Today- farmhouse cheddar and whey ricotta

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Yooper

Ale's What Cures You!
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Today I used three gallons of fresh goat's milk and made an easy farmhouse cheddar, and used the whey to make ricotta. The farmhouse cheddar is in the press right now.

Right now, I have in my cheese cave:

Pepper Jack
Colby
Gouda
and more colby (that's been our favorite so far)

Last weekend, I served up some of those three cheeses, and they were a big hit. I don't think anyone even guessed it was goat's milk. I need to make more chevre and feta with next week's milk.
 
yooper since your the only on whos making that i know in michigan what kind of milk are you using? all i can find locally is ultra-pastuerized.
 
Right now I only have a Cheddar in the cave. I did have two big wheels of Camembert that were just about ready to eat and then I realized the other day when I was checking on them that they were infested with flying bugs. Not sure what kind. Doesn't really matter does it? Nasty as hell. I threw them into the outside garbage can. Very disappointing.

I have no idea how this happened. Where they came from but it worries me for future soft cheese endeavors. Hard waxed cheeses, no problem, but I think I'll stay away from the soft, aged ones for a while.

This ever happen to you, Yoop?
 
Maggot cheese is a delicacy in some parts of the world you didnt have to throw them out.

Apparently not in my particular corner. :( I just got done cleaning out the trashcan that the cheese had melted into. I'm still gagging a little from the violently nauseating smell.
 
Apparently not in my particular corner. :( I just got done cleaning out the trashcan that the cheese had melted into. I'm still gagging a little from the violently nauseating smell.

Next time throw that bad cheese in the freezer until garbage day. Saves your stomach from those nasty garbage cans during the heat of summer. :D
 
gross..
can you wrap it in some thing like a paper bag
that should breath a litttle
and get one of theos
bug lites you seem in the corner of every fast food joint and at ever bakery and supermarket thay kill all the flys fast.
 
Next time throw that bad cheese in the freezer until garbage day. Saves your stomach from those nasty garbage cans during the heat of summer. :D

Yea, I knew I had made a huge mistake the second it plopped on the bottom of the empty trashcan. My only thought at the time was that I must get this out of my house and hands instantly or I will be cleaning up vomit along with cheese and flies.
 
yooper since your the only on whos making that i know in michigan what kind of milk are you using? all i can find locally is ultra-pastuerized.

Oh, I use fresh goat's milk. I don't buy anything commerically, so I don't know what's available. I "own" part of a goat herd, so I get 8 gallons of milk a month from her.

Right now I only have a Cheddar in the cave. I did have two big wheels of Camembert that were just about ready to eat and then I realized the other day when I was checking on them that they were infested with flying bugs. Not sure what kind. Doesn't really matter does it? Nasty as hell. I threw them into the outside garbage can. Very disappointing.

I have no idea how this happened. Where they came from but it worries me for future soft cheese endeavors. Hard waxed cheeses, no problem, but I think I'll stay away from the soft, aged ones for a while.

This ever happen to you, Yoop?

No problems with bugs so far, but I can see how it could happen. Once the cheese sits out, it's just open to the environment. Maybe find a way to cover it, but still let it breathe, just to keep critters away from it.
 
No problems with bugs so far, but I can see how it could happen. Once the cheese sits out, it's just open to the environment. Maybe find a way to cover it, but still let it breathe, just to keep critters away from it.

I was thinking about it and thinking nah, the cheese was covered the whole time, even when it was compressing in the mold I had cheesecloth draped on it but at day three the recipe suggested that I respray with mold, so I took the cheeses outside, at night, near an outdoor light, to spray them. I was batting away bugs from my face the whole time.

Think that might of done it? ;)

Anyway I'm getting very discouraged with my cheese attempts. My mozzarella isn't as good as the local Italian Market. And I lost this camembert that I had very high hopes for.

I really liked the fromage blanc a lot but we threw out at least half of it after we ran out of ideas to serve it. You can only eat so many blintzes and crepes.

All my cheese hopes are now resting on this cheddar in the wine fridge. If it is not at least as good as land'o'lakes packaged cheddar I'll probably scrap the hobby.

I'm finding this is not like beer and coffee roasting hobbies where even my less than stellar products are better than most everything in the market.
 
Dontman,

Dont give up. I had several abysimal failures before I got my process dialed in. If you can get ahold of some fresh, raw milk, you will be plesantly suprised with the change in quality.
 
I can get raw milk just down the street. $9 a gallon though! It had better be some kick butt cheese for that. That Camembert was made from 2 gallons of the $9 milk. At the time I figured no problem $18 plus $4 for mold $22 is a bargain for 2 1/2 lbs of Camembert.
 
Maybe find a way to cover it, but still let it breathe, just to keep critters away from it.

Try using a fine metal mesh strainer inverted over top of the cheese. We bought several of these the other day and they are fairly inexpensive and come in many different sizes. You can also add cheesecloth over top of the strainer for an additional level of protection. Your cheese still ages but the flying nasties can't get to them.

Salute! :mug:
 
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