Making Goat Cheese
On Sunday, I took a French Goat Cheesemaking Basics class at Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge. If you’ve known me for a while, you know that I have a thing for goats, and that extends to goat cheese. The idea of learning how to make my own was really exciting to me.
The class started out with a tasting of a variety of goat cheeses accompanied by some sparkling wine. Then, Jessica, the cheese cave manager at Formaggio’s explained the basics of cheesemaking in general and goat cheesemaking in particular. After that, we got try it for ourselves!
We worked through the process backwards. First, we ladled cheese curds into molds for what would become a mini cheese to age for a couple weeks into a soft-rind cheese. We also ladled curds into cheesecloth for fresh chevre. Then, Jessica showed us how to prepare the goat milk to set the curds. You heat the milk, then add cultures, with the requisite molds, and rennet to help set the curds.
The chevre looked great after draining overnight over the sink. It tastes great on toast for breakfast too.
I had a little trouble with the molded cheese. It wasn’t draining so I couldn’t unmold it. I realize that home cheesemakers make this at room temperature in Europe, but, being American, I started to panic when the cheese was just out in the kitchen for over 24 hours. I ended up transferring the draining curds to the cheesecloth and just draining it for more chevre. I’m not going to try the aging thing this time around.
However, home cheesemaking, for fresh cheese, anyway, seems extremely doable. I’d love to be able to make my own goat cheese. The hardest thing will be finding some goat milk. We used a pasteurized kind from Oak Knoll Dairy in Vermont. I’m hoping I can find it for sale somewhere locally, maybe at Whole Foods.
It was so much fun to try out a new culinary skill. I can’t wait to try it on my own!
Posted on 28 September 2011, in Cheesemaking and tagged cheesemaking, chevre, goats. Bookmark the permalink. 5 Comments.
A Plateful of Happiness 
I’ve watched television segments and read magazine articles about making your own cheese at home. It has always interested me, but I have never done it. The class must have been so much fun and is a great way to learn something like this. I probably would have freaked out a bit leaving the curd out for 24 hours. I think I have seen goat’s milk at Whole Foods here.
I’ve definitely seen that brand of goats cheese at the Woburn WF. I took a cheese class there not too long ago, but am still too intimidated to try on my own! Even though I make yogurt, I’m a little weirded out by leaving dairy out that long :-)
You are a great forager! I stopped by Woburn WF this weekend and am so excited about the goat milk. Now I’m going to order the cultures so I can try this myself at home. I’ve wanted to try making yogurt, but haven’t figured out a good way. Have you posted on your method? I’ll have to search your site and see.
Thought you’d get a kick out of this response. Maggie had a reading assignment just last night about some locals in Massachusetts that made Thomas Jefferson a 1000 pound cheese as a gift. He showed it off in the White House for a year before he shared it with everyone. That’s a lot more than one night (-: Of course, they all died before reaching 50 too! Haha
My mom and grandmother always made cheese. I’ve done it with my mom…but not for a long time. We used to let it drain at least 12 to 24 hours. I would love to take a class like this…what fun!