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| Recipes & Notes |
| Giving the goats baking soda, free-choice, especially during lactation, makes all the difference in the flavor of the milk. |
| Tidbits we learned the hard way: |
| For basic cheese recipes we recommend Mary Jane Toth's Goats Produce, Too!. The recipes are all good and the instructions are easy to follow. My favorite is Quick Mozzarella using citric acid. It's great on pizzas and lasagnas. . Mary Jane's recipes for cheese spreads using her basic soft cheese recipe, French Style Chevre, are all delicious, especially the French Onion Pepper variation. |
| Quick Mozzerella from Goats Produce, Too! |
| 1 gal milk 1 1/4 tsp citric acid powder 1/4 tsp liquid rennet or 1/8 rennet tablet 1/2 cup cool water, divided in half In a stainless or enamel pot, place the cool milk. Dissolve the citric acid powder into 1/4 cup cool water and add to the milk. stir well. Bring the temperature of the milk to 88 degrees. Mix the rennet with the other 1/4 cup of cool water and stir into the milk about 10 seconds. Allow the milk to set at 88 degrees for 15 minutes to coagulate. After setting for 15 minutes., the curd should be firm and when you dip your finger into the curds they will break cleanly over your finger and whey will fill the depression where your finger has been. Cut into 1 inch cubes and let it rest for 10 minutes. Then place the pot of curds into a sink of very hot water and slowly bring the temperature up to 108 degrees. Curds will shrink during this process. Keep the curds at 108 degrees for 35 minutes. Drain the curds into a colander for 15 minutes. |
| When curds have drained, they are ready to be heat treated to get their stretch: Microwave method: Break up a cupful of curds into a microwave safe plate or bowl. Add salt to taste, or about 1 tsp per pound of cheese. Place the curds in the microwave and heat on high for 50 seconds. Take out and work the cheese with a spoon, much like kneading the cheese. Place the cheese cheese back into the microwave and heat on high for another 25 seconds. Remove from microwave and again work with a spoon to stretch and shape the cheese. Work into a soft ball shape with the hands and allow to cool. Cheese will become opaque and shiny. Wrap in plastic wrap or freeze for later. Cheese will keep about 2 weeks in the refrigerator. |
| Is your milk is goaty tastin' ? Well, welcome to the club, that is until we stumbled on the reason why ours was unpalatable. Now, our milk smells like vanilla ice cream when it hits the milk bucket! |
| This little trick was discovered by accident, and it's made using fresh eggs a lot less frustrating. . . as fresh eggs do NOT peel easily when boiled. However, if you start the water boiling; THEN add the eggs; the shells will slide off easily. |
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