[Kevin67]

...ours is a relationship in which we discuss everything and both have to be happy with our decisions.

That sounds like my wife - she tells me I'm happy with her decision! 

I'm betting I have a go at cheese-making some time this year; I can't wait!

[surbie100]

Kate, those cheeses look just amazing. You're definitely getting me thinking it's something I could do small scale.

Though I'd buy the milk - you can't keep goats on half a north-facing balcony! 

[Mrs Bee]

Kate, those cheeses look just amazing. You're definitely getting me thinking it's something I could do small scale.

Though I'd buy the milk - you can't keep goats on half a north-facing balcony! 

You could try.

[Kate and her Ducks]

I certainly do think that it is something that can be done small scale. I'm the proof!

If you do decide to have a go with goats milk really try to find someone you can buy fresh milk from, the stuff you buy in the supermarket is foul! And at £1.60/l pretty expensive. It takes about a gallon of milk to make a pound of cheese!

[Kate and her Ducks]

We are having baked potatoes with ricotta for tea and there will still be loads of ricotta left so I am making the rest into ricotta salata so it doesn't go to waste. It's dead easy and means 3 cheeses from just the one batch of milk.

The ricotta is put into muslin lined moulds and then pressed with a gentle weight (I've popped 3lb on). I'll undress, flip and redress it tomorrow morning and repeat in the evening. It's then rubbed with salt and flipped daily for a few days and then aged in the (normal) fridge for a couple of days to up to 4 weeks. The recipe I have suggests rubbing it with salt on 7 days but I found that far too salty so did it for 2 which wasn't salty enough so am going to go for 4 this time 

[devonbarmygardener]

I wish I liked goats cheese but I can't bear it!
Great photos of the process though Kate

[Debz]

Great thread and the photos make it easy to understand the process.  Not sure it's something I will try in the near future but I'm still finding it very interesting to read about.  I love all the creative endeavours on this site.