Cheese-o-mania

I have been in overdrive on the Chèvre production lately. I am making about 3 pounds of chèvre a week right now. I will continue on this pace until the last week of August. After that, a 2 month break and I start into bloomed rind, aged, cheeses in November. Looking forward to that.

Beautiful Goats

The goats now know that when I come to visit, I am bringing them veggie ends, peels and scrap food. Even though they are hanging out in the shade, they come running across the field with some encouragement and a flash of food!

Back at it..

Yesterday I started a batch of chèvre. I used the same recipe as last time, but this time I was hoping that I would be able to use the leftover whey to make some ricotta. The chèvre turned out great, but the ricotta did not. I am thinking that there may not be enough milk solids and proteins left in the whey of the goat milk to accommodate ricotta. I did get some fine curds but they were really fine...too fine to make anything substantial from. In fact, they went through 4 layers of cheese cloth.

So...for now...I have about 2 pounds of chèvre and no ricotta this time. I am going to drain the chèvre for an extra long time so that I get a denser product. I'll see what I have whenever I get home from work tonight. 

Looking forward to it....yum.

This town is too hot

Terry Hall, from The Specials, said it well. With heat in the 90s and no air conditioning, it is just too damn hot to make cheese this week. We are calling for cooler temps in the coming week, so I will be back at it then.

Ricotta success

Finally some successful ricotta...I just used a simple vinegar acid ricotta recipe this time. Next time, I am going to use the whey after I make chèvre to see if I can squeak out the ricotta from it.

Here is a picture. It looks gross in the pot, all curdled,  but after, you will see the final product.

The final product....

What is working

While I cross my fingers for some successful ricotta, I still have to celebrate some of the successes I have achieved.

My chèvre has consistently turned out excellent. I am using Flor Dancia as the culture, along with 1/4 teaspoon of calcium chloride, a couple of drops of double-strength vegetable rennet and a skewer tip or two of lipase powder (about 1/16 teaspoon). This all sits for a good 18 hours at 72 degrees. I find that after that long, the curd is set...very set...almost overset, as it is starting to develop cracks. That said, it is full of animal goaty goodness. I drain off a good chunk of the whey and then drain the curds in cloth for a good 10 hours or so. Oh...and I add about a teaspoon of salt to the curd at this time. I am going light on the salt and may increase it in my next batch so that the tang of the cheese comes out better.

Another crack at ricotta

Well....tonight I am going to attempt another try at ricotta. I am going to throw away all of my thoughts up to this point and start anew. I think that I am over-thinking the whole thing. Today will just a a simple ricotta. We'll see.

Until that time...here is another great picture of the goats.

Why?

I cannot seem to be able to get ricotta right. Why? This is supposed to be about the easiest cheese out there and it continues to be my nemesis.

Ricotta - Another try

So, I am going to give ricotta another try today. I am using the sous vide and some thermophilic culture to develop acidity. I also have some ph testing strips to help tell me when things are good to go. Instead of putting the milk into a pot to heat, I am going to keep it in the sous vide the whole time.  Wishing myself luck. Milk ph was 6.25 at the start. I am aiming for 5.75 to 5.9 before heating.

Chèvre Cooking

With the recent chèvre we made a focaccia bread and a quiche, plus we had some as an appetizer on Friday. There is still a good amount of cheese left. This batch was really tangy and held its own to other flavors.

Focaccia Toppings: Chèvre, marinated artichokes, tomatoes, pesto, preserved lemon

Chèvre  as an appetizer.  

A Llama?

The farm where we get our milk bought a llama. Their reason is that it keeps the coyotes away from the goats! Who would have thought that.

Starting over

So...after my series of setbacks (ricotta that didn't work and feta that went bad), it was time to start with straight forward chevre again. This time, however, I am not using the pre-measured packages of culture and rennet that I was before.

