Tag: using goat milk

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Making Feta Goat Cheese

Making feta goat cheese hasn’t been on my list of things to do for years. It wasn’t supposed to be on the list now.

There has been a special request. I went hunting for my recipe and dredging my memory for how to make this cheese.

Special Supplies

I’ve made several changes in the regular feta recipes I’ve read. The set curds do need to have the whey pressed out. This can be with a cheese press. I use my hands and a colander.

There is a special feta cheese starter. I’ve never used it. Instead I will use buttermilk from the market. It works well for making feta goat cheese, although it changes the flavor a little.

The other supplies are the same as for other cheeses I make: a whisk, a long spatula, a stirring spoon, a stainless steel pot, stainless steel colander, vegetable rennet. Canning salt is used too, but as a brine. I dump a couple of cups of salt into a gallon jug and fill it with water. This is enough for two or three batches of cheese.

My Recipe

My pot holds about a gallon and a half of milk, so that is how much I use. This can be fresh or from the day before. Either way, the milk is warmed to 86 degrees. The heat is turned off.

Then a quarter cup of buttermilk is whisked into the milk. The lid is put on and the mixture is allowed to sit for an hour.

Rennet is whisked in. The curd is allowed to set up and should take about half an hour.

The curd is cut as for mozzarella: across both ways and diagonal both ways, and allowed to set for five minutes. Now the curd is gently stirred for fifteen minutes. After the first five, time really drags.

This stirring is important as it separates the curds and whey. You will see the curds shrink in size.

Now the colander comes into play to drain the whey from the curds. The curds should be firm enough to roll the colander to drain the whey as much as possible. Press the curds into a cake.

making feta goat cheese takes time
It takes some time to cut the feta into cubes, but the cubes soak up the brine better than a big piece. However, the cubes like being in one lump and will stick together while sitting in the brine. They are broken apart again while running cold water over them to wash off the brine. They will continue to ooze whey and brine even after being washed and drained. Just dump the liquid out of the container you put the cheese into.

Salting the Cheese

Turn the curd mass out onto a plate. The mass is cut into roughly half inch cubes. These are put into a bowl. More whey will come out. Keep dumping it to avoid a flooded counter.

Pour brine over the pile of cubes. Set the plate on top of the bowl. Place the bowl in the refrigerator for several hours.

Supposedly the time spent in the brine doesn’t matter. I prefer to get the cubes out after three to four hours.

Dump the cubes into the colander. Rinse them with cold water. Drain the water and refrigerate the cubes of feta, ready to use.

Making feta goat cheese isn’t hard. It is time consuming. I find it too salty for my taste which is why I don’t usually make it.

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Making Mozzarella Goat Cheese

There are lots of recipes around for making mozzarella goat cheese. The one I’ve come up with works well for me.

One of the important things to remember is to start with milk a day or two old and cold in the refrigerator. This cheese likes to be slightly acid and this seems to do the trick.

It is possible to add a bit of citric acid to get that acidity. I’ve done that. It’s hard to judge how much to add and too much will make the cheese very rubbery.

Supplies Needed

When I get ready for making mozzarella goat cheese, I put my stainless steel pot on the stove and fill it with milk. This cheese works best for at least a gallon of milk. Any more I use a gallon and a half, but have worked with two gallons. More than two gallons becomes a problem for me later on.

Turning the stove on low to warm the milk, I set out a Pyrex bowl with a stainless steel colander sitting in it. Next to that is a Pyrex loaf pan to put the finished cheese in.

There is a stainless steel flat canning ladle, a stainless steel flat spatula, a whisk and a cheese thermometer. I use vegetable rennet to set the curd and canning salt.

cover for "Goat Games" by Karen GoatKeeper
Surrounded by lots of goat information and puzzles are recipes for making cheese and other things from goat milk as well as how to cook chevon (goat meat).

Making the Cheese

The milk is heated to 86 degrees. Don’t get more than a degree sloppy with this. Turn off the heat. Whisk in enough rennet to set the curd in about 30 minutes. Put the lid on and wait.

Once the curd is set, use the spatula to cut the curd. First make long cuts every quarter to half inch one way. Next make long cuts across the first ones to make columns. Last use the spatula at an angle to cut the columns first one way, then the other.

The idea is to break the curd up into smaller pieces to make it easier to get the whey out.

Let the cut curd sit for 5 minutes. Then sprinkle canning salt over the top of the curds using a tablespoon per half gallon of milk.

Start slowly heating the curd. Gently stir the curd to mix in the salt and shift the curds from the bottom of the pan to the top. Do this slowly so you don’t break the curds into lots of tiny pieces.

making mozzarella goat cheese
Pictures were on the agenda as I set up to make this week’s batch of mozzarella cheese. The pictures didn’t get taken. And the cheese started disappearing. The camera finally arrived before the last bit of cheese got eaten.

