My current home doesn't have a verandah or even a porch but I dream of owning a little farmette again, with a verandah overlooking chickens, goats and gardens. Absolute heaven!

Goat milk and what we can make with it

We'll have our first milking goat soon, so I've been looking up recipes on cheese and cream cheese and yogurt. Hoping to make cheese twice a week, yogurt 3 times a week, ice cream once a week, and any milk leftover will be drunk! Butter rarely. Sour cream occasionally.

And I don't want to buy special products to make these things ... just what is in my pantry, like vinegar or unflavored gelatin. For yogurt, I'll use some store-bought yogurt that I'll freeze in 2-tablespoon portions. Plus, we really don't do much salt so we'll probably use that sparingly if at all.

So... wondering if anyone has tried the following recipe for yogurt cheese that I found on another website:

I take 8 cups of milk and put that in the crock pot set on low for 2.5 hours. At the 2.5 hour mark, I turn off (unplug) the crock pot and let it sit undisturbed for 3 hours. At the 3 hour mark, I mix in a half a cup of yogurt from my last batch (or use a 1/2 cup from store bought). I then wrap a bath towel around my closed up crockpot and let that sit for 8 hours. At the 8 hour mark (or 7.5 or 9.5, it’s versatile) I dump it into my pasta strainer covered with a thin thin bar towel. This sits out draining overnight. In the morning, I scrape the yogurt cheese into a bowl and add 1/2-3/4 cup of whole cream…depending on how runny/thick you want it. There you go, Greek style yogurt that is remarkably like Fage.

I wouldn't add the cream at the end but this looks relatively easy. Has anyone tried this?

QUESTION: Ours are Nigerian Dwarf goats, which produce higher butterfat than other goats. Do I let it sit then skim off the cream and THEN make yogurt and cheese, or do I just use the whole thing unless I'm making ice cream or butter? AND ... can I make ice cream with the whole goat's milk? Or maybe frozen yogurt?

Recipes?

Do you have a good, fast and easy recipe to make cream cheese (my Kid is a fanatic)? Not true cream cheese because I don't plan on separating the cream from the milk except for butter or ice cream, but something that will taste and spread similarly.

Also looking for how to make all sorts of hard and soft cheeses ... especially mozzarella cheese since we like melting cheese on things, and Hubby has really missed it (being lactose intolerant). Gonna try out the info at this link ( http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/how-to-make-mozzarella-cheese ) ... any others? Perhaps how to use the whey to make cheese?

And last, but certainly not least, we plan to make ice cream. Fridays are pizza night, and it would be good to make ice cream to go with it. We have one of those ball ice-cream makers (see pic) that makes a pint of ice cream at a time. Okay, might need to get 2 more so we can all have our own flavor, but still.... recipes?

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I'd like to put on my wish list a cream separator ... anybody have any experience with the one at this link: http://www.amazon.com/Cream-Separator-50L-H-Manual/dp/B0035QZ1G4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1275659920&sr=8-1 ?

2 comments:

Lilac Cottage Homestead said...

We have Mini Nubian goats. Half Nigian and half Nubian. My goat Missy is giving me about 1/2 gallon of milk a day. If I let her milk sit in the refrige for a couple of days I can collect the cream from the top. I almost sure you will be able to do the same. My daughter makes yogurt all the time. She has used the milk scimed and unscimed. They both work just fine. Of couse one will be a little richer in taste. I have also made mozzarella cheese. It makes the best pizza. You are on the right track by reading up on it now, so you are ready when the milk starts coming. I'm going to start posting some recipe on my site soon. If you would like a really easy yogurt recipe just tell my and I will send it to you.

Kelly

Vee said...

Thanks Kelly ... and yes, please let me know your recipe for yogurt. My son loves yogurt. Actually, we all do. Thanks for the info! Vikki