

You could use Paneer as a meat extender or replacement. If you are a vegetarian, you can use a lot of Paneer. You make “chicken a la king” using cubes of Paneer instead of meat. A quick dinner is mac’n cheese, made from a box, but also add onions, Paneer cubes, peas and buttermilk. When you make taco meat, cut it up in tiny cubes and simmer it with the meat for about an hour.

You can also marinade Paneer and throw it on top of salads or use it in stir-fry. Paneer is really in its element when used in curry. Serve the curry over rice cooked with whey instead of water and add a handful of raisins and a clove to the rice as well to make it really authentic.

There are endless uses for Paneer, so make some of this quick and easy cheese and experiment for yourself. Enjoy!

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