Home made cheese?

[Jeremy brua]

Anyone make their own cheese here? With nothing to grow this time of year I decided that I'm going to try making cheese. I am curently gathering up all the stuff I will need. Does anyone have any tips or recipies?[/u]

[ElizabethB]

Jeremy - you must be reading my mind I have been looking at recipes on line. Goat cheese and other soft cheeses appear to be very easy to make requiring very few ingredients and no high tech gizmos. Just some fresh milk and cheese cloth. Herbs if you want it flavored. Haven't tried it yet but it is on my to do list. Would love to hear the result of your endeavors.

[Jeremy brua]

this is the best site I have found so far, https://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/ch ... gal_00.htm

good luck! I will try and post the outcome of my adventure.

[Ozark Lady]

I milk goats, almost year round, and some years it is year round.
I also have experimented with making cheese, yogurt and kefir.
I have had varying results and discovered some of it was: stage of lactation of the animal, and whether I pasteurized the milk or not... some things are better with raw milk, and some things just don't work out right unless you pasteurize to kill the wild bacteria.
It is fun to make the simple cheeses, and don't forget about making your own butter that is fun to do too.
I will have to look up some links for products that you might need if you advance to tougher cheeses, and I do remember that my first book was by Ricki Carroll. You can google her.

Try it, it is fun... and it does use up a lot of excess milk, which I often have to find something to do with!

[digitS']

I'm not going to be of much help but just thought I'd add something to the "excess milk" idea. Milk must be a morning theme in my reading since I was just, again, reading about lactose intolerance/tolerance.

During a couple of times in my life, making good use of excess milk was a reality. Maybe, we should all have it so good . One use I found for it was making cheese for the livestock, including my cats & dogs. It was a very simple process for me and I just followed the instructions available on Junket rennet boxes. (I'm not quite sure if the simple directions I followed are on their website but, I assure you, they were the very simplest, if they are.)

This wasn't cheese for my consumption. Mostly, I wanted it for my flock of laying hens and it really worked very well. They produced eggs like crazy!

We also made butter from the cream skimmed from the gallons & gallons of fresh milk we had when I was growing up on the farm. There was a square gallon jar with a crank-turned paddle.

These days, I make tofu now and then. Hey, that's just about the same as cheese! . . . vegetarian cheese .

Steve

[lorax]

Ozark Lady, wasn't there a thread kicking around somewhere with recipes in it for the simple cheeses - to wit, Chevre, Queso Fresco, and Mozzarella, as well as Ricotta? I seem to recall having posted them at some point....

[prettygurl]

This was first venture into the cheesemaking world. It is a salty mexican topping cheese. Easy as pie. Warning: Cheesemaking is highly addictive.

https://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/view?recipeID=214

[Ozark Lady]

I honestly don't recall, but it seems likely that there might be some recipes for cheeses in the recipes section.

If all 6 of my does come into milk this year, I will definitely be back into cheese making = big time. I milked one doe through for 18 months... I don't like breeding annually. I like to rotate who is in milk, and try to stage them so that I have differing lactation points.

I do remember that simply warming milk, and adding lemon juice or vinegar will cause the milk to curdle and when you drain the whey you can have a very simple 'cream cheese like' cheese, not much equipment or work to make that. Then you simply flavor it up a bit with onion bits, salt and/or herbs etc. and enjoy. Next I would say, try out mozzarella it is likely the next easiest or perhaps frying cheese.

My animals definitely got to try out cheeses that I didn't like the way they turned out, and homemade butter (it goes rancid quickly since it has no preservatives in it) and the whey from cheese making... all work great.

Added bonus the whey is very good for your plants! And it fights fungus on your plants!
Frying cheese is odd, it doesn't melt, and it almost has no flavor, you marinade it and it picks up whatever flavor you would like for it to have.

[Jeremy brua]

Do you have to milk goats twice a day or just once?

[DoubleDogFarm]

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/v ... b3f8d13160

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/v ... sc&start=0

Eric

[jal_ut]

One use I found for it was making cheese for the livestock, including my cats & dogs.

Why waste the rennet? Dogs, cats, and chickens will drink whole milk.

There were times when we kept a cow. Yes there was often more milk than we could use fresh. We did make cheese. Once you get into it there is a lot of things to experiment with. Get some literature on cheese making and study up a bit.

Cottage cheese is the easiest thing to make. Requires no press nor long curing time.

[jal_ut]

Do you have to milk goats twice a day or just once?

Twice.

[DoubleDogFarm]

I keep thinking it would be good to have a goat, but I don't like the idea of one of anything. So it would be two goats. In order to get milk you need a pregnant or recently pregnant goat. Then to deal with the kids.

What I really want is Tamworth pig. The excess milk from the goats would go to the pigs Yes pigs, because I don't like the idea of one of anything.

See where this is going.

Eric

[gumbo2176]

I keep thinking it would be good to have a goat, but I don't like the idea of one of anything. So it would be two goats. In order to get milk you need a pregnant or recently pregnant goat. Then to deal with the kids.

What I really want is Tamworth pig. The excess milk from the goats would go to the pigs Yes pigs, because I don't like the idea of one of anything.

See where this is going.

Eric

There is a story in the Bible about a guy that had animals---2 of each. You trying to tell us something???

[DoubleDogFarm]

There is a story in the Bible about a guy that had animals---2 of each. You trying to tell us something???

No ah, No I'm not, but that's funny.

Eric

[digitS']

One use I found for it was making cheese for the livestock, including my cats & dogs.

Why waste the rennet? Dogs, cats, and chickens will drink whole milk. . . .

James, I was really trying to put everything on as much of a milk diet as possible. It was years ago but I remember before I began making the simple cheese, the critters (chickens, everything) all had the dire rear.

