I just found out that a Mennonite family a couple miles from me have goats milk for sale.
I was wondering what kind of questions I should ask about the goats and the milk before
I buy some. I'll be going over tomarrow.I have been making cheddar,Colby and Parmesan
with raw and store bought cows milk.
Also what cheese I should make for my first try with it?
Ideas are welcome !!
Life is good...Amish raw cows milk for 2 dollars a gallon one mile form home, and raw
goats milk at ? dollars a gallon 4 miles from home. Ohio is a great state to live in!!!!! ;D
Good for you finding great local milk!
I have access to fresh goat milk also. My favorite cheeses for goat's milk are feta, blue, chevre, and a tomme that is half cow, half goat. My friend who has the goats, makes lots of cheddar, camembert and manchego.
Enjoy!
Pam
Thanks Pam I think we are going to start off with Feta then maybe Tomme,
I've been seaarching the form for Feta recipes and have found quite a few,
most seem to be made out of cows milk, are there any differences using goats milk ?
Would you mind posting your recipe?
Thank You Jaspar
I think classic chèvre or Crottin/St. Maure style cheese are easy, relaxed make, age quickly and very easy to consume. The yield is high too and it can be a great intro into the world of semi lactic cheese. I think it's the most cheese you can get for the effort. The learning curve with these is super quick.
Hi Jaspar;
I generally use the recipe from Fias Co (http://fiascofarm.com/dairy/feta.html) Farm with these changes:
I don't use lipase; I use MT1 or my own buttermilk as a starter.
I use 1/2t rennet for 2 gallons of milk and a floc multiplier of 4. (Use the directions on your rennet.)
I use whey to make the brine. This helps prevent the cheese from melting in the brine. (Save in fridge while the cheese is hardening.)
I "harden" my blocks of cheese in a container in the fridge.
I agree with Yoav that chevre is a great and useful cheese, very versatile and also freezes well.
Good luck.
Pam
Hi Jaspar,
When I picked a farm for my goat milk, here is what I paid attention to:
- Overall appearance of the goats (healthy? happy?)
- Feed of the goat
- Cleanliness of the farm
- Hygiene during the milking process
- Storage conditions of the milk
Hope that helps
- Helen
Good point from Pam above about Lipase. Goats' milk is naturally rich in lipase. Adding more would make it bitter and strange tasting.
Oh I use lipase in my Goat milk Feta and it is wonderful. I do not brine it though. After hanging and cutting it I sprinkle it with salt and allow it to air dry. Most people like the less salt approach.
Less salt is a lot like Bulgarian style feta. I would imagine lipase is ok for fresh cheese, but aging goat with it may be overwhelmingly peppery. I do make one aged goats cheese with lipase and I use it in a very gentle and specific way to get the desired effect.
Hi Jasper.
Congrats from me as well for having access to such great local milk, it's a real gift. Having read some of the archives of these forums I thought I'd point out a couple of things that stood out for me. The goat milk will have more "goaty" (i.e. stronger) taste to it:
1. The longer it takes to cool it down.
2. The more it is handled.
Few people actually prefer the stronger taste of goat milk, but probably most people prefer the milder, cow like flavor. Especially people who are just starting the whole goat milk journey. :) So if you would like to make sure that the milk is cooled as fast as possible you could maybe bring something like a container filled with ice into which you can place your milk that you are going to transport. In addition to that you can ask the farmers if there are ways of starting to chill the milk even sooner. Like for instance placing the milking pale into another vessel filled with ice water, or something like that.
Maybe other members will pitch in other/better ideas. :)
All the best.
I too used the fiasco farm recipe using raw goats milk, however I did add the lipase. It really depends on your taste, I found the amount recommended in the recipe to be too strong. If you choose to use it, I recommend starting with half the amount then adjust further makes. I make it now with pasture fed cows milk, no lipase, and it's selling great! While I do like a little lipase, your customers (or family) may not.
Wow, with quality milk like that available at those prices, you are in cheese making heaven! A)
We have made some Chevre and Feta. The temps have been in the 90s and our AC went out, so we have been spending allot of time in the pool. Now that the new air conditioning unit is in I hope to get Back to cheese making with gusto. Hoping to give cheese as gifts for the Holidays, gotta get to making.
