The end of the goats milk for now
I'm sad to say that I have finished milking Elisabet for now. Once we took the boy goat away (he is now chops and roasts in my freezer) she didn't seem to have so much milk. Perhaps I should have been milking her twice a day. In any case by the time i came back from UK we were getting less than a litre a day and that dropped off to just over half. I kept milking until now because i wanted to have some goats curd over the holidays while Zoe was home.
I have really enjoyed having fresh milk and learned a lot in the process. We used the milk for everything but the yogurt was probably the big success. It took me a long time to get it the way we like it but once we did it was successful every time.
Lovely, thick, tangy yogurt.
Great on its own, with fruit or turned into Labne,
It is by far the easiest soft cheese to make without needing any equipment, other than a strainer and a chux cloth.
So my goats milk yogurt process is as follows. Heat the milk to 90 degrees Celsius, I do this in a glass bowl over a saucepan to prevent scalding. Cool to just over 40 degrees. Mix in three dessertspoons of powdered milk (not for the purists I know but it does work) 3 drops of calcium chloride and a quarter of a cup of the last batch of yogurt . Place in the easiyo in the normal way and let is sit about 7 or 8 hours. Now I don't really know why any of this works but it does. I just kept researching and trying things until I got a result I was happy with. I think the heating is important and that 40 degrees works better than the usually recommended 30. Interestingly enough the other day when I was making some yogurt out of the long life milk I also heated it to 40 degrees and got a thicker yogurt than usual as well.
I have made a few batches of Labne and will use it for dips and tarts over the holidays.
This morning i dug up these beautiful shallots
so I am going to caramelise them and make a caramelise shallot and goats cheese tart to take to the neighbours Christmas party tonight.
Two of the goats have gone down to the goat farm where they are hopefully getting in kid. When they have their kids I will send Elisabet, if she has put on a bit of weight, and little Brie. That way we should have an ongoing supply of milk. Brie has turned into a lovely little goat.
Very pretty and naughty. This morning they kept getting out and I could not figure out why as all the gates were shut, until I saw here climb on top of a milk crate that I use to sit on for milking and then onto the roof of the shelter and then out!
I have really enjoyed having fresh milk and learned a lot in the process. We used the milk for everything but the yogurt was probably the big success. It took me a long time to get it the way we like it but once we did it was successful every time.
Lovely, thick, tangy yogurt.
Great on its own, with fruit or turned into Labne,
It is by far the easiest soft cheese to make without needing any equipment, other than a strainer and a chux cloth.
So my goats milk yogurt process is as follows. Heat the milk to 90 degrees Celsius, I do this in a glass bowl over a saucepan to prevent scalding. Cool to just over 40 degrees. Mix in three dessertspoons of powdered milk (not for the purists I know but it does work) 3 drops of calcium chloride and a quarter of a cup of the last batch of yogurt . Place in the easiyo in the normal way and let is sit about 7 or 8 hours. Now I don't really know why any of this works but it does. I just kept researching and trying things until I got a result I was happy with. I think the heating is important and that 40 degrees works better than the usually recommended 30. Interestingly enough the other day when I was making some yogurt out of the long life milk I also heated it to 40 degrees and got a thicker yogurt than usual as well.
I have made a few batches of Labne and will use it for dips and tarts over the holidays.
This morning i dug up these beautiful shallots
so I am going to caramelise them and make a caramelise shallot and goats cheese tart to take to the neighbours Christmas party tonight.
Two of the goats have gone down to the goat farm where they are hopefully getting in kid. When they have their kids I will send Elisabet, if she has put on a bit of weight, and little Brie. That way we should have an ongoing supply of milk. Brie has turned into a lovely little goat.
Very pretty and naughty. This morning they kept getting out and I could not figure out why as all the gates were shut, until I saw here climb on top of a milk crate that I use to sit on for milking and then onto the roof of the shelter and then out!
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