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wellington womble
Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 10573
Location: Bucks
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 Posted: Sat Aug 05, 06 10:47 pm Post subject: Goats cheese |
 
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Anyone made it? (its Penny's fault - she made me think of it with her yoghurt!) We use loads of it, especially this time of year with salads and courgettes, but its really pricey.
I know you make it out of goats milk, but would it just be that same as cows milk cream cheese, or do you have to do something else with it? |
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sean
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 26924
Location: North Devon
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| Posted: Sat Aug 05, 06 11:10 pm Post subject: |
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As far as I know, which is admittedly not very far, the techniques are exactly the same. |
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Penny
Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 16793
Location: Planet, not on the....
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| Posted: Sun Aug 06, 06 8:02 am Post subject: |
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Blame Katie Thear  I bought her Cheesemaking and Dairying book when I got the Chicken one.
Here's her French goats cheese recipe, not made it but it looks fairly simple:
5 litres fresh full cream goats milk
5ml liquid starter or a little dvi starter
3 drops rennet
(Pasturise the milk if it's not already done)
Heat milk (or cool if pasturising) to 22 deg c
Add starter
Dissolve rennet in a tblsp of boiled and cooled water and stir into milk
Cover and leave in warm place (21-22 deg) overnight
Ladle the curds into small plastic moulds - pile it in as it will sink about half it's height
Cover and leave in warm place (21 to 22 deg) for two days
Remove cheeses from moulds, rub a little salt on the surfaces and leave to dry on mats
Once dry (about 24 hours) they are ready to eat, but will acquire more taste if left to ripen for 2-3 days
The book has loads of cheese recipes in, and yoghurt and ice cream. |
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hardworkinghippy
Joined: 01 Jan 2005
Posts: 1020
Location: Bourrou South West France
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| Posted: Sun Aug 06, 06 8:06 am Post subject: |
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I save our Suzie's milk for two days (it seems to work better when the milk is older) strain it through a bit of kitchen paper and a collander to get rid of dust etc. straight into a stainless steel pan with a good lid.
Then I bring the milk up to hand hot, add 3 drops of rennet (there are vegetarian substitutes for rennet) for each litre, cover and wait 24 hours. Pour off the whey and put the soft cheese into a cloth and hang it up to drip for another 12 hours or so.
If I want a soft cheese, I just make little flat shapes ands either keep them natural or roll them in fines herbs and pepper or what ever I fancy - I've used blackberries to make a dessert cheese and that was lovely with cream on top. 
To make a harder cheese, I cut up the block, let it air and dry again and repeat the process until the cheese is dryish then I press it for a day or so in cloth under a light pressure to begin with then tighten the screw from time to time. The hard cheese keeps for over a week, the soft gets eaten straight away.
You can freeze both, but they go very crumbly and need to be eaten the same day.
You get surprisingly little cheese from a lot of milk!
Has anyone tried making a sort of Greek feta cheese which I can store in olive oil, or does anyone have a recipe? |
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Silas
Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 6593
Location: Staffordshire
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| Posted: Sun Aug 06, 06 9:09 am Post subject: |
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Goats cheese is dead easy to make and you gets loads of cheese for your milk.
It tasts better when it is fresh too. ( Well, the soft stuff does anyway - I have never made hard Goats Cheese) |
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wellington womble
Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 10573
Location: Bucks
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| Posted: Sun Aug 06, 06 10:12 am Post subject: |
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Thanks, Penny I'll try that (seems like a lot of goats cheese!) I'll balme Katie Thear as well. In fact I might just slip off to amazon now. 
Now, HWH, this Suzie... Would she be difficult to look after, need acres of land all to herself, expensive feeding or other attention unsuitable for an amateur livestock keeper with a full time job? (at the moment, anyway) |
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hardworkinghippy
Joined: 01 Jan 2005
Posts: 1020
Location: Bourrou South West France
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| Posted: Mon Aug 07, 06 8:07 am Post subject: |
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Hi wellington womble,
A goat would be happier with a friend or two with her, especially if you weren't around a lot. Goats need company, especially of other goats.
Acres of land.... no, you don't need acres, as you probably know most goats never go out and produce a lot of milk but if you don't want to go down that road, I'd say as as an absolute minimum two goats would need at least half an acre and that would have to be spit into smaller sections to let the grass rest and minimise internal parasite problems.
If you have somewhere else you could put them sometimes, maybe swapping fields with a neighbour with horses (an ideal situation because each species clears up the land of the other's parasites and they eat different things) or clearing a fenced bit of scrub, that would be ideal.
You'd need to feed them extra on such a small bit of land and make sure they gets enough excercise and have enough going on on to keep them interested otherwise they'll get bored and naughty!
Obviously, the more land you've got the better.
You'll need to feed the dam extra when she's a few weeks pregnant and for as long as you're taking milk. If she's on a poor diet outside, you'll need to spend time gathering fresh food and money paying for a decent cereal mix.
Fencing's very important you'll need 1.2m sheep netting plus a strainer wire on top (to keep dogs out) - although you can get away with three strands of electric fencing if you're a vigilant type - if not, you need to be philsophical with understanding neighbours. Goats that get out can do a lot of damage very quickly - not just to gardens, they also jump on top of parked cars and of course could cause road accidents. 
You should check with your insurers too that your normal household cover includes keeping goats, some don't.
Then there's the kids, selling, eating or keeping them...?
If you can get a hold of David Mackenzie's book called "Goat Husbandry" ISBN 0-571-18024-8 that will give you a lot more information about the nitty gritty - my copy is falling apart and I still refer to it after 14 years.
You can still ask question in the forum of course, it would be nice if we could encourage more folk to think about goatkeeping. 
Let us know what you're scheming... |
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katie
Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 336
Location: midlands
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| Posted: Mon Aug 07, 06 11:28 am Post subject: |
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Thanks for the recipe, HWH - you've just saved me £24! I was just about to order some freeze-dried starter to make cheese as the only recipes I found used it. Off to make some cheese now.... |
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wellington womble
Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 10573
Location: Bucks
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| Posted: Mon Aug 07, 06 8:12 pm Post subject: |
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| hardworkinghippy wrote: |
Let us know what you're scheming... |
It's bitten the dust unfortunately - I was hoping to rent a few acres next to the house that we just bought (well, the plot that we just bought - the house will work its way up over the next few months) but the farmer won't play ball. The plan was to have a dozen chickens and some alpaca wethers for spinning, and perhaps eventually selling, yarn. Just to get us started in keeping livestock, only I get a bit carried away. I love yarn, and have little dreams one day of keeping merinos, angora goats and alpacas, and spinning lots of lovely yarn to sell (as well the usual self sufficient smallholding daydreams). I don't want to bite off more than we can chew, and of course, now I have to find some land!
The good news is, himself has now got used to the idea of having land and livestock, and is as disappointed as I am, so it's all go. He still won't let me keep anything for meat, as he's too soppy about animals (yet) and he doesn't know about the bees (he has a wasp phobia) and I haven't confessed about the goats. It's all your fault - I looked at your pictures! We'll be building this house for sale, and looking for somewhere with land instead. Thanks for the info though, you can never learn too much too soon.
Of course, I still have to finish knitting the ridculous stock of yarn I have, get rid of a load of other 'stuff', sell this house, finish the new one, move, find the house and land, sell the new house, move again, get rid of an inconvenient full time job, buy some livestock and not damage it irreparably, shear it and then learn to spin. It's a long term plan!
I'll start with buying the book, then! |
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