Jaspar
Jaspar, you lucky bastard, you not only have great priced fresh cow's milk, you now have goat's. >:(
I will try harder to get a good texture out of my supermarket milk. >:( >:( :( (if there was a crying smiley, I would put that here to.)
Last time I tried goat's milk on a camembert, it turned out so wonderfull that I can't forget that taste and normal cow's milk camembert now tastes like raw musroom to me. Of course that was a supermarket goat's milk and it was expensive $4.30AU for a litre though I bought it 1 day to expiration and it was half price.
Goat milk requires immediate cooling after milking if you are not making cheese immediately. 4 degrees celcius is enough, otherwise (most producers I know of) rennet at milking temps.
Any cheese can be implemented with goat's milk but the recipe should be altered quite dramatically to produce same results. Normally requires a little bit more rennet, longer draining/pressing.
I would mix cow's and goat's milk half half and make feta, halloumi, bloomy types and may be even raclette.
i've read the type of goat and feed will make a bit of difference (definitely having access to grass).
the biggest difference will be made when the buck is allowed to be around the doe during during the period of time that she is milked (for instance, allowed to pasture together during the period she is giving milk). i'm saying this from reading, not experience. they say that that is one thing that will definitely turn people off to goat's milk and cheeses.
i've purchased Bucherolle, which ages from the outside in. it is crumbly and mild on the inside, and there is a border approx 1/2" around that is more ripe. the ripe area is a creamy, stronger, goaty-flavored cheese. i'm on the search right now to find out if that is just because it is goat's milk cheese, if it might have just been the particular goat/conditions, or if just a flavor of this cheese in general. it could just be the rind?
here is a picture from the cheese lady's site:
(http://thecheeselady.net/media/bucherolle.jpg)
i would love to get raw cow's milk for 2 bucks a gallon! the cheapest store milk in my area is 2.50/gallon. and so close to home!! that's awesome
It has really been great! We just opened a 5lb wheel of cheddar and it is truly unbelievable.
I thought that I've tried some great cheeses, but this is THE BEST CHEDDAR!!!!!
This was the last one that I waxed, as we open them from here out they will all be natural rind...
oooooooooo I can't wait, but i will
Jaspar
Now that we have a crying smiley I can cry all day long :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(
I tried to build a floc of goats for a herd share scheme but the real problem is milking. Some milking machines go for $1350 on Ebay and we need at least 10 people (may be more) to get the funding. Looks like I will never get a chance of getting my hands on raw goat or sheep milk. :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(
you can find them around at auctions, craiglist, etc.
we've got one.... errr... 6 or 7 :P
my dad kept finding them for cheap, couple of them for 25 bucks. i'm speaking of the milk buckets - surge brand milkers. i thought i had time, as our (his goat that he bought for my daughter) dwarf nigerian is about a month or so away from kidding, then they say you have to wait 2 weeks for the colostrum to clear out.
then he bought one that was milking, yesterday ::)
we've been milking by hand (which sucks), but not keeping, due to not having any other equipment (don't even have a stanchion, been milking her on a hay bale).
none of our milk buckets have been used in at least 10 years, so we need to get new leathers to rebuild the pulsator. also need to get the cleaning supplies to clean the equipment, new inflations (definitely can't use cow inflations on a dwarf nigerian :P )
anyway, you can find them around if you look in the right places. just be sure to find a seamless milk bucket. ours have the pulsators on the bucket, so it's just a matter of hoses, inflators and vacuum pump (we have a pump, too)
still, i don't think you can own a goat and milk it for 2 bucks a gallon. that's a steal!
4 bucks for the goat and 2 of the cows milk, sad thing is that I haven't had time to make cheese
we've been doing a lot of canning
Jaspar
Thanks Saltysteele, in Oz especially in Canberra, resources are very limited. If/when we get the goats, I am sure we will look into every resource that we can get a milking machine.
oh, okay. Gotcha! :)
I've got a couple soap-making friends down there, and their resources are limited, too.