Oh what fun to experiment and have such delicious results! Chris' mom Jill and her husband Bill were staying for a couple of nights so we dragged them into the fun of our second cheese making experiment. They came to the barn and witnessed first hand the struggle of a beginning dairy farmer. If this blog serves any purpose I hope it is to share the reality with others interested in getting into goats. It seems every website I read only talks about the ideal. I am enjoying a good dose of reality!When we bought Chianti, the woman described her as a "project goat" who would take a lot of work to tame, but would be worth the effort due to her milking heritage. We have tamed her and she welcomes our affection now, but I think her body is still not ready to relax enough to let down her milk for a human. Some days I actually can not even coax a squirt out of her. On other mornings, she gives me a small ray of hope. Not exactly a dream situation for someone dying to make chevre. Bonnie, is producing 2 cups a day (we are only milking in the morning) which is still half of what is considered normal, but we are learning. It is so cool to feel the milk fill her teat before each squeeze and to see her calmly look over her shoulder at me that it keeps me getting up early each morning. I have always been a big time sleepy head, so this is big! This morning I treated myself to sleeping in and decided to leave the kids with their mamas. It was heaven to sleep late after all these weeks and even with less milk I had enough to make my second batch of cheese!
I stuck with the beginners ricotta, but tried a different variation I found in Ricki Carroll's book Home Cheese Making which suggests less time draining the curds (just 1 minute) and adding a dash of baking soda and 3/4 tbs melted butter to my 4 cups of milk. It was way more smooth in texture and and more flavorful. Again just a couple hours after milking, the cheese was made and gone! Talk about FRESH! This cheese tastes like any ricotta in that it doesn't have that goat taste we are looking forward to, but all the fresh herbs from the garden gave it a lovely summery flavor.
Tonight we are thinking about the reality of selling our two boys at the end of July. They are so loving and snuggly, none of us can imagine letting them go. The vet comes this week to give shots and elastrate them which will be good since they are getting a bit randy already. We are also looking into buying a few more does! Chevre by the end of July! Stay tuned. Tried a really dreamy cheese at the Cheese Iron in Scarborough that I would love to copy. It is small balls of chevre marinated in olive oil, rosemary, and peppercorns. Theirs had some sheep's milk mixed in and was from France. So good you could eat it on anything.
More on our farm website! Can you tell I'm having FUN!?
http://www.sunflowerfarm.info
Love reading about your cheese making experience. Remember that cheese I brought to the boat last fall? That was Cheese Iron bought and I think from a farm in Vermont.
ReplyDeleteThat cheese you brought was YUMMY!!!! That is what I am going for. I actually went to get that cheese, but they only had the French cheese. Very close. Let's play soon. I didn't see enough of you at summer solstice.
ReplyDeleteHey--congratulations! What fun!
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