Goat Milk

 

 

 

The 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

 

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Direction:

 

• 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.

 

 

*Optional – 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.

 

 

More Cheeses recipes for Beginners. Check them out!

 

 

Ricotta 

 

 

 

What does Queso Fresco means ?

 

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 .

 

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Directions:

 

• 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.

 

The Queso Fresco cheese will keep for several weeks in the refrigerator. My previous experience proved that this cheese does not freeze well.

 

 

Additional Cheeses Recipes,  Click the link to view the details.

 

 

Related topic for you;

 

• Provolone Cheese

 

 

 

 

 

Summary

 

Paneer (also spelled Panir)  – a cheese originate and made in India. Paneer is also called Queso Blanco (kay’so blan’ko) (white cheese) in Latin America. It is a bland cheese that is kind of rubbery and will not melt.

 

Paneer is sometimes called “Vinegar Cheese” because vinegar is used as an “acid precipitant”, that is, the acid of the vinegar (along with higher heat) makes the curds separate from the whey. The cheese cannot be made using low temperatures.

 

A wonderfully tasty food source and excellent meat extender. You can actually, sprinkled with seasoned salt and serve as a snack . It is also one of the few cheeses that freezes well, so you can stock up for the dry times.

 

 

 

 

How to make Paneer

 

 

Paneer is easy to make and there is so much you can do with it. Paneer  is perfect for “first timers” but even the more advanced can try it or try it again. It is quick and simple to make, and takes very little special equipment.

 

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Instructions:

 

You can use as much goat milk as you’d like, 1 gallon or much more as long as your pot is big enough. Do not use an aluminum pot. Over direct heat, warm the milk to 183°- 185° (not any higher), and maintain that temperature for 10 minutes. Stir it often to keep it from scorching and if it does scorch, use a stainless steel scrubby to clean your pot later.

 

With the milk still on the heat, while stirring, add about 1/4 Cup of white vinegar per gallon of milk. It taste better with white vinegar than cider vinegar. You do not need even to measure the vinegar, just pour in a glug, stir, look, pour in a glug, stir, etc. until the curd separates. The separation should happen right away. When the curd separates cleanly from the whey (it will look like very fine, white particles floating in the greenish whey), pour it into a cheesecloth lined colander and put the colander over another pot to save the whey for later use. Use real cheese-making cheesecloth and not the ones you can buy at the grocery store.

 

Tie the corners of the cloth together and hang the bag to drain for a few hours. Refrigerate your cheese after it has drained. It will keep for a couple of weeks.

 

 

 

Now that you have this rubbery ball of cheese, what do you do with it or how do you enjoy it

 

Well, 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!

 

 

 

More Acid Cheeses Recipes for you. Check them out!

 

 

Modern Ricotta