[sunshineband]

I saw those kits and nearly bought one for my SIL, but wondered how good it was... ended up buying him a smoker to use outside.

Love to know how you get on with it please, Surbie

Will let you know - it would help if OH didn't keep drinking the milk I buy to make it with...

 

[Steveharford]

I'm also allergic to cheese. It makes me drink loads of red wine or port.  Very strange.

[Kate and her Ducks]

I'm also allergic to cheese. It makes me drink loads of red wine or port.  Very strange.

 

[Kate and her Ducks]

OK, so this is the steps for the cheese I am making this afternoon. Will take photos as I go along.

Step 1.
First milk your goat!

This is Rosie who is my best milker and a lovely, lovely goat. She is also herd Queen.



If I need a lot of milk for a big cheese I save up over a few days and freeze it if longer than a couple of days (or if I am too busy).

[Kate and her Ducks]

Step 2.

Heat the milk to required temperature. Because todays cheese can be eaten young I tend to pasteurise the milk first (and one of my friends who has cheese off me is pregnant so she can still eat it).

Once at temp the starter culture is added and left for an hour (can be longer or shorter depending on the cheese)



Step 3.

Once the milk has ripened the rennet is added and the milk is left to set.

[Kate and her Ducks]

Step 4.

Once the milk has achieved a "clean break" -



It's cut into 1cm cubes. Not sure how well this shows on the pic but here goes.

[Kate and her Ducks]

Step 5.

The curds are then gradually heated over 40 mins while stirring. This means that more whey (liquid) is expelled from the curds (solids) which shrink down and become firmer.



[/URL[URL=http://s292.photobucket.com/user/katemerriman/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsnhdoi0nk.jpg.html]

[LotuSeed]

This is really fascinating!!!

[Kate and her Ducks]

The curds are then allowed to settle to the bottom of the pan. The whey is then decanted off the top to expose the curds. I put mine into another big pan to make ricotta (more on that later).

[Kate and her Ducks]

The curds are then stirred for 20 mins at the same temp until they start to clump together when squeezed in your hand. Once they have started to do this they are strained through muslin (I try and save this whey too) and salt is added.



The curds are then put into a perforated mould lined with more muslin with a follower (lid) on top. This means that I can then put it into the press (or just put weights on top) to express more of the whey and form the smooth paste (interior) of the cheese.





(Please ignore the mess in the background!)

The funny thing is the composition of the milk changes with the seasons. I had read that the butterfat content increases in the winter but didn't really realise by how much. I can see tiny droplets of fat on the surface that I could never see in summer and using the same amount of milk as would about 3/4 fill this mould with curds now fills it to overbrimming! They do however produce much less milk in the winter Based on my very limited experience of 2 goats over 8 months! ).

I flip the cheese and redress with muslin after an hour or so and then the cheese will be pressed overnight.

[Kate and her Ducks]

And on to the ricotta.

As all the books say, As everyone knows, ricotta means cooked again, which always makes me feel a bit inferior as I didn't know that! But it does! And the recooking is of the whey.
The whey is then reheated and the whey proteins (apparently very good for you!) are precipitated out of solution and can be scooped off.





So two cheeses for the price of one! Or three if you then do something else with the ricotta.

[snowdrops]

How fascinating Kate, thank you for taking the time to share. How long does it all take from beginning to end? It must take some planning to ensure you can go through all the stages in between working & life etc. I've been to Hawes & round the cheese 'factory' there but I certainly didn't get the feel for it that that has given me 

[Annen]

Thank you Kate, good photos and very interesting.  I have made cottage cheese, and once made proper cheese, but I didn't have the equipment, so didn't take it further.
How do you make your starter culture?

[Kevin67]

I just wanted to say a very heartfelt "Thank You" for sharing this with us. I haven't posted anything up to now as I was learning from this simply brilliant thread. I suspect there's rather a lot of 'lurkers', both guests and members, who have also enjoyed this process; I'm certainly inspired to have a go myself!

Thank you, Kate! Please do continue!

(And we love the photos!)

[Mrs Bee]

Oh wow! That was incredible interesting. Thank you for sharing. Can't wait to see the finished cheese.

I wonder if Mr Bee will let me have a goat............

I didn't see any mess in the background, just useful equipment.