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Chevre
Two or three years ago I started making cheese. I started out with chevre, of course, and it has been a big success with people.
You need a good thermometer, that’s accurate and easy to use. I started out with a Polder probe thermometer. These have a digital read out and a cable, and a probe. They’re made for meat in the oven, but work really well for cheesemaking. The weak point of these is the probe, they quit after awhile, sometimes fast. I’ve tried three kinds now, and I wrap the connection of the cable and probe with that white stretchy plumbers tape. I think this helps the probe last longer, but they still are the weak point. (If you’re going to use the probe in a roast, be sure to take that tape off first). You also need a way to hang the cheese, I have a chain hanging from my ceiling over the sink.
I think most of the other equipment you need to make chevre can be found in most kitchens. Or you can substitute something.
You need a good 8 quart pot, stainless steel or enameled. Aluminum will not work.
Making chevre is really easy. You heat the milk up to 86 degrees, I do this on the stove, stirring constantly. Add the starter and a bit of rennet, stir it in. Let it sit overnight in the covered pot, and in the morning you have a curd. It needs to be over 70 degrees F, in the winter I put it in my oven with the oven light on. That’s all it needs to be warm enough.
You scoop off thin pieces of the curd with a slotted spoon, into a cheesecloth lined colander, and then hang the cheesecloth over the sink. Or you can put it in molds to drain. Let it drain 6-10 hours and you have chevre.
You need to make sure all the equipment that will touch the milk/cheese is sterilized. I boil water in a big pot and put everything in it. I also boil water in the pot I am going to warm the milk in, since I am not pasteurizing it. If you want to get a permit to sell chevre it has to be made from pasteurized milk, no matter where you are in the US, it’s a federal requirement. If you don’t usually pasteurize the milk you use at home and want the cheese for home use, I have had no issues with making it from raw milk. It keeps about a month, which is quite a bit longer than people say it will. My milk keeps at least two weeks, I never keep it longer than that, so I don’t know how long it actually keeps. I don’t intend to ever sell cheese, or milk either, so I don’t generally pasteurize any milk.
How long it keeps and to some degree how it tastes depends on how the milk is handled. Other things can affect the flavor, such as the individual goat, and perhaps also the breed of goat, and maybe the diet of the goat. If the milk tastes different the cheese will too. I have not noticed any difference in flavor or texture between pasteurized and raw milk. Lots of people, especially Americans, are terrified of “goatiness”. My chevre is not goaty at all. In France “goatiness” is desired. I think you have to cultivate a taste for it if it isn’t common in your culture. But “goatiness” is a feature, not a defect.
You can flavor it any way you want, I like to add red chili powder, granulated garlic, and a bit of cumin and salt, in between layers. Fresh basil leaves are good too, but fresh herbs limit the amount of time the cheese will keep to less than a week.
Chevre is very easy to make and hard to mess up. If you are just starting I recommend getting the chevre starter packets from New England Cheesemaking supply http://www.cheesemaking.com/. They contain a mesophilic starter and the right amount of rennet for a gallon of milk. After you have it down you can move on from there. I hear you can use buttermilk for a starter, but if you do you need to add rennet. The “rennet” in the grocery store isn’t the right stuff.
Next I will talk about my Camembert adventure.
Have a wonderful day!
One pic for the day
Good morning everyone! I was sure surprised and happy about the Super Bowl! I normally could care less and I don’t follow football at all, but it was so neat to see how excited people were in New Orleans and what a positive boost it gave them. And they won!
Anyway, this is AJ and most of the girls and wethers. He does chores for me and keeps my yard from turning into a jungle of weeds in the summer. This winter I haven’t had to haul water most of the time because he does it. He lives next door.
I’m distracted and excited because we are going to build a barn! Advice is welcome, I have just started thinking about it, and it will take quite a while to do it, but it’s really exciting. A milking room!
Have a wonderful day!
Madame
This is Madame, I just finished milking her last night, she is pretty much dried up. She will kid in late April, I am hoping for a buck from her this year, and a doe would be nice too.
This is my all time 
favorite goat picture, I have used it all over the place. Madame is probably the most photogenic of my goats, although her wether Nonami is also. His face has grown a bit crooked in the last year, I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t keep him intact.
This is Madame with her 2008 kids when they were very young, Nonami and Zelda. Nonami is her wether, and the other one is a doe who has gone to Texas. Zelda is apparently spoiled rotten there.
This is Madame with her 2009 kid Bolt.
He is 
living with a friend here who also helps me with goat things I can’t easily do alone, like shots and hoof trimming.
This is a recent picture of Nonami and Madame. My current wethers are smaller than the first one I had was. I am thinking it might be because I neutered them at a week old. The first one was 3 weeks old. I’m going to test that this year and neuter them at 3 weeks.
Here is a picture of Madame that shows her shape. The next one is her udder, in 2009 after her second kidding.
I think these are all my goats, tomorrow I am going to talk about my dogs a little.
