Dairy Goats

If you want an easy way to have your very own dairy animals, you may want to consider dairy goats.  All you need to keep your family in milk are two female who have kidded (otherwise they won't have milk).

Your biggest consideration, however, is time.  Goats must be milked morning and evening.  You can't skip a milking.

If you think that keeping goats is a distinct possibility for you, then I want to encourage you to take that step. Goats are good natured, gentle, and relatively easy to care for. They don't take as much room or feed as a cow would. Best of all, they love spending time with humans.  They are as faithful and gregarious as a dog.

What can you do with goat milk? Obviously, you can drink it, and for those who are lactose intolerant, you'll be glad to hear that goat milk is often tolerated by people who are lactose intolerant. Goat milk does contain lactose, but many people are able to tolerate it.

This means you can have milk, yogurt, ice cream, cream, and cheese all made from goat milk. 

Making basic cheese is a pretty simple process, and is a long honored tradition of taking the nutritional value of the milk and putting it in a form that is more easily stored. We'll be looking into some of the cheesemaking techniques in upcoming posts for you to try at home.

What type of goat should you get?  If at all possible, visit people who keep goats and become acquainted with them, their size, personalities, and to see first-hand the kind of work that will be involved.  During your visit, talk to them about the variety of goat they keep, and ask them why.

What you'll find is that there are a couple of breeds that are best for dairy production, among them are the Nubians which are considered to be the very best dairy goat because their milk has an exceptional butterfat content.  Another really good dairy goat is the  La Mancha goat.

However, any goat that kids will provide milk, and if you fall in love with a completely different variety, you'll make it work, but you'll find that their milk production tapers off more dramatically than that of a good milk goat.

Need helping locating a goat breeder?  Go to Goat Finder for help.  For more information, please see my article in Acreage Life Magazine.

The Raw Milk Question

I'm actively engaged in my cheesemaking education.  This is an endlessly fascinating subject, and will certainly be the focus of a number of posts in the future.  However, I'm running into questions about what kind of milk to use (and I don't mean sheep vs. goat vs. cow milk).

The most common question is, "Should I use raw milk to make my cheese?"

Ideally, raw milk is the very best raw material for cheesemaking.  However, unless you have your own dairy animals, getting raw milk isn't as easy as it sounds.  In fact, it has become something of an underground movement because the government has stepped in to regulate the dairy industry to keep our milk supplies safe for overall consumption.

Unfortunately, the government may not have taken everything into consideration.  They believe that pasteurization and homogenization will make our milk supply safer.  Proponents of raw milk consumption maintain that the very act of drinking raw milk makes each individual more able to withstand disease and illness.

David E. Gumpert wrote The Raw Milk Revolution, shown here, that looks deeply into the issue of total control over our food supplies.  Are we really ready to give up all our freedoms in this way?  I didn't realize how important and critical an issue this was until I started into my cheesemaking foray.

We'll handle questions about your best milk source for your cheesemaking endeavors.  Briefly, you can make cheese out of milk you buy in the grocery store.  However, if you have the opportunity, you may want to try raw milk cheese, following all safe food preparation techniques.

I don't want to overshadow our cheesemaking adventures with this debate, but I can't, in good conscience, completely ignore the issue.

I am wondering if I can convince my homeowner's association that two dairy goats really are "pets"...I'm not holding out much hope.  I might just have to move to a different neighborhood!

Homemade Mascarpone Cheese

I'm on a roll here folks.

Once I figured out that making ricotta cheese was easy, I set about looking for answers to my other "cheesemaking" questions...and here's another seriously easy cheese for you to make.

Start with 2 cups of heavy whipping cream in the top of a double boiler.   If you don't have a double boiler, use a pan of water on the stove and a stainless steel bowl that will fit into the pan and touch the water. Bring the water in the pan to a boil.

Place the bowl of heavy whipping cream over the boiling water.

Whisk gently until your cream reaches 120 degrees (Fahrenheit).  You don't want to do this fast, it should take 15 - 20 minutes.

Whisk in 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice (don't use the stuff in a bottle, please...) Continue to gently whisk over the heat until the cream reaches 180F.  Everything will thicken and coat a spoon. Cook for an additional 5 minutes, then remove the bowl from the pan and place it on a cooling rack for 20 minutes.

Once it has cooled, pour the mixture through a strainer lined with 4 - 6 layers of cheesecloth. You can also use a coffee filter instead.  Because you will be straining overnight in a refrigerator, your strainer needs to fit inside a bowl, and the entire contraption has to find room in your fridge! Cover it with plastic wrap.  I place it directly on top of the "cheese" so minimize any oxidation.  Once the cheese has drained to your satisfaction, store it for up to 4 - 5 days.

Quick use: Mix half a cup of mascarpone cheese, half a cup of parmesan cheese, add a pinch of Marjoram, salt, and pepper, spread over sliced Italian bread, broil until golden, and you have yummy crostini!  Perfect for serving with soup or just a glass of wine.

OR!!!

You can immediately make tiramisu...that's the next post...stay tuned!

Homemade Ricotta Cheese

I'm all about finding things that I can make at home.

Part of the motivation behind the hunt is simply to take the mystery out of things.

Today's find is how to make homemade ricotta cheese.  You can use ricotta in lasagne, on pizza, in stuffed shells (remember my trick of putting pumpkin in with it!) on bagels, on top of baked potatoes...and the list really does go on...cheesecake...

Here is one link from Eggs on Sunday blog where she makes ricotta cheese using whole milk, cream, salt, and lemon juice. Browse through her blog and find ricotta cheesecakes, and ricotta stuffed mushrooms.  Yum!

Then I heard that you can make ricotta cheese from milk and buttermilk. This is not quite how ricotta is traditionally made, which is made from the whey that is left over after making cheese, like buffalo mozzarella or pecorino.  Because most of us don't have the luxury of these raw ingredients, and it is easier than most cheesemaking techniques (except making yogurt cheese) so you should try it at least once.

Keep in mind that your cheese will taste and smell like the milk products you use to make it with, so use fresh milk and buttermilk. Consistency is fully controllable as well.  For softer cheese that is creamier, watch carefully and stop draining as soon as you reach the desired consistency.  For drier ricotta, drain it for another 10 to 15 minutes.

Mix equal quantities of whole milk and buttermilk.  If you want to make 4 cups of cheese, use one gallon of each.  For two cups of cheese, use half a gallon of each.

Mix both milks in a stainless steel pan with a thick bottom and put over med to med-hi heat. Stir frequently so the milk doesn't scorch, stopping once the milk becomes hot the curds will rise to the surface.

While the milk is heating, line a colander with 5 - 6 layers of cheesecloth and place it over a large bowl, or you can use the sink if it is more convenient. (You'll make less of a mess.)

At 175 degrees, the curds and whey will separate. Carefully ladle the curds from the pan into the lined colander.  Be fairly gentle with this process. You'll discard the remainder of the whey.

Gather the cheesecloth edges together and gently squeeze from the top, but don't squeeze the cheese directly. Drain until you have reached the desired texture for your homemade ricotta cheese.  Store in the fridge in an airtight container.  Use within 5 days.

I'm curious to know what you've decided to use your fresh ricotta on!