goat milk addition to parmesan?

[MarkShelton]

I am thinking about making a parmesan and I've seen many references to adding some goat milk (up to 50%) to get a "sharper" flavor. Has anyone done this? I assume its akin to using lipase to pure cow's milk. I have lipase, but the goat milk is something I would like to try, but I have a few questions/concerns:

• The only goat milk I have access to is supermarket (homogenized, ultra-pasteurized) and I have grave concerns that it will interfere with the curd set, if not ruin the entire batch.
• Can I use both goat milk and lipase, or stick to one or the other?
• What should the ratio of cow to goat milk be? What is the flavor effect of using more or less goat-to-cow milk? (i.e. is it 'goaty' like supermarket chevre?)

I gladly welcome all tips and suggestions, not only to the goat milk issue, but proper starter, methods, etc that you all may have to offer.

[Captain Caprine]

Hi Mark,
I make 100% goat parm all the time but I have fresh whole goat milk.  I would worry about using anything ultra-pasteurized and homogenized for home cheese making.  I do use lipase when for a nice sharp cheese. The goaty taste you refer to is the result of low quality milk.  With good quality properly handled milfk you should not have the goatyness you refer to even with 100% goat.
Good luck and let us know how it work out for you.
CC

[MarkShelton]

I thought I was going to have a source of free, fresh, goat milk...
My sister-in-law's brother is a shepherd (which is kinda funny because he has long brown hair and a goatee that makes him look like the American depictions of Jesus) and the farmer he herds sheep for bought some goats. Apparently the goats didn't get along with the sheep, so they stayed at my sister-in-law's parents until a building was erected for them. Unfortunately, none of us had any experience milking any kind of animal, so after what amounted to about 20 min of molesting this poor goat we gave up. Now they're back with the owner. 
If that had worked out, it would have been my first choice. Less is more when it comes to processing milk to get a quality product. While I wouldn't even try to make cheese out of any type of ultra-pasteurized milk, I'm still wondering if it can be used to any extent as an adjunct to flavor the cheese.

[DeejayDebi]

I read somewhere - I think maybe here that in small quanities it won't hurt. Such as adding a 1 bottle of cream  to a camembert.  I also read that goats milk is naturally homogenized so ... I small amount probably wouldn't hurt anything.