Monday, June 17, 2013

Waxed Cheddar

Here's the pretty wheel of cheddar all waxed! Now it is sitting in the fridge in a container to age for 4 weeks. Today I plan to start some more cheddar.

 And since a blog post doesn't seem complete without a picture of a cute baby goat, here are a few pics of Party and her mama.


Suriyah

5 comments:

Kristin said...

I am at a loss. I have wasted more goat milk trying mozzarella. I can do it fine with a gallon of whole milk from the grocery store but raw goat is another thing!

My curd doesn't seem to want to firm up enough, so when I cut it I lose all the whey from the curd resulting in a nasty, rubbery cheese.

I have tried not cutting the curd, I have tried not cooking the curd, I have tried more acid, I have tried more rennet. The only thing that sort of worked was when I didn't cut the curd and put it directly into cheese cloth to drain for a couple hours before working it.

Help! What am I doing wrong?

Good Goats said...

Hmm, that is really weird. Never experienced that - I'm sorry! What recipe have you used? I have always used the Mozzarella recipe off of this page and it has *never* failed me.

The only thing that comes to mind is how long do you let it set before cutting it, after adding the rennet? Maybe let it sit a bit longer?

http://www.dairygoatinfo.com/f22/cheese-recipes-21903/

Mozzarella Cheese (no fail)
2gal milk
3tsp citric acid powder
1/2tsp liquid rennet
1/8tsp lipase (believe me, that's plenty, you can really taste it)
1/2cup cool water divided in half
1/4cup warm water

1) Dissolve citric acid powder in 1/4cup cool water, add to milk, stir well
2) Dissolve lipase in 1/4cup warm water, add to milk, stir well
3) Slowly warm milk, on low, to 90*F
4) Dilute rennet in 1/4cup of cool water, add to milk, stir well
5) Turn heat off allow milk to set for 15min to achieve a clean break
6) Cut into 1 inch curds, set in a 105*F water bath for 10min (it is okay for the curds to mat together some )
7) Drain curds into a colander kneading lightly to express whey (start heating whey now if you are making ricotta)
Break curd apart and 2tea salt, knead lightly
9) Place the curd into a microwavable and cook on high for 1min., knead to express whey
10) Cook on high heat again for 1min, cheese will be very hot and there wont be much whey this time, the cheese will begin to stretch.
11) Stretch and fold cheese a few times then fold into a ball, rinse in cold water, place in a small bowl to mold, and refrigerate
Cheese will last 2 weeks in the refrigerator or can be frozen.

Kristin said...

I tried your recipe last time. I'm just not getting a good curd set. I've left it sit well over an hour with the rennet before. Maybe I should try a recipe with just thermophilic culture?

Your feta recipe is working perfectly! It is salted and sitting on the counter. I was going to double it, then decided to use only 1 gal for my first try. Now I wish I'd doubled it. :)

I'll give mozzarella one more try. I'm just getting tired of wasting my milk. I have no trouble with set on feta or chevre!

Good Goats said...

Yeah I really don't know what to tell you since my Mozz has never flopped. Weird!

That's great on the Feta! You know, I just did an experiment the other day and my family really likes how it turned out. I made the feta like I normally do, except I only hung it to drain for 1 hour. After an hour, I took it out and put it into my cheese press for about 5 hours. After that, I put it in the glass dish and salted it, and let it age for 24 hours as usual.

We really liked how it turned out. It's hard, sliceable and the taste is great.

Kristin said...

That sounds like a great idea. I cubed mine and put it in jars of olive oil and herbs. I can't keep my little fingers out of it! I have 2 more gallons in the glass dish on the counter now.