Triscuit
And her kids. Triscuit (and Madame) came from Sue Huston when I went to Missouri in 2007. She is a 4th generation kinder. She has had five kids so far, and I still have them all. She has a lovely udder, and this picture hints at it. Triscuit is very friendly and a little bossy. She runs to the milking stand to get milked, she really wants her grain. She is second in line in the herd order, and has contested that a bit with my big nubian Tsu, but they settle. She is half the size and younger too, I don’t think she’s going to win that contest anytime soon.
She had two kids in 2008, PipPip and HooRay! Here is Pip in a tub. Pip is due to kid in March, I am hoping for a lovely udder like Triscuit has and teats that are a bit bigger because Tsu is her grandmother. Pip is smaller than any of my other kinders, but she weighs about the same amount as Browner. 
This picture of Pip and Browner shows the size difference, Browner is taller and longer. They both weighed 80-85 pounds before they were bred. Pip is the shyest of my kinders, and sort of a loner. I’m hoping she will have a doe that will stay with her and that she will be happier. I’m probably imagining things, but I would like to see her kid snuggling with her.
This is Ray, he is the biggest kinder I have. I’m pretty sure he is over the size standard, but but he has a nice long body. This year I will get a better look at how his kids are going to turn out. I don’t have any of the kids he sired last year. 
In 2009 Triscuit had triplets, the first picture is Trude and Simon, a couple hours old. They are out of Domino. The second picture is Pickles. She and Trude will be bred this fall, Simon is destined for the freezer. Last year I learned how to socialize kids, and all the kids from 2009 are friendly and can be handled pretty well, even though they were not bottle fed.
I’m having some trouble getting these posts to format the way I’d like, so please forgive me the strange layout.
Have a wonderful day!
Piglet’s kids
Fresca and Domino snuggling at less than a week old. Domino got iodine on his head, that’s what the yellow is. Nowadays yellow on his head is pee. He was an adorable kid and everyone loved him. Even all the other goats. Fresca is still very tightly bonded to her mother, they hang out together all the time.
This is Fresca today, she is bred to kid in March. She will be two in June. She was bred to Ray, who is one of Triscuit’s kids. Tomorrow is going to feature Triscuit and her kids.
This is Domino as an adolescent, when he was still charming and pristine.
This is Domino last summer, he is bulkier now, and tinged with yellow. We tried to get a current picture of him, but the best we got wasn’t good enough. He bugs Ray alot, I think about separating them, but they would have to split the room they have and it wouldn’t be very big. Plus they also snuggle, so I don’t know what is best. Advice would be welcome.
Ray is bigger and used to be the dominant one. Then we had a big rainstorm, and they spend a day and a half in their house. When they came out Domino was dominant and Ray had a little tear on his ear. (That healed with no problem)
Piglet’s feet aren’t very good, her hooves grow very fast and she has had a problem with laminitis that started after she kidded with these two, I have watched her kids very carefully and so far their feet are fine, and they have had no issues, but she was older when it started. We successfully treated her last year, and she was running and jumping and appeared cured, so I gradually stopped the meds I was giving her. She has relapsed, so we have started over. This time I know it isn’t because her hooves haven’t been trimmed well enough. So I am not inclined to breed her again, at this point. She is a terrific Aunty with everyone else’s kids, and they love her.
Tomorrow is for Triscuit.
It is snowing here! Well, it has sort of turned to rain. But they said there would only be snow over 6000 feet, and we are around 4800 feet. So the snow was a surprise. We have gotten more precipitation this year than we usually get, hope it keeps up.
Have a wonderful day!
Jan
The Nubians
This is Tsu, my first goat. She is due to kid in March. She will be six in April. I got her when she was a kid, that’s how I remember how long I’ve had goats. She wasn’t bred until 2006, when she had two bucks in the dead of winter in the middle of the night. It was 15 degrees, and I didn’t know what I was doing, Neither did she, it was horrible. Fortunately I have a neighbor who has experience and she helped us. The kids survived and did fine. The next year I didn’t get her bred until very late, and her kids were born at the end of June. That was pretty bad too, there are just too many flies in the heat. I milked Tsu for 18 months, and dried her up to be bred this year. She is due to kid in late March. I will never breed for kidding in the cold or heat again, at least not on purpose.
She had two kinder does, Blacker and Browner. They looked so much alike that is how I told them apart until I got different colored collars on them. But part of the year Blacker looked Browner and Browner looked Blacker, they are really twins. Blacker went to live in Texas, where she is doing well. They still call her Blacker. This is the two of them when they were kids.
This is Tsu and Browner today. Browner is also bred to kid in March, they are both due on the same day. I’m not sure this was a great idea, but I came home from breeding Tsu and Browner was in season. I have to be sure to be there when they kid, so I can know for sure whose kid is whose. I don’t think all the kids will look alike, but it’s possible.
This is Piglet, I got her from my vet, she was his last nubian. She came with that name. He got rid of all his nubians in favor of Saanens and Oberhaslis. He has a big herd of dairy goats. She has the sweetest temperament of all my goats, and everyone loves her. In the summer her coat is bright red, and fades with white undercoat in the winter. I have a doe and a buck from her, and I will talk about them tomorrow.
Until tomorrow, have a wonderful day everyone!
Jan
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