No, the missing word is not 'blood.' I am referring to milk because whenever we have too much milk, it's time to make cheese.
The kid goats have been weaned since summer's end so we've 'Got Milk.' And what do we do with all that milk that Natureman can't possibile use? We make cheese by adding rennet, a vegetarian rennet tablet ordered on line. It makes the goat milk clabber. (That's dairy talk meaning to curdle.)
And with the wood stove already working less and less to keep us warm, it's begging to even be more useful. Thus the perfect spot to leave the pot of milk to warm and coagulate. The trick is to not let the milk get too hot. Some times we use one of those metal diffusers underneath the pot if the fire is burning too hot.
It'll take a couple of hours before the milk warms enough with the rennet to solidify. Once that happens, the pot is removed from the heat.
The mass will be cut with a knife into large chunks.
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| Solid cheese separates from the whey and floats to the top |
Then it's time to strain the whey off until most of the liquid is removed.
Some folks use cheese cloth as a strainer and a press but since this batch will be used as a soft cheese like ricotta, it doesn't really need to be pressed. A kitchen screen strainer does the trick.
Voila. Nothing like fresh squeaky cheese.
I promise I'd be the first to tell you if fresh goat cheese really tasted goaty... Using fresh milk is the key.
You can add any herb you'd like. I'm adding parsley since this will be used for stuffing noodles for an upcoming Italian dinner right here in the End of the Rainbow Valley... And all thanks to our wonderful milk goat Jacqueline.
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| Say CHEEZ... |
There is nothing better than goat cheese, so rich and creamy....and tasty.
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