Making Goat Cheese

This time I will start on the road to goat cheeses. Its fun and easy when you know all the tricks. I am assuming that everyone already knows how to milk the goat. If they don't they need to find someone to show them hands on. It's not hard to do, but hard to explain.

First, you need to have a culture of some type to tell your cheese what its supposed be. Cheddar or Mozzerella, etc. To make this, go to the store and buy the best cheddar or best Mozzerella (usually packed in water) or whatever type of cheese you want to make. Just be absolutely positive that it is real cheese, not cheese food. Heat one quart of milk to 115 degrees. Add three tablespoons of shredded cheese to the milk and let set where it can hold the 115 degrees for at least 12 hours, 24 is better. This is now cheese culture. It should look like yogurt. Kind of thick and gooey.

Cheddar Cheese...goat or cow's milk will work. Put 3 gallon of skim cows milk or goats milk into a 6 quart Stainless Steel deep pan. Pour 1/2 cup of culture into measuring cup. Dissolve 1/4 rennet tablet (I use Junket from the grocery store) into 1/4 cup of warm water. Bring the milk up to 90 degrees farenheit. Turn it off and add the culture, stir and then add the rennet mixture. Stir again. Let set until a curd forms. It will be a semi-solid white mass. Cut this up and down and sideways in the pan. This allows the whey (whitish liquid) to seperate from the curd. Allow this to set for another hour and then pour into a cheesecloth bag to drain overnight. Put the cheesecloth bag into a cheese press. Pull up on the sides of the bag to eliminate all the wrinkles you can. Put the follower on top of the cheese and add whatever you use for weights. The more weight at the beginning the better. The idea is to remove as much whey as possible as quickly as possible from the curd.

This is only done with cheddar cheeses. Other cheeses need the whey left in to change the Ph of the curds. As soon as the whey stops dripping from the press, take the cheese block out and turn it over. Put the weights back on and wait again until the whey stops dripping. Remove the block from the press and salt the edges and the top and bottom. Put it on a cookie cooling rack, cover with a strainer and allow the cheese to form a rind. It will turn yellowish on the edges when its dry. If you see any whey coming out, do not wax the cheese until it stops coming out and the cheese forms a dry rind. Now, melt 1/4 pound of beeswax and pour it over the cheese until the whole cheese is covered. I do this on an old china plate, pouring on the top and sides. Then I turn it over and pour the bottom. I put a small piece of paper with the date of waxing on it, into the wax while its warm. This way I know which cheese to use first. The aging process is a minimum of 90 days. The longer the better, (sharper). Eat and enjoy.

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From the Homesteaders

Everything from the 1800's

Jack and Kathy