Any good goat's cheese recipes??

[Shirley]

We are trying one at the moment - lemon cheese... a soft cheese but it doesn't show any signs of curdling... heated to the temperature required and lemon juice added as per the recipe... cooled... no curds. Any idea why?? Remedies?? More lemon juice/more heat?

Any recipes/techniques gratefully received.

[Luath]

I make goat's cheese like this:

Heat your milk to blood heat, whisk in 1 tbsp matural yoghurt - I usually use cow's milk yoghurt as that;s what I usually ahve. Leave to cool, the add a few drops of Vegeren (vegetarian rennet); cover, leave to separate into curds and whey, drain in muslin, then finish as required.
Gives a softish cheese, you can add herbs, garlic, etc.

I've never tried it with lemon juice. That's probably not too helpful, sorry

[Shirley]

It's a lot of use - thanks :D

Now is probably a good time to ask about rennet... I see vegetarian rennet a lot... and sometimes it says that it is derived from GM... I don't want GM near any of the food I eat.. is the one you use GM free???

We added more lemon juice and it's worked!! Proof obviously in the eating.. will let you know :D

[ina]

Shirley, I've got a book on cheesemaking, I'll bring it along next time!

In France, we sometimes used buttermilk as a starter (if I remember correctly), added straight after milking. Then pretty soon the milk was filled into larger containers, where the rennet ("real" rennet) was added. It was left in a warm cupboard for around 24 hours - sometimes it took longer than that for the curds to form. We used un-pasteurised milk, which can be a bit dodgy at times.

[Shirley]

Ina.. thanks...

We are using the raw milk... we haven't got a pasteuriser.

[Luath]

I use Vegeren from Just Wholefoods; I buy it from the wholesale supplier Iuse, but you can get it easily in helath food shops and supermarkets.

On the box:

Ingredient: mucor miehei - fully food aproved milk clotting enzyme

This product ahs not been geneticaaly modified

Usage - for cheese making, add 10 drops of VegeRen to 1 pint warm mil (32C/90F) and proceed as per your recipe

this carton is made from recycled cardboard

This product has been developed to be sued with pasteurised full fat cow's milk.

Hope this helps.

[Shirley]

It does...

Many thanks Luath

[Chickpea]

Not cheese but here's a goat's milk soap recipe I call "Oaty Goat":

11oz solid vegetable fat (such as Pura)
21oz coconut oil
15.75oz goat's milk
5.5oz sodium hydroxide
3oz fine oatmeal
(all measurements so far by weight - I don't mean fluid ounces in your measuring jug. I mean ounces on your scale. And accuracy matters. If you can't measure to within 1/2oz don't make soap until you can get a better scale)
4 teaspoons essential oil or oils of your choice. I like geranium and ylang-ylang or bergamot. Or just leave the soap unscented - perhaps this is even the best way, fresh soap smells gorgeous all by itself.

1. Place the fat and oil in a large stainless steel or enamel pot. Don't use cast iron or aluminium, only stainless steel or enamel. Heat the oils until they are melted then remove from the heat.

2. Pour the milk into a large plastic of glass jug. Wearing goggles and rubber gloves add the sodium hydroxide and stir until dissolved. It will turn orange and look curdled and horrible. Don't panic. It's supposed to. Your soap will be lovely. Trust me.

3. Place a jam thermometer in the milk/sodium hydroxide mixture and put it somewhere very safe from being knocked over by the cat, the kids, your husband (yourself?). Get your mould ready (e.g. a 2 litre ice-cream box, a couple of washed out 1 litre fruit juice cartons with the tops cut off or a couple of washed out Pringles cans). Measure out your essential oils and oats because you won't have time later. Keep checking the temperature of the milk/sodium hydroxide mixture.

4. When the temperature is about 50 - 55 degrees C (could take about an hour to cool down) put your gloves and goggles back on and add it to the oils.

5a - the patient way: Every five or ten minutes put on your goggles and gloves and give the mixture a damn good stir with a wooden spoon kept solely for soaping. Check for "trace", which may take around 30 - 60 minutes - see step 6.

5 b - the impatient way: Get out your stick blender and whizz that mother for less than five minutes until "trace" - see step 6.

6. The soap will thicken. When it gets to the point when a ribbon of soap trickled off the spoon into the pan stands up as a visible line on the surface of the soap for a few seconds before sinking back in, that is called "trace" and it means you've got to move fast. Add your oatmeal and essential oils and give a good stir by hand. Don't use your stick blender this time or you will end up with a pan full of solid soap you'll never be able to get out.

7. Move it! You've got to get this soap in the moulds quickly before it sets solid. Pour the soap into the moulds - one of those rubber spatulas is good for getting all the soap out. Tap the mould gently a couple of times to make the top level, and then wrap it up will with old towels of blankets for insulation (helps the saponification process) and put it somewhere it can stay undisturbed for about 24 hours.

8. Washing up - keep your gloves on (and your goggles if you're paranoid) whilst washing up. The fresh soap is very caustic and can burn you if you get it on your skin. You'll need more detergent than you usually use, but if you have plenty of detergent and hot hot water you can get everything spanking clean and don't need to worry about using the same pans, jugs etc for food in future. I do.

9. The soap may smell bad. Don't worry. It needs to "cure" for a month before you can use it anyway, and the smell will fade away in that time leaving just a lovely soapy smell.

10. After 24 hours it's gloves on again (don't need the goggles this time) to demould the soap. If you used juice cartons or Pringles tins the easiest thing is just to cut into them a little with scissors and then rip the cardboard away. If you used an ice cream box you should be able to tip it upside down and ease the soap out. Now using a sharp knife or a cheese wire cut the soap into blocks however you like. I'd reckon on getting 12 good-sized bars out of a batch this size.

11. Lay out the bars of soap on something like a piece of cardboard or wood, cover with an old blanket and leave it for 4 weeks before using. I'm not kidding. The sodium hydroxide hasn't all reacted with the oil yet and your soap is still very caustic. If you used it straight away you'd take all the skin off your hands. It will also dry out a lot and harden in the 4 weeks. But in a month you will have a real treat - beautiful mild hand-made soap with a slightly scrubby texture and a fresh smell.

Let us know how you get on.

[Shirley]

Thank you so much for all of that. I will have to buy some decent scales first... they've been on the cards for a while anyway!!

Will make it with the local oatmeal too!!

Love the name Oaty Goaty :)