Homemade Goat Cheese With Apple Cider Vinegar

Q: What’s a gal to do when her goat milk drinker is gone on vacation?
A: Make, eat, & enjoy cheese!

Ingredients

• 1-quart goat's 🐐 milk. I use local, raw, organic goat’s milk, not ultra-pasteurized)

• 1/4 cup local, organic, apple 🍎 cider vinegar

• Unrefined sea 🌊 salt to taste

I usually make 2 quarts, 1/2 gallon, at a time. A 1/2 gallon of milk makes about 8 ounces of soft cheese.

DIRECTIONS:

1) slowly heat milk to 180 degrees, stir gently on occasion. Do not boil or scorch. Use stainless steel or glass pot.

2) when 180F, shut off heat.

3) add vinegar & stir gently. Let sit 10 minutes.

4) pour or ladle into strainer that’s sitting over another pot to catch the whey.

I use a canning strainer that straddles the top of the pot, lined with cheese cloth.

I also have a yogurt strainer, it’s purpose is to strain yogurt into a cream cheese like substance.

5) I use a spoon to stir the curds in the strainer. This moves the whey through more quickly.

After stirring to get out as much liquid as possible, I empty the whey out of the pot and place the pot with strainer in the fridge.
Every 30 minutes I stir again to help drain the whey.

6) after 2-3 hours, I put the cheese into a storage bowl, add 1/4 tsp unrefined sea salt & mix in.

7) cover & keep chilled.

Add fresh herbs to your liking & enjoy.

If you save the whey when straining, you can drink it as a gut microbial enhancer. You will have a good quart and 1/2 of whey when using a 1/2 gallon of milk to make cheese, 6 cups+ of whey. I also water outdoor plants with it in my Sacred Circle Garden. My White Pine of Peace & Wisdom, Center of the Sacred Circle, usually gets most of the whey. I may regret this if the Pine tree overtakes the garden!

Sacred Circle Garden below: as many plants are in full glory of June, especially the Wild Daisies that have taken over the Garden (not complaining), it is harder to see the 4 pathways that create quadrants like a Medicine Wheel / Sacred Circle. My Whey drinking Pine Tree is in the center.

My Sacred Circle Garden is Magical & Beautiful.
It is my Sacred Heart Peaceful Space for AM coffee, PM tea, and meditative weeding & Plant Spirit Medicine Play.

Whey

Raw Goat Milk

Curds straining in yogurt strainer

Curds straining in cheese cloth lined canning strainer

Straining in the refrigerator