Now plain goat chevre is amazing; I can’t get enough of it. I’ve been making goat chevre for years and it is a staple in all of my cooking and baking. You can read about making it here if you like. I’ve also made goat milk yogurt regularly but cheese is still my favorite. That said, recently I discovered that maybe, just maybe, I had too much goat chevre in my freezer, if such a thing is possible. With two gallons of goat milk sitting in my fridge taking up space, and my family coming up to visit in a few days, I needed to use up my goat milk in a hurry. So, I thought, I need to make something delicious, quick, that’s different than normal, and also that my family can enjoy. I opened up my cheese-making books for ideas, looked in my spice cupboard, and got to work.
I ended up making seven different types of herbed chevres (see the recipe below). I don’t know about you guys but I am a messy cook so I’d strongly recommend having something under your cheese when you coat it with herbs.
I tested out the different chevres on my sister Jessica, my mom, and my husband. I made a pretty mean cheese board if I do say so myself. And after demolishing most of the cheese, the winners in their opinion were: the Garam Masala and Tumeric (my husband said it tasted like cheesecake), the Mint and Rosemary, and the Fennel and Lavender (not pictured). But they were all quite tasty. To be honest, I was suspicious of the Lemon Pepper Chevre when I made it but it turned out to be really good, very fresh tasting, more lemony than peppery. I wish I had made more of it.
Herbed Goat Chevre
Ingredients
The Chevre
- 1 gallon goat milk unpasteurized or pasteurized, NOT ultra-pasteurized
- 4 drops liquid rennet
- 1/8 tsp Mesophilic culture MM 100 is the best
- 1/3 cup cool water
- 4 Tbl chopped herbs of your choice see choices below
Mixed Herbs of Your Choice
- 2 & 2 Tbl Garam Masala and Tumeric
- 4 Tbl Holy Basil
- 2 & 2 Tbl Mint and Rosemary rosemary chopped fine
- 3 & 1 Tbl Ground Coffee and Cacoa Powder extra fine ground coffee
- 3 & 1 Tbl Ground Coffee and Lavendar extra fine ground coffee
- 2 Tbl Lemon Pepper
- 2 & 2 Tbl Fennel seeds and lavender use dried fennel and ground lavender
Instructions
Basic Goat Chevre
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Pour the milk into a large pot on the stovetop and turn the burner on medium.
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Clip an instant-read or dial thermometer onto the side of the pot.
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Heat the milk to 80° F, stirring once or twice to keep the milk an even temperature.
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When the milk reaches 80° F take the pot off the burner and sprinkle 1/8 tsp of culture into the milk. Let the culture rehydrate for about 5 minutes then stir the milk for 60 seconds in a back and forth motion rather than in a circle.
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Add 4 drops of liquid rennet into the 1/3 cup of cool water and stir gently. Take 2 Tbl of this water rennet mix and pour it into the milk. Stir for 60 seconds.
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Put a lid on the pot. Find a warm place in your house that is about 80° F. It could be by the fireplace or wood stove, the proof setting in your oven, a warm sunny window, or near the heater with the pot wrapped in old wool sweaters. Keep the pot warm for at least 6 hours or until the cheese separates from the whey.
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Scoop or pour the cheese into a colander lined with cheesecloth or an old pillowcase flipped so the seams are turned out.
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Tie a piece of kitchen twine around the neck of the cloth and hang it from a hook in your kitchen so it can drain into the pot that you made cheese with. Drain for about 8 hours.
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Scoop the drained cheese into a large bowl and add slightly less than 1 tsp of salt to the cheese. Use a baking spatula to mix the salt into the cheese.
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Rinse out your cheesecloth or pillow case in cold water and air dry it before washing it, so the next time you want to make cheese your cloth does not smell like old cheese.
Making the Herbed Chevre
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Take a handful of cheese and shape the cheese with your hands into a flattened disc roughly 4 inches in diamter by 3/4 of an inch thick. You should be able to make 5-8 cheese discs with a gallon of milk.
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Set the cheese discs onto a sushi mat over a shallow pan and let the cheese air dry for about 4 hours. If your cheese is very runny let it dry a bit longer.
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While the cheese is drying start making your herb mixtures. You can use dried or fresh. I mostly used dried.
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Grind all dried ingrediants seperatley with a mortar and pestle.
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After the 4 hours of drying, sprinkle the herb mixture of your choice onto the cheese. Cover both surfaces top and bottom.
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Plastic wrap each cheese indivudally and place them in the fridge for three days.
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After three days you can start eating the cheese or place the individually wrapped cheese in a gallon freezer bag with a paper towel on the bottom to catch excess whey, and freeze.
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Once frozen, the cheese is good for up to 6 months and you can take as many out as you want at one time.
This is such a wonderful recipe to be creative with, use whatever combination of herbs and spices you desire. And, this chevre recipe is also very forgiving so don’t worry if your cheese is too runny, or too dry, it’s fine. Coat that cheese in your favorite herbs and get to eating. Adding these herbs and spices to my goat chevre has really inspired a whole new round of cheese love for me, I hope it will with you as well. Enjoy!
Very good April Your mom approved