All about life and it's challenges on our little homestead built on a sand hill!
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Sunday, August 19, 2012
Cheese Glorious Cheese.....
My first attempt at making cheese ended up as chicken food...before it even made it to the press. The first wheel that made it to the press was aged two months and cut open. It was really dry but tasted like cheddar and worked fine in casseroles and making cheese toast! I finally figured out that my thermometer was off by 7 degrees and I was heating my curds too high. I bought a new thermometer.
We just cut open the 2nd wheel that has aged 2 months and we have a real, nothing wrong with it, wheel of cheddar. Had a couple of slices with some crackers and an ice cold beer last night. I'm such a connoisseur....LOL
For those of you who do not know...(like me at first) all cheese is white or slightly off white. It is a dye that gives cheese the orange color you buy from the store. The dye does not change the taste...only the look. I have since broken down and bought the dye and the last 4 or 5 wheels of cheddar and Colby I've made are a lovely orange.
I so excited for you! Also a little jealous as I'm still only milking just one goat, not enough milk to make a batch with. Goober won't calve til march!
Thanks MM...This is the first time I am milking enough goats to make cheese. I love it. I am getting 5 1/2 to sometimes a little over 6 quarts a day so it takes 3 milking's to have the 2 gallons to make a wheel. Sometimes I make buttermilk, yogurt, cajeta and sometimes cream cheese in between making the hard cheese. I haven't attempted soap yet but I think I have all of the supplies when I get in the mood.
Last year I thought about selling all the goats and getting a milk cow but I thought if the feed gets to high or if the SHTF and we can't get feed, I can stake the goats out to eat underbrush on the property and in the edge of the woods. It would be hard to sustain a cow that way I think. Hay is already outrageously priced here and most of the time my goats don't even want it. They waste far more than they eat. I am giving them alfalfa pellets now. It is priced high but at least they eat it all and it's not piled up on the ground. I am going to try to grow alfalfa next spring.
oh Mamma - i have to consider these pics of cheese and cheese posts as torture. i hope that i will not have to report you to the UN!!! bahahahahahahahahah! oh my goodness - i even licked the screen and that cheese is delicious! i swear i am getting my butt in gear and making cheese! oh and btw - we even have jambaloney's grandmother's homemade cheese press - how sad am i?!?!??!!? ack - getting my butt in gear.
Oh my...you will have to post a picture of Grandma's cheese press. I bet it is awesome! Do you use a lot of Cream Cheese? I'm going to post a super easy recipe for that one later tonight or in the morning. You can store it in the freezer for up to 6 months. Since my cheese cave is getting full, I will be turning most of my milk into cream cheese. I have lots of jalapeno's still growing. I love to stuff them with cream cheese and wrap bacon around them and bake or grill...Yummy. I won't even mention the lethal NY cheesecake I make with it.
Mamma - you know that i love cream cheese!!! i love to take pieces of smoked salmon, put a nice dollop of cream cheese in it, roll it up and stuff it in a nasturtium flower - those are such treats!!! ( you can see the recipe here: http://fmgoodeats.blogspot.ca/2011/12/smoked-salmon-and-cream-cheese-stuffed.html) - honestly nasturtium flowers are so spicey - they are like eating jalapeno's - i love them!
but i would love your cream cheese recipe when you have time to post it. oh jambaloney would die for your stuffed jalapenos - me, i would stuff nasturtium flowers and wrap them in bacon - bahahahahah!
i will take a pic of jambaloney's Grandma's home-made cheese press - she used it for cheese and to make pressed flowers - how cool is that.
please don't mention the cheesecake. i believe that we have a very good friendship, but any mention of delicious cheesecake and i will be forced to turn you in to the UN - oh bahahahahahahah!
so much love to you and yours, Mamma! your friend, kymber
Isnt it just so much better than store bought?
ReplyDeleteOh Yeah MM...I have often admired the cheese you show on your blog and dreamed of making my own. I am finally there!
DeleteI so excited for you! Also a little jealous as I'm still only milking just one goat, not enough milk to make a batch with. Goober won't calve til march!
DeleteThanks MM...This is the first time I am milking enough goats to make cheese. I love it. I am getting 5 1/2 to sometimes a little over 6 quarts a day so it takes 3 milking's to have the 2 gallons to make a wheel. Sometimes I make buttermilk, yogurt, cajeta and sometimes cream cheese in between making the hard cheese. I haven't attempted soap yet but I think I have all of the supplies when I get in the mood.
DeleteLast year I thought about selling all the goats and getting a milk cow but I thought if the feed gets to high or if the SHTF and we can't get feed, I can stake the goats out to eat underbrush on the property and in the edge of the woods. It would be hard to sustain a cow that way I think. Hay is already outrageously priced here and most of the time my goats don't even want it. They waste far more than they eat. I am giving them alfalfa pellets now. It is priced high but at least they eat it all and it's not piled up on the ground. I am going to try to grow alfalfa next spring.
oh Mamma - i have to consider these pics of cheese and cheese posts as torture. i hope that i will not have to report you to the UN!!! bahahahahahahahahah! oh my goodness - i even licked the screen and that cheese is delicious! i swear i am getting my butt in gear and making cheese! oh and btw - we even have jambaloney's grandmother's homemade cheese press - how sad am i?!?!??!!? ack - getting my butt in gear.
ReplyDeleteyour friend,
kymber
Oh my...you will have to post a picture of Grandma's cheese press. I bet it is awesome! Do you use a lot of Cream Cheese? I'm going to post a super easy recipe for that one later tonight or in the morning. You can store it in the freezer for up to 6 months. Since my cheese cave is getting full, I will be turning most of my milk into cream cheese. I have lots of jalapeno's still growing. I love to stuff them with cream cheese and wrap bacon around them and bake or grill...Yummy. I won't even mention the lethal NY cheesecake I make with it.
DeleteMamma - you know that i love cream cheese!!! i love to take pieces of smoked salmon, put a nice dollop of cream cheese in it, roll it up and stuff it in a nasturtium flower - those are such treats!!! ( you can see the recipe here: http://fmgoodeats.blogspot.ca/2011/12/smoked-salmon-and-cream-cheese-stuffed.html) - honestly nasturtium flowers are so spicey - they are like eating jalapeno's - i love them!
Deletebut i would love your cream cheese recipe when you have time to post it. oh jambaloney would die for your stuffed jalapenos - me, i would stuff nasturtium flowers and wrap them in bacon - bahahahahah!
i will take a pic of jambaloney's Grandma's home-made cheese press - she used it for cheese and to make pressed flowers - how cool is that.
please don't mention the cheesecake. i believe that we have a very good friendship, but any mention of delicious cheesecake and i will be forced to turn you in to the UN - oh bahahahahahahah!
so much love to you and yours, Mamma! your friend,
kymber