Goat Chevre

 

I personally don’t own milk goats, so instead, I bought into a goat share of my neighbor’s milk goat. Basically, I own part of their goat, I help pay for the goat’s upkeep,  and I get to have a certain amount of milk every week for myself.  Depending on the time of year and how much milk my kids drink, sometimes I have a gallon or two of extra milk every week that I need to do something with. Now, I am a big fan of goat cheese. I really became ‘addicted’ to goat cheese when I was pregnant with my first kid. Goat cheese is so good with apples or with crackers and hot pepper jelly. I was eating the whole package of goat cheese in a day or two. But goat cheese up here is at least $6.00 for a small 4 oz package. Eeek! So I decided I needed to make my own if I was going to eat so much. My goat share costs $3/half gallon of milk and a gallon of milk can make 3 pints or 48 oz of cheese total. Compared to the store bought cheese at ~$1.50 oz, making it myself costs ~$0.13 oz, it’s a screaming deal. I did not include in this total the costs of culture, ~$11.00 5 years ago (and I still have some) and a bottle of rennet (~$5.00) that lasts for 2-3 years. I bet in the last 5 years I bet I have made several hundred pints of cheese. So maybe my cheese costs in total ~$.15 per oz. Regardless it’s still a good deal. And, this is just my opinion but, my cheese is better than what I was buying at the store.  And although I don’t goat cheese as intensely as I did when I was pregnant, I still use goat cheese in many of recipes such as pizzas, enchiladas, frostings, quiche, on bagels, on crackers, on top of scrambled eggs, or in anything that normally calls for cream cheese.  So here is a very simple, very tasty recipe to make a soft goat cheese or chevre.

 

 

* A word of warning. My milk is pasteurized which allows the milk to not obtain that ‘goaty’ flavor as quickly as unpasteurized milk. If your milk smells or tastes ‘goaty’  which some people don’t like, your cheese will taste ‘goaty’ as well.

 

Ingredients

1 gallon of unpasteurized or pasteurized goat or cow’s milk (not ultra-pasteurized, that won’t work)

4 drops of liquid rennet (vegetarian or animal)

1/8 teaspoon of Mesophilic Culture

Heating the Milk

 

Pour the milk into a large pot. Turn on the burner to medium, and slowly warm the milk on the stovetop to 80°F. This usually takes about 10 minutes. Use an instant-read or dial thermometer that clips onto the side of the pot so the thermometer tip doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl, to read the temperature. Stir the milk once or twice to make sure it is evenly heated.  When the milk reaches 80°F, stir 1/8 tsp of the culture into 1/4 cup of heated milk. Pour this mix back into the pot and stir in the mix for 30 seconds.  Then add 4 drops of liquid rennet to 1/3 cup of cool water. Use 2 Tbs diluted rennet and add it to the milk pot, stirring for 30 seconds.

Forming the Curd

 

Take the milk off the burner and put a lid on the pot. Place the milk somewhere warm, with the goal to hold the milk at about 80°F. Use the proofing setting on your oven or if you have a woodstove or fireplace that’s on in the winter, then place the pot about 1.5-2 feet away from the fire. In the summer wrap the pot in a blanket and set it somewhere warm, like a sunny window.  Let the milk sit for at least 6 hours. It won’t hurt it to sit longer, I’ve left mine overnight before when I’ve forgotten about it. You can tell the milk is done when the milk is solid and pulls away from the side of the pan. If you’re not sure if it’s done, stick a chopstick or skinny knife down the side of the pan and pull the cheese gently from the edge and release. It should feel springy and ‘bounce’ back into its circular shape.

Draining the Whey

 

Place an old pillowcase (one that you’ve had for years in the closet and is semi-see through)  seam side out (the pillowcase is inside out) in a colander. If you don’t set the pillowcase seam side out the cheese will get stuck in your seams and be difficult to remove.  Set the pillowcase lined colander in your sink.Try and place the pillowcase so one corner is at the bottom and the other corner is up on the side. Tip the pot and dump the cheese and whey in the pillowcase lined colander. Don’t worry if your beautiful column of cheese breaks up, it will still work.

Or

 

Use good quality cheesecloth, doubled up, to line a colander and set it in your sink. Gently spoon the cheese into the cheesecloth. If you just dump in the cheese as described above, it will clog your cheesecloth or the cheese will fall through the holes wasting it. Be gentle. I find that a metal slotted spoon works best.

 

 

Whether you’re using cheesecloth or a pillowcase, use kitchen twine and tie up your material so there is one drainage point. I tie a loop in the string and wrap the string twice around the cloth, cinching it. Tie a loop at the top of the string and hang it from a hook somewhere. I have a hook screwed into the bottom of my shelf in my kitchen. Place the now empty cheese pan under hanging cheese to catch the whey. Make sure there are at least 4-5 inches between the bottom of the cloth and the bottom of the pan so that when all the whey drains the cloth is not sitting in the whey.

 

Let the whey drain for at least 8 hours. Again if it hangs longer, no big deal. If you are using cheesecloth more whey will drain than if you are using a pillowcase, with the result being a drier crumbly cheese. The pillowcase method results in a spreadable, creamy cheese. Same taste different textures. If you only have a pillowcase but want a drier cheese to try using your hands to squeeze the whey out at the end of 8 hours.

Salting

 

When the cheese is done draining open up the pillowcase/cheesecloth and dump it upside down into a bowl. Use a baking spatula to scrape the cheese off the sides of the cloth. Add slightly less than 1 tsp of salt to the cheese and blend with a wooden spoon or spatula making sure the cheese is evenly salted. Put into a storage container or glass jars of whatever size you desire.

Storing and Seasoning

 

The chevre will last in the refrigerator for at least two weeks. But it also freezes beautifully for at least 6 months and thaws out with the same texture and flavor that it went in. Leave a bit of room in the jar or storage container if you are going to freeze, for expansion. I make my cheese plain but if you like flavored goat cheese it’s very easy. Use about 1 Tbs of your favorite herb (thyme, rosemary, etc) and mix it in with the salt. Chopped dried apricots are also very good. Or add in some fresh berries, it is so good.

Cleaning

 

You can reuse good quality cheesecloth, the cheap stuff should just be thrown away or composted. For sure you can reuse the pillowcase. Rinse all of the cheese reside off the cloth with COLD water as soon as you can. If you use hot water it will bake that cheese on the cloth, and your cloth will forever smell like old milk. Hang the cloth up to dry, ideally outside on a clothesline, or inside to dry if it’s winter. Do NOT throw it into a laundry basket wet, see the previous warning about the smell. Once dry throw it into the wash with the rest of your clothes and reuse it again.

I’d love to hear what you used your homemade goat cheese on. Or what you mixed into it to spice it up a bit. So let me know.