So, I am new to this, but have a good recipe for chevre and have made it successfully several times now, due in part to the great advice I received here. I had a funny thing happen today though. This batch sat for about 30 hours, then I drained off whey and it sat and dripped in colander for another 2 days. Yet, when I took it out today, it was firm and looks exactly like a very thick slice of baby swiss.
Any ideas of what happened? I tasted just a tiny corner and it does taste a lot like baby swiss as well. I think we'll eat it (what the heck, might as well) but I am very curious about what made this happen and if it is good, how I do it again!
Thanks for any help you can lend!
Can you please post your recipe and any more details about the make process, such as temps and size?
Sounds like it started to ferment to get the holes in it like that. I imagine sitting for 30 hours and maybe some of your milk might have been off a bit to have that happen. I have had batches of chevre ferment occasionally when I have used someone else's goat milk to show them how to make chevre. I am a real stickler about how I take care of my goat's milk, but sometimes you get a batch of milk with some new bacteria and it takes off. I have always dumped that batch of chevre because it smells sour and just looks like a science experiment gone bad :-).
Do you think there is anything wrong with eating it? It actually tasted ok.
No, I guess if you liked the flavor - dig in! The bad batches of chevre I have had in the past were spongy and full of holes and smelled sour. Didn't look tasty so I didn't even try them - I think my chickens enjoyed it though ;-).
Bonnie