I made mozzarella!

[dayna]

So I'm really proud of myself.

I made mozzarella out of goats milk! And my family loves it! AND it MELTS! YAHOOOOO!

So now I've made Chevre, mozzarella and butter.

 

[ek.blair]

OOH!!! Mozzarella is my FAVORITE I've never had it made with goats milk though, but I do like goats milk so I bet it IS yummy!

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Oooh! YUM!

That makes me yearn for a bruschetta type appetizer we make... toasted sourdough topped with a slice of buffalo mozzarella, tomato, and basil, drizzled with kalamata olive oil. :dinner:

 

[dayna]

Oh my gosh! Now I'm hungry! Thanks MSD. lol

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Oh my gosh! Now I'm hungry! Thanks MSD. lol

Me too! And worse yet, you are making me want to get goats again! :angry:

 

[dayna]

I love my goats, milking time is my special time. My favorite time of the day.

 

[ilovehome]

I failed the first time I tried this with cows milk. Yours looks wonderful! Glad you and your family loved it. Do you make Chevre with the goats milk?

 

[dayna]

Yes, I make that and butter. So much delicious fun!

 

[ek.blair]

How much cream do you get, for butter? My mom had Nubians and she never got very much cream and they are suppose to have the highest milk fat content!

 

[dayna]

You have to let the milk set in the fridge for a few days without anyone drinking from it. I use that to make my cheese and butter. Before I make cheese, I skim the cream off all the milk that's been sitting and put it in a separate container and make butter from that. I don't get a lot but I don't need a lot.

 

[ek.blair]

You have to let the milk set in the fridge for a few days without anyone drinking from it.

Yea, she couldn't keep us kids away from the fresh goats milk! :mbounce:

 

[Zass]

MMMmmm, that looks SO good...

 

[Miss M]

Oh, my goodness... it's a good thing it's so far from here to your house!

 

[michaels4gardens]

I have made hundreds of pounds of cheese, and have yet to make a "good" mozzarella, that is great, -- congrats...

 

[dayna]

I combined two methods I found online. The first method using the microwave two times was a disaster. I don't have a pot that can heat up the curds on the stove (doing a large amount). soooooo

I added the three things, citric acid, calcium something or another and rennet.

I let it set for like 40 minutes. I cut the curd and let it set another 10 minutes or so.

Then I strained about 1/2 into a strainer and moved the curds around with my fingers to get some of the whey out. Then I tossed it in a micro bowl and micro'd it for 1 minute. Then I "massaged" the curds to get more and more whey out.

Then I heated up some heavily salted water to boiling and I poured that boiling water over the curds! They became all gooey. I put on those little cotton winter gloves with latex gloves over them so I wouldn't burn my hands, I didn't have rubber gloves....

So anyway, I stretched the cheese under the water for a while till it was starting to be more solid and less gooey.

Then I grabbed a hunk in my hand and started kneading it for a few seconds and it was pretty and shiny! So then I just squished it into a ball and put it in ice water. Then when I was done with all the balls, I put it in salted leftover whey in the fridge.

And yum! Mozzarella! Oh and I sliced some to go with dinner last night and it was soooooooo good.

 

[coffeenutdesigns]

So, you used the milk left AFTER you skimmed off the cream to make the mozzarella? Trying to get ideas for when I finally get more goats milking. I can't get my kids to drink goat's milk, but I would love to make butter and cheese.

 

[dayna]

Yes! It said to use "full fat" milk... But I never have any of that. I sell (I'm an outlaw!) or trade for veg and fruit the milk I don't skim.

I put the date on it and after a minimum of 5 days, maximum of 10 days (that's iffy by that point) I skim it and freeze the cream in my "cream bag" and I make cheese with the skimmed milk. I get about 3.5 pounds of Chevre from 2 gallons of milk. I didn't weigh the mozzarella, but I used 1.5 gallons of milk. Fore sure though I got a lot less than when making chevre.

On a side note, I only collect the cream for a couple weeks and then I make about 2-3 sticks of butter.

 

[michaels4gardens]

that is very cool, I think I am a lot more lazy then you, I finally just gave up on cheeses that are more work, I make farmhouse cheddar, Jalapeno farmhouse cheddar,
--- -and a creation I made up [ because I am bothered by waste] I call "porterhouse cheddar " [mix ricotta made from the whey back into the cheddar curds before pressing , because we could never use up all the ricotta from 20 gal of milk ]-- but-- it must be aged at least 60 days before "good" flavors develop, [it tastes crappy for the first 60 days] --believe it or not, -- it was my biggest seller at Farmers mkt and to Chefs

 

[dayna]

Ricotta is next on my list. I don't "waste" the whey as I feed it to the chickens but I bet ricotta would be a much better use of it.

I want to make cheddar! How hard is it? Have you made it from goats milk? I bought some cheddar made from goats milk once and it was terrible, had no flavour so I'm interested in seeing if I can make my own and if it can taste better.

 

[michaels4gardens]

You won't "waste" the Whey, when you make ricotta, you just get another use from it before it becomes chicken food, -- I have never made "real"cheddar cheese from Goats milk, I made some "farmhouse Cheddar" which is a cheddar shortcut, and it was not very good at all until after 60 to 90 days,- then it gained some pretty good flavors. -making "farmhouse cheddar" is a lot easier then making a traditional cheddar. I still have some cheese we made, that is over 3 years old ,that my daughter and I really like , -- I am looking forward to getting some more milk producing livestock, to start making some more.

http://www.reformationacres.com/2012/02 ... ecipe.html
I use a paint filter for hanging and draining the cheese curds, [available at Home Depot in 1 gal and 5 gal sizes] and-- once the cheese is all pressed, I vacuum seal it in a food saver bag, instead of waxing it, then I age it.- I use raw milk and no calcium chloride,