I am making goat cheese this week!

[sazemisery]

My neighbor has a nanny goat that is now producing milk. She has never made any kind of cheese so she asked for my help. I have made mozzarella cheese, yogurt, creme fraiche, etc. I have all the things I need to make goat cheese so I plan on making it sometime this week.

She gave me some milk to take home. I pasteurized the milk (to be safe) and since I won't have time to make cheese until later this week, I drank it and used it in my cereal. Oh, how wonderful this tastes! It has a 1/2 inch of cream floating on the top. I may never drink any other type of milk again. It sure beats any organic cow's milk I can buy in the store and all of that kind is ultra-pasteurized so you can't make cheese with it.

Will report on my results later.

[texastoast]

1. I dug out my herb bed

and have a bunch of herbs that would taste just dandy with that cheese. My sister had a dairy for a while, and there is nothing better than fresh milk with the cream on top. Sounds wonderful!

[sazemisery]

4. I plan to add Herbes de Provence to a batch or two. n/t

[MADem]

2. I grew up on that stuff--it makes great ice cream, FWIW. NT

[sazemisery]

3. Yum, ice cream

I will definitely be trying that this summer. Thanks.:hi:

[Warpy]

5. Some people find the flavor objectionable

but goat's milk is great stuff for making things like kefir and yogurt, as well as chevre (goat cheese).

I never learned to drink milk thanks to an early intolerance to lactose. However, I can tolerate it in all 3 forms above and have done so when I had access to it right out of the goat.

In fact, there's little I like better than kefir buzzed with fresh strawberries and a little light honey like orange blossom or alfalfa.

[sazemisery]

6. Some people probably tried the stuff in the grocery store.

I tried goats milk from Whole Foods and was kinda turned off by the taste but fresh (like all things fresh) tastes totally different.

[MADem]

7. Yep--it is COMPLETELY different. Fresh as a daisy and it is wonderful.

I've gotta say, too, back in the day, the stuff I got wasn't pasteurized (we were not in the US) and it was straight outta the goat. Didn't kill us, though!

[sazemisery]

8. I would drink it raw but..

I have never pasteurized anything so I thought I would give it a try. Pretty easy and if we decide to sell it we will have to pasteurize it. I had a cow dairy a mile from my house many years ago and got raw from them and never pasteurized it. I wish I had been in the cheese making mode then.

[MADem]

9. I wouldn't recommend it, nowadays--you're right to pasteurize in this day and age.

Ya just never know.

It didn't kill us, though, but that was in the day of better immune systems and none of these superbugs!

[newfie11]

11. All it takes to change the flavor

is one little hair falling in the milk. Then you can tell it's goat milk. We had American Alpines. They gave 1 gallon a day and our kids (children not baby goats) could not tell if it was cow or goat. Some breeds have a richer butterfat in the milk like Jersey vs Holstein.
BTW it was always unpasteurized. But you need to know the health of your animals and be super clean.
Never had any problems.

[newfie11]

10. How did you get the cream to float on top with goat milk

All the years we had our own goats the milk never separated from cream. When I looked up info it said goat milk is naturally homogenized. What is your secret?

[sazemisery]

12. The cream did not seperate until I pasteurized it

I put the goat's milk in a stainless steel bowl and put the bowl in a pot of water. I got the temperature of the milk to 145 degrees F, and kept it there for 30 minutes. Then I cooled it to 40 degrees F. in the sink filled with ice water. Poured it my milk bottles and the next morning when I needed some for my cereal, I noticed the layer of cream. The goats where I get my milk are Nubians.

You mean I did something that is not supposed to happen? Wow! The cream is so sweet.

[newfie11]

13. Well congratulations

We had goats for 14 years and I was never able to separate the cream. I was told I would need to buy a separator for that. Wish I had known your method then. I was used to fresh cows milk where we milked and put in the fridge. When it cooled (from the cow) the cream separated.

[sazemisery]

14. I wish it were MY method

I didn't know goat's milk wouldn't separate! I only pasteurized it 'cause if I intend to sell it it would have to be pasteurized. I'll be interested to see if it happens again.

[hollowdweller]

16. Usually it goes off before it separates.

If I want to let it separate naturally I always pasteurize first. But I have a cream separator anyway. An old Delaval table top.

[hollowdweller]

15. Goat Cheese Rocks! I've raised Saanens for 20 years

Make cheese all the time. Yes pasteurize it. In warm weather it is hard to avoid contamination due to the yeast and stuff in the air. Esp if you do not have air conditioning.