Author Topic: Milk, Cow, Raw - WA Sources & Mixing With Store Pasteurized & Homogenized  (Read 6920 times)

Louise

  • Guest
I have found that as long as I use calcium, I have no problem making cheese out of store milk.  The two that I have aged for one month have been very good.  They were like a cross between a sharper cheddar and a Gouda I guess.  I am not very good at remembering the name of cheeses I have tasted so I can't compare very well.  I just keep using Fankhauser's basic cheese recipe and tweaking it to make a softer cheese or dryer or whatever I feel like making at the moment.  Today I used store milk to make Queso Blanco with garlic and herbs.  It was crumbly and tasty on my home made sourdough.   

Thanks for that  ;)

dthelmers

  • Guest
I made the cheese today with one gallon of raw Jersey milk, beautifully yellow, mixed with three gallons of P/H that I usually use. There was a very noticeable difference in the strength of the curd, almost as if I had used all raw milk. This cheese has a long pre-ripening, and it smells different than usual. More complex smell and flavor in the fresh curd. The yield in fresh curd was higher than normal; I barely fit it into my mold. so far so good! I'm hoping that I get a fuller, more complex flavor by adding the raw milk; but it was worth it just for the difference in the way the curd handles. I'll post back when it's time to taste it.
Dave in CT

DeepSix

  • Guest
I am dealing with trying to source raw milk at a decent price in Vancouver WA.  The best thing I have found is Dungeoness Valley Creamery.  If you pick up from the dairy in Squim in your own containers and buy at least 15 gallons, it is $3 per gallon.

I need to find someone who wants some raw milk down here in Vancouver so I can make the trip worth it.

Jason

linuxboy

  • Guest
Jason, milk in WA is pretty tough if you want it cheap. Several startups without herds are having sourcing challenges, so you're not alone. best bet is to try and make friends with a local farmer. Look on my site for the cheese trail map and talk to some of the locals down your way, like the folks in Camas, and see what they say. Not my part of the woods...

MrsKK

  • Guest
I really envy the folks here who have access to good quality, low-cost (or no-cost) raw milk. I'm thinking that's what I need to get my 87-year-old dad for Father's Day...a sweet-faced Jersey cow for his back yard.  ;)  Got to keep that coyote away though.  >:(

-Boofer-

I had to laugh when I read this...while I have my own cow, the milk is very far from being low-cost or no-cost.  I paid $350 for a six week old heifer and it was almost two years before we had any milk.  Feed and hay are far from inexpensive, there are daily chores, immunizations, vet bills, etc. 

I figure we had about $1100 invested in her before she freshened the first time.  You can buy an awful lot of milk for that.

Offline Boofer

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Lakewood, Washington
  • Posts: 5,015
  • Cheeses: 344
  • Contemplating cheese
I really envy the folks here who have access to good quality, low-cost (or no-cost) raw milk. I'm thinking that's what I need to get my 87-year-old dad for Father's Day...a sweet-faced Jersey cow for his back yard.  ;)  Got to keep that coyote away though.  >:(

-Boofer-

I had to laugh when I read this...while I have my own cow, the milk is very far from being low-cost or no-cost.  I paid $350 for a six week old heifer and it was almost two years before we had any milk.  Feed and hay are far from inexpensive, there are daily chores, immunizations, vet bills, etc. 

I figure we had about $1100 invested in her before she freshened the first time.  You can buy an awful lot of milk for that.
Just a bit of poetic license.... I'm not that naive to really believe it's low-cost/no-cost.

That same 87-year-old man and his wife (Mom) kept some three dozen ducks and two dozen geese a few years ago. The care and feeding of just those animals, along with their three dogs and six cats, was an eye-opener for me over the years. Then several years ago, while somewhat idle between careers in California, I had a fanciful notion to raise alpacas. My wife and I toured a half dozen ranches around San Jose and Simi Valley, talked with the owner-ranchers, and quietly tabled that flight of fantasy. It was somewhat of a pyramid scheme that required a boatload of cash.

I still hold onto the idea of saddling old Dad with a herd of goats though.  :)

-Boofer-
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

dthelmers

  • Guest

I had to laugh when I read this...while I have my own cow, the milk is very far from being low-cost or no-cost.  I paid $350 for a six week old heifer and it was almost two years before we had any milk.  Feed and hay are far from inexpensive, there are daily chores, immunizations, vet bills, etc. 

I figure we had about $1100 invested in her before she freshened the first time.  You can buy an awful lot of milk for that.

147 gallons, at the price I pay. Are you glad you did it? With the cost of feed and hay, vet bills, fence and stall repair, is it a cost savings for the milk? A cow produces a lot more milk than I could use, but if several people shared a cow, it could be would be more manageable. I'm intrigued by the idea of a family cow.
Dave in CT

Luckyksc

  • Guest
I went to Marlines today and got some raw milk, it was half off because I have to use it today.  So $5 a gallon (score!).  I bought two and used one to make mozzarella using the 30 min recipe.  The curds were amazing!  So thick and yellow.  I got about 30% more cheese then I do with the store milk and it tastes way more creamy.  It also has an almost buttery taste to it.  I am going to slice up some tomatoes and put slices of the mozzarella on it with olive oil and basil.  I am working on making a hard cheese with the other gallon.  Won't know how that turns out for a month.     

MrsKK

  • Guest
Of course I'm glad I did it!  I love my cow and love being able to drink milk again.  I get horribly sick from past/homogenized milk and hadn't used any other than for cooking for nearly 15 years before the cow was in milk.  It isn't all outgo, though.  She raises up a couple of extra calves for us each year and I don't typically milk every day because the calves are able to take enough (once they are big enough) that I can skip milking for a couple of days at a time.  Of course, that means that I don't get much cream and I haven't made much cheese lately, but my time has been occupied elsewhere anyway.

However, even with that, the milk from my cow is more expensive for me than buying it in the store.  I'm not doing it to save money, but to be healthier.  Also to raise healthier beef for my family to eat.  The extra milk and they whey get fed to our pigs and chickens, too, so no milk is ever wasted around here.

In the state of Wisconsin, it is illegal for people to share ownership of a cow and share the milk from her.  Sad state of affairs in the "Dairy State".

Offline Boofer

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Lakewood, Washington
  • Posts: 5,015
  • Cheeses: 344
  • Contemplating cheese
Sad state of affairs in the "Dairy State".
Good on you, Karen.

There are no doubt lots of people on this forum and, more broadly, around the globe who wish to be able to enjoy more wholesome, less-processed foods, including raw milk products. If only those folks were a majority in their respective governments so that the governments would get out of the way and let their people consume raw milk products.

-Boofer-
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

mrsick44

  • Guest
LB you mentioned a chart with a trail of good milk sources in WA but I dont see the link or attachment. Did I miss something? In any respect, do you know of any good milk sources in eastern WA? Im in the Tri-Cities.
Thanks in advance.

linuxboy

  • Guest
I was talking about the map, but those are commercial makers. Not sure if any would sell fluid milk.
Cheesemakers on the Washington Cheese Trail - Google Maps

What kind of milk do you need? Cow? Goat? Raw? Pasteurized?