From making ricotta and feta, I have all of the raw ingredients to make chevre in a more economically and, long term, more sustaining and flexible way. I started with a gallon of milk heated to 86 degrees F, put in 1/8 teaspoon of Flor Dancia culture, a few drops of rennet and some calcium chloride. I also let the cheese "age" on this mixture for a full 18 hours, instead of the 12 hours I would before.

My....what a difference. The curd was better set than before and my initial thought was about how tangy the curds were. This morning I pull the cheese from draining (15 hours draining) and packaged it. The result is a much creamier and much more tangy version of chevre than I have made in the past. Things are looking up once again!

Goats Will Be Goats

The farm, where I get my milk, posted this great picture of the goats roaming free in the country. I am hoping that the move to natural foods, instead of alfalfa will make the milk more complex.

Square One

After a failed attempt at Ricotta a couple of weeks ago, I was a bit gun shy about cheese, but I need to get back on the goat, so to speak.

Also...while making some decent feta cheese, it appears that the ability to age is not what I had thought. I think that the curds need to be stiffer before forming in order for it to age the way I want it to. That said, I had one batch of feta go bad and another saved "just in time" from the brine that appeared to be killing it.

This week, I circle back to straight-up chèvre. I need to re-read some materials about acidity and temperature before I try to make anything more complex.

While starting out well, I think I cannot rush myself. You can't run before you can walk.

Taking a break this week

With a busy week and weekend, there will be no cheese this week. I also think I will need to invest in a PH meter, as the PH readings do play an important role in the cheese making procedure. Looking to get one at a reasonable price. That is the difficult part

Goats will be Goats

I have been in contact with Alain and Sylvie Audé recently. I hope to visit their farm again in October. They informed me that several hours after we left their farm, two goats escaped from the pen and found large bags of feed. The two goats ate and ate until they died from overeating!!!

I feel terrible for Alain and Sylvie, knowing that their life depends on healthy animals. But...goats will be goats.

Ricotta - Blinded Me With Science

Cheese Making is definitely not like cooking. There is no room for "gut feel" whenever it comes to making cheese.

My first batch of ricotta was excellent. My second was a total failure. As I go through this learning curve, I am finding out a few things:

• You cannot rush cheese
• You really have to pay attention to the science
• Don't make any assumptions

After aging the milk with a thermophilic starter for 4 hours, I poured the milk into a pot to heat it up. After 4 hours, the acid levels of the milk should have been just right for making ricotta. I thought this in the first batch I made also (aged for 3 hours...splitting the 2-4 hours recommended in the middle), but still had to add acid before my ricotta formed curds.

Figuring the 4h on the culture would be plenty, I went with that assumption on the second try. I heated the milk...got to 170 degrees, then 180....no curds...went to 190....no curds. Resorted to acidifying with vinegar....no curds. I then left the milk to sit...some curds formed, but they were whispy at best. 

Batch Ruined!

Learning from this fail:

• I need to be certain of the PH and leave the culture ripen until I reach the appropriate PH levels
• Don't heat the milk too fast. If I do, I run the risk of going over temperature too far and ultra-pasturizing before the curd has a chance to form.

I live, I learn.

Must be more patient! Must honor the science! (at least until I know what I am doing)

The Inspiration

I am writing this blog to document my journey in cheesemaking. I have long been interested in cheese and have entertained the thoughts of pursuing the production of goat cheese as a hobby and eventually, possibly, as a business in my later years.

That said, it was always just a thought. It wasn't until a trip to the Aveyron in France that I truly became inspired to take action. I met Alain and Sylvie Augé and their lovely farm and cheeses they market under the name Fromage Lou Cabrias. They took such care with the goats, allowing them to forage in the forests. It is a small production farm with just the two of them working it.  We were able to sample their cheeses and also visit the goats in the forest beside their farm.

They inspired me to try my hand at making raw milk goat cheeses.

Now, two years later, I am finally in a position where I can do so. This blog will document my journey as I learn, succeed and fail.