Double Cream Goat Cheese

Whew! It's been a busy week so far! But it's supposed to rain today and tomorrow so maybe I'll get a chance to get caught up on some inside work. Right now dairy and gardening have been consuming my life. (In a good way though) And I've been trying to revolve our meals around the spring abundance.

I'm so excited to share that I've finally perfected our goat cheese recipe. And it falls back to my standard cooking motto...when all else fails...add FAT! Or in this case cream. The goat cheeses I've made in the past were just sort of bleh! I mean...not terrible but nothing to write home about. They lacked that goat-y zing that makes goat cheese taste like goat cheese, and they were dry, especially after they'd been refrigerated...almost to the point of squeaky curds. 

I've been separating 2 or so gallons almost every other day into cream for butter and other products. So I decided to try a goat cheese with half cream, half whole milk. Lemme tell you! Whhooowheee! This is some good goat cheese! It's the first time I've made goat cheese that tastes better than something you'd buy at the store.

It's super creamy and because the milk was initially heated to 90 degrees to be separated, that warmth has brought out a delicious goat tang.

Making this goat cheese is just about as easy as it gets. I heated equal parts of goat cream (For more information about separating the cream from goats milk click here, Goat Butter)and whole milk to 180 degrees in a pot on the stove. Then I drizzled in enough apple cider vinegar to separate the curds. You don't need much. I just glug a little at a time until the curds separate. Then I pour it through a sieve lined with butter muslin to collect the curds. Let it sit until it dries out a bit and salt to taste with cheese salt add herbs, pepper whatever you like!