Cheese, please!

I have always loved cheese, fortunately it is not one of the foods that sets off migraines for me, and cheese is one of the foods I would find hard to live without. Everywhere I travel I have tasted the local cheeses and they have rarely disappointed me. Cheeses made from cows' milk, goats' milk, sheep milk, water buffalo and even mares' milk  all different in texture and flavour.  It fascinates me that the same recipe made in a different region produces such a different cheese and I find it no more than logical that many cheeses have a Protected Geographical status. It is impossible to choose my favourite cheese........ Red Windsor, Stilton, Roquefort certainly, but some days when the weather and the mood is different I may prefer a camembert or a very ripe brie. So many cheeses so little time! Somehow it always seems that each cheese has a perfect time and place for unique enjoyment. I feel about cheese the way some people feel about chocolate, it is the perfect food! I have to add that calling anything processed or coming out of a squeezable bag or spray can cheese, is an obvious misnomer!

I have wanted to try making cheese for years but have never had access to fresh raw milk of any kind and store bought milk has never convinced me of its freshness, though many people use it with good results. Now, finally, we are milking our own goats! We still have baby goats so there is no abundance of goats' milk yet but we were able to have a quart and a half put aside without babies suffering. It is time to fulfill another dream and make our own cheese.

After much research we decided on a recipe; remember both of us feel that recipes are only a suggestion open to interpretation, and though there are certain steps that need to be followed, others can be adapted. Here is the process we have chosen to start with and it goes without saying that our milk is fresh!

Step 1: Sterilise a large stainless steel pan by boiling about an inch of water for 5 minutes. Sterilise whisk.

Step 2: Add milk to empty sterilised pan and gently bring to about 69F ( Milk comes out of a goat at about 90F, so if you use milk fresh from the animal you will probably not need to heat it.)

Step 3: Add cultured buttermilk to the milk and whisk. We used 2 Tablespoons to a quart and a half of milk.

Step 4: We decided to use vegetable rennet because it was what we had, but other options are animal rennet, junket rennet, some recipes call for lemon or lime juice, even vinegar. Two drops of vegetable rennet added to a couple of spoons of water. Stir into milk.

Step 5: Cover the cultured and renneted milk and set to one side for 24 hours. The setting time will vary according to the temperature, taking longer the cooler the temperature. You will be looking for about 1/4-1/2 an inch of whey on top of the curd. This part was very frustrating! I wanted to make cheese.... NOW.... not hurry up and wait, it seems I must learn patience yet again.

Step 6: Now it is time to cut the curd. Use a knife or spatula and make parallel cuts from top to bottom about 1/2 an inch apart. Turn the pot and make another series of cuts perpendicular to the first.

Step 7: Place a tea towel or flour sack cloth in a colander and rest it above a pot to collect the whey. Then using a stainless steel slotted spoon, ladel out 1/2 inch cubes of curd into the cloth.

Step 8: Allow it to drain for 30 minutes and then tie the edges of the cloth up and use a heavy wooden spoon in the knot to allow you to hang it up in a convenient place to drip further.... overnight or until the dripping stops. I jammed ours into a cupboard above the laundry sink so it was out of the way. It is also on the north side of the house so it won't get too warm and spoil.

Step 9: Season with salt and herbs. At this point you will have to decide whether you are eager to eat your cream cheese, or whether you have the patience to add the cheese to a mould and press more moisture out of the block to make a harder cheese.

We will have to do a lot more milking and a lot more tasting and experimenting with seasonings before we can move on to hard cheeses but we have made a start and what's more, it was easy!