Mom used to use rennet for desserts and so it was something I was familiar with. And, the desserts were really good! I have no idea why I didn't think to use vinegar but I may not have known its effect. Rennet tablets are not expensive but it has been years.

Steve

[Ozark Lady]

Number of milkings per day are variable.

I am currently milking once a day. I have 2 that are still producing, and one very pregnant doe. 1 is dry, now, and 2 doelings that I hope are not bred at all, yet. (Unfortunately, I think that I removed a buckling a little too late, since the very pregnant doe was only exposed to him! She was the 18 month milker, the others either had babies or were babies, hence, she was the one most likely to get bred, by his "amorous" actions. You can't trust 3 month old bucks, and 5 month old does will breed, I have 10 month old mothers! All books say to remove the bucklings by 5 months, and that they don't produce before that... ahem?)

It is very common to milk as many as 3 times a day in the early weeks after the doe gives birth, it depends on various factors: How much the doe produces, how much the kids eat, and other options: feed, time of year etc.

Dairy goats have been bred to 'produce' they make a lot more milk than their kids can consume... varies by breed and animal. But, you don't know how things are going to go, so you start out checking your doe every 4-6 hours and gradually figure out how often you need to milk.

I have had does have twins, the kids nurse well and grow well, and the mother still produce almost a gallon per day over and above what was used by the kids.

I have also had does produce too little milk for their kids, and have to borrow some milk from another doe to cover the shortage.

This will be my 27th year of continuously raising and milking dairy goats.
I have learned to expect the unexpected when dealing with live animals!

I adore my goats, like the milk, and even my ducks love a treat of an extra bucket of fresh warm milk!

Before anyone asks: How much will one goat make? That is too variable to even conceive an idea. You can get a line of goats that are historically huge producers, and they will give a minimum of a gallon per day.

Then, you have average goats... roughly about a gallon... varies...
And you have crossbred... sometimes hybrid vigor will give lots of milk, but later crossings, you may only get a cup of milk per day, and have to help feed the baby goats.

Then you have: age of animal, feed, time of year (greens help milking), frequency of milking (the more you milk the more they make up to a point),
there is even daily variances, some days a goat might give a gallon, the next day be in the mood to give 5 quarts and then pop in with a 3 quart day!
Stress of any type can decrease milk... temperatures, fighting, fright, illness, injury, change of diet, even milking at a different time of day.

Also they are now coming out with mini-milkers... these are small goats, the size of pygmies, but fully milkers. They will not give nearly as much as a full sized goat and still be a fantastic producer for their size.

My goats at this time are LaMancha full sized goats.
In the past my main goats were Nubian. I have had pygmies, but they cross-breed with dairy goats, and this mixing was not a good idea, lots of C-sections. I had to choose since I couldn't defeat nature.

All of these same variables that affect milk, will also affect cheese making.
Cheese can even be affected by what you feed the animal.
Onions will come through the milk... onion flavored milk makes lousy yogurt for desert! Even what grass, tree, or weed they eat can affect the flavor.

Different strains of animals also are known for more cream, less cream, more volume of milk, etc.. etc.. lots of variables... all anyone can give is a general guideline.

It is fun to learn, both to care for the animal and to produce good milk, and to figure out what has caused the variation you see. When you add making yogurt, cheese, kefir and the variables at the kitchen stage, yeast in the air, contaminants on utensils... so many variables. Some contaminants are not necessarily a bad thing. Various caves are essential to produce certain flavors in cheeses. It is an adventure!

You can complicate the adventure or simplify it. I like simple, but I also have to acknowledge variables.

[Ozark Lady]

Hopefully, I removed the second posting of the same thing.

[Jeremy brua]

Thank you! My father is thinking about getting some goats. He grew up milking 18 cows twice a day. We talked and niether of us knew how often you milked or an amount. I am now thinking one good doe would be enough.

[Ozark Lady]

Wow, why did that post twice? I did look at it and then clicked to post... hmm? I goofed somewhere.

I would suggest 2 does, for many reasons...
1. Goats are sociable animals and would be lonely and hollering if alone.
2. You do need to worm and use other medications, like de-louser or meds for ticks etc... it is best not to use the milk when the doe is medicated. With two you can rotate who is offline milking (for animals) and which are good for household milk.
3. It is always good to have another animal to compare... temp, amount of feed etc.

Another thought, the doe must be bred to produce, there are a few precocious milkers, but they are not common. How will you breed your doe? Will you AI, will you buy a buck for breeding then sell or butcher him? Will you find a buck at stud?

My buck had an accident and is in goat heaven, so I will have to get a new herd buck this summer. It is not on purpose that I don't have a buck.
I can't keep one of my own kids, they would quickly get too related, since these are second generation already.

The discussion here is about cheese, but have you considered eating excess goats?

Goat manure is a cool manure, not dangerous on the garden, it is comparable to rabbit manure. You can overuse it, but it is not hot like chicken manure is.

It is also possible to make cheese out of store bought milk... it does not have to be raw.
In some books I have even found recipes for making cheese out of powdered milk.

Cheese making is fun, but you do need to decide where you will get your milk for cheese making. And different animals produce a completely different cheese.

You don't have to commit to raising goats, cows, sheep, or camels even in order to make cheese.

Go ahead and try making your own cheese, it will taste all the better because you will know exactly what is in your cheese and you can adjust many variables to get the taste that you want.

[Jeremy brua]

My father wanted goats before the idea of making cheese ever entered my mind. There is a goat farm a few miles from me. They breed them mostly for show but sell the ones not good enough to show for a very decent price. It is my friends relative and they will breed the does for us if we don't get a buck. I have no issue butchering some for the table or sale. There is a good market for the meat in my area, lots of Indians around. They could also help out with the brush hogging we have to do every year