Setting the Cheese

Let the curds heat. Mix the curds every 5 minutes or so to spread the heat more evenly. The curds will shrink as they release whey. They will change and toughen.

The original directions said to heat the curds to 120 degrees. I rarely get that hot. I watch the curds until they get a rubbery, melted look to them.

Now lift the curds out of the whey into the colander. The curds from two gallons of milk fill my colander. Leave the whey heating on the stove.

Rinse your hands in cold water even if you are wearing gloves. Turn the curds in the colander to drain more whey out. I empty whey back into the pot as I go.

Lift the mass up and it should stretch down toward the colander draining more whey. Fold it and let it stretch again several times. (If it won’t stretch, put the mass into the hot whey to get hotter so it will stretch.)

Press the cheese into the loaf pan or whatever mold you are using. I let it cool a bit on the counter before covering and refrigerating it.

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Making Vinegar Set Ricotta Cheese

Dairy goats giving milk must be milked out regularly or they will stop giving milk. As the refrigerator fills with milk, the question is what to do with this milk. Making vinegar set ricotta cheese is one possibility.

This cheese is considered to be a good beginner’s cheese. It takes few ingredients, is forgiving of sloppy temperatures and can be used in lots of ways.

Cheese Making Equipment

Any cheese makes whey which quickly becomes acidic. A stainless steel stock pot is important. I use a two gallon pot. When I made more kinds of cheese in larger quantities, I had a six gallon pot.

If the pot has bolt heads inside the pot, the milk level should always be below them as they are not stainless steel. The pot must have a lid.

A cheese thermometer is a must. Although making vinegar set ricotta cheese has a wide temperature range, most cheeses have a specific setting temperature. Cheese temperatures range from 70 to 200 degrees.

For making vinegar set ricotta cheese my utensils include a stainless steel whisk, a measuring cup, plastic or glass, and a stainless steel colander. The white vinegar comes from the market.

Making Vinegar Set Ricotta Cheese

Making vinegar set ricotta cheese starts with setting the curds
Whisking the vinegar into the hot milk causes the curds to coagulate and separate from the whey. This can take a minute. Just keep stirring. It makes the mixture look lumpy. If the curds are very fine, it will look grainy.

This is a forgiving cheese as I’ve said. The milk can come straight in from the milk room and be strained into the pot. It can be cold milk from the refrigerator.

Fill your pot and slowly heat it. It’s a good idea to keep the lid on so the milk doesn’t skin as it gets hot.

Every so often use the whisk to stir the milk so it heats more evenly. Check the temperature each time. You want the milk to reach 175 to 185 degrees.

Once the milk is hot, whisk in the vinegar. I find a half cup per gallon works for me. This, too, is lenient. You can add a bit more to set the milk harder.

You should see the milk turn grainy as the vinegar and milk mix. The grains can vary in size from tiny to quarter inch or larger. They stick to the whisk so you can see them. You should see the milk separate into curds and whey.

When I made lemon cheesecake from the cheese, I set the milk with lemon juice. It takes more than the vinegar and has a lower yield.

Turn off the heat. Put the lid on the pot. Let the pot sit and cool down.

vinegar set ricotta goat cheese
Unlike many cheeses, the amount of milk used for vinegar set ricotta cheese is highly variable. As I wanted new pictures for this post, I made a big saucepan of cheese to add to the cheese I made a couple of days ago to make enchiladas. Just adjust the amount of vinegar added. This is a very bland cheese so added spices and herbs really dress it up to suit whatever recipe you are making. For the enchiladas I added chopped garlic chives. Chopped onion and peppers work well too. I prefer using the vinegar set ricotta cheese to cream cheese in most recipes as I can add flavors to it easily. It can be used like cottage cheese. This is a very versatile cheese.

Rescuing Your Cheese

The curds settle into a soft mass. Use the colander to separate the curds and whey. You can keep the whey to use for pasta or even feed your goats. You can water the grass.

If the curds are very fine, line the colander with nylon netting. I prefer this to cheesecloth as the weave is fixed and it is very easy to wash. The small curds drain very slowly and the resulting cheese will spoil faster.

Larger curds can be rolled around in the colander to drain out as much of the whey as you can.

Either way, refrigerate the curds. Then start planning those lasagnas, quiches, cheesecakes and more to use up your goat cheese.

cover for "Goat Games" by Karen GoatKeeper

There are more cheese recipes in “Goat Games”. Pumpkin cheesecake is one of the recipes in “The Pumpkin Project”.

Next week will be a mozzarella type cheese.