It's Cheese

The pages of the calendar have flipped to the day my first wheel of cheese is to be ready. We have been anxiously waiting for a taste test of our efforts from a month ago. Making it was fun, challenging and a learning process to be sure. Having seen success in a friends efforts with Caerphilly. We decided to jump into the vat with the same recipe for our first official pressed cheese.

It all started 4 weeks ago with a large pot of goat's milk being gently heated, cultured and processed into curds. Every wheel of cheese starts in the same manner. Different temperatures, cultures or setting times is the only difference in making cheese, soft or firm.

This is what "Little Miss Muffet" enjoyed until an ugly spider sat down beside her. Once heat treated, cultured and given time to set. The milk will coagulate into curds = protein clumps. Which are cut into cubes and dipped out of the remaining whey. By the way ~ Whey is useful for many things. I've been known to feed it to the chickens and the dogs think it's the grandest treat ever. I've given it to my tomato plants to ward off blossom end rot, after all it is full of calcium. Adding it to my loaves of bread, boosts the nutrition and gives them a softer texture too. But one of my new found joys is to make Ricotta out of it. I can't describe the wonderful flavor and texture of a batch of fresh made. Very creamy unlike the store bought version. A diffinent treat eaten on crackers or by the spoonful if I'm feeling generous to my self. Plus it is out of this world atop a plate of pasta.

Once sufficiently drained the curds are packed into the cheese press for increasingly amounts of time and pressure. After the pressing process which can take up to several hours to overnight. The cheese is aired dry for a couple of days. Before being aged in a specific temperature and humidity for the variety of cheese being made.

We were proud with the first wheel we had made. It made an impressive picture to me. At this point we don't know if we have succeeded or not. As sometimes looks can be deceiving. Waiting to eat it will be hard.
I was sure to mark the calendar for the end of the 4 week aging process. But choosing to wait one more day till Lon could be home for the unveiling and tasting. During the last few days of air drying before aging the wheel. We had to tackle a renovation in the kitchen that couldn't be put off any longer. In doing so, I failed to monitor the cheese as closely as I should have. Waiting what the recipe described as the needed drying time was too much. But we didn't find this out until after it had been aged for a month.

The wheel was pretty to look at but came out dryer than we had planned. Lesson learned, don't always rely on recipes written for generalization. Every one's kitchen and house has varying degrees of moisture and temperatures in them. Even having a fan circulating air can make a difference in the final outcome. Cheese making is an art to be sure. With each attempt one would hope to get closer to making a classic batch of cheese.

Since ours came out too dry to cut easily for eating on crackers. We decided after tasting what seemed to be a Parmesan flavor. That the best way to use the cheese would be to grate it.
That way we could use in on top of homemade pizza, pasta dishes or sprinkled over salads.

Which took minimal effort with a good crank grater. Yielding 3 jars from our first hard cheese attempt. We tried it over some pasta with a home grown medley of squash, tomato, garlic and onion the same night. Yum, Yum! What some would deemed a failure tasted like success to us.

Looking for a new recipe to try ~

Deborah

Cheese Please ~

Having dairy goats is more than a hobby for us. They are an essential part of our food chain and lifestyle. The "girls" and Samson have become members of an ever widening circle of "farm critters" we have obtained over the past 3 years. Dairy goats were the second phase of our attempt to eat a FRESH natural diet. The first being the chickens I got as a Birthday present. Our original flock of 16 has grown to one numbering over 60. Being informed can at times appear to be detrimental to those around you. Hence the shocked look on my husband's face when I asked for them three years ago. He is now an avid spokesman for home grown eggs among other natural food sources. Usually it is not those within the family you have to educate but those on the perimeter. Most of our friends, old and new have at one time or another given us puzzled looks when we mention our chosen lifestyle. But I digress ~

What I wanted to share was how one thing always leads to another. In this case I am talking about our dairy goats who produce the sweetest milk, which we LOVE. I have been a milk drinker since birth. Just ask my Mom, she will tell you how I could never go to bed without a glass. There haven't been many days in my life that I haven't sipped a cold glass of either cow or my now favorite, goat. Lon on the other hand only drank milk occasionally with a meal. Never enjoying just a glass by itself. That is until we got Amber, our first dairy goat. Amber has in the past 3 years given us sweet milk each day of her lactations. I even froze some last year to get us through the winter months. Extra work? You bet, but is worth it for a glass of yummy goodness with all of the essential nutrients still inside and NO added junk from a "milk producer." But hers wasn't the only milk I saved. Along the way we've added several other milking does to the family.

Up until this past Spring we were milking only 3 over the past couple of years. Amber, Sugar and Anna were our "milk cow" so to speak. Birthing kids is a necessity in any milk production operation. You just can't have one without the other. So last Autumn, we bred not only the original trio, but their daughters as well. Glory, Cinnamon and Annabelle were born the year before. Guess you can tell where this is leading to. Having the potential of 6 milkers was real. Long story short, we sold one ~ Annabelle this year after kidding. Leaving us with 5 does in milk and a surplus of it too! Besides our milk drinking, I make buttermilk and occasionally yogurt out of it. I also use it in all of my cooking and baking needs too. But with Amber alone giving us nearly 1/2 gallon at each milking it doesn't take long for it to add up. Filling all the available space in not one but two refrigerators. The second one is being used primarily for storing eggs, so there isn't much space in it. What to do now?

We had been sharing some of the extra with the chickens and our dogs. Who by the way absolutely love it as much as we do. That is until I decide to start back in the classroom. The cheese making one I started last year. My feeble attempts back then left me with a desire to know more so I could produce a consistent outcome. Chevre is a fairly easy goat's cheese to make and makes one wonder how could you mess it up. Believe when I say, you can. Inspired by all the recipes I've collected. Seeing all the nice pictures of cheeses that others have produced. Having made a new friend who is fearless in her attempts to make cheese and having an abundance of milk. Well ~ I decided to wade into the deep end of the cheese making pool of milk once again.

Confidence bolstered I placed an order for some old and new to me cheese cultures. Pulled out my cheese books and spent the day with my new like-minded friend. A couple of weeks ago Debbie invited me to join her and another friend, Pam in making cheese and sampling some she had been aging. (Thanks again for the invite!) Plans were to make mozzarella and feta on that day. Notice here I said plans were. We did make the mozzarella and enjoyed it fresh out of the pot along with slices of the Caerphilly she had been aging for 3 weeks.


Mozzarella cheese (thanks for sharing the photo, Pam)

The Feta never quite made it out of the pot. As the 3 of us got caught up in the talking, sharing of cheese, life as we live it and homesteading books. Milk is a temperamental thing you know when placed over a hot water bath and high heat. Requiring that it be kept in the fore front of your thoughts. Hence, why we never made the Feta. Too much time on the stove with too little supervision was it's demise. It is times like this when you want to kick yourself in the pants, but don't dare asked anyone else for they would be too happy to oblige you. Such is the classroom of cheese making. Among the victories there are going to be a lot of defeats in learning this craft. We tried to think of a new name for the concoction we did make. Debbie finally decide to call it "Turkey Cheese," for that is who got the chance to enjoy it. But I wonder now if the name might even be a subtle hint at name calling towards the 3 of us. Hmmm? Doesn't bother me none, I've been called worst I am sure over the years. The afternoon was delightful and I came away with rich memories in my pocket. Enough to carry me through a few more cheesy defeats myself.

Goat's Milk -check, cultures -check, cheese making books - check.
Ready for the next cheese adventure,

Deborah