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Post by elaine on Jul 5, 2016 2:13:24 GMT
I've gotten back into making goat cheese regularly in the past few months. DH has been addicted to cultured cottage cheese from Whole Foods which costs a mint. So, even though he has been suggesting it for years now, I finally got around to getting out my cheese making supplies, including my favorite cheese culture, and made cultured cottage cheese today.
It was very time consuming and at one point involves 90 minutes of stirring consistently, but in the end it was worth it. I have a container full of squeaky cottage cheese curds in the fridge now, and DH and ds #2 add a little cream to their bowl to make creamed cottage cheese - more similar to what you buy commercially.
I did set up a chair in front of the stovetop and grabbed my iPad and a glass of wine to keep me company while I stirred.
Did you cook anything new today or this week for the holiday?
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Post by alexa11 on Jul 5, 2016 2:20:54 GMT
Wow- I wish I lived close to you! I eat cottage cheese every morning for breakfast- I go through a ton of that stuff. I have never tried the one from Whole Foods.
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Post by Butterfly Momma on Jul 5, 2016 2:23:22 GMT
Sounds delicious! I love making homemade yogurt and really want to try making cheese. Have you made other types of cheeses?
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valleyview
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,816
Jun 27, 2014 18:41:26 GMT
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Post by valleyview on Jul 5, 2016 2:51:37 GMT
I will NEVER tell my DH that cottage cheese can be made!  It's always great to try new recipes that work. Congrats! |
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Post by mom on Jul 5, 2016 2:55:23 GMT
90 min of pure stirring? No way would I have done that! You arm had to be exhausted!
I made homemade strawberry bread tonight - it was so good! Why had I never thought to make it before?
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Post by elaine on Jul 5, 2016 3:17:00 GMT
Sounds delicious! I love making homemade yogurt and really want to try making cheese. Have you made other types of cheeses? Just goat cheese and feta - soft cheeses. I don't have the equipment and space to make hard cheeses - they need a separate cooler for aging, etc. If you do yogurt - which I've been doing for years - you can easily do soft cheeses and cottage cheese. You our can get starter cultures and rennet from culturesforhealth.com or cheesemaking.com. You can also make cottage cheese using vinegar, similar to making ricotta cheese, but it doesn't have the health benefits of using live cultures to for the curds. Goat cheese is really easy - easier than cottage cheese. You can even make it using powdered goat milk - it works great! |
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Post by elaine on Jul 5, 2016 3:17:24 GMT
90 min of pure stirring? No way would I have done that! You arm had to be exhausted! I made homemade strawberry bread tonight - it was so good! Why had I never thought to make it before? That sounds yummy! I love strawberries. |
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Post by papercrafteradvocate on Jul 5, 2016 3:19:16 GMT
I've made cottage cheese and while it only costs the price of a gallon of milk, some cream and vinegar---too time consuming!! Lol. It is was good though.
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Post by mlynn on Jul 5, 2016 3:53:34 GMT
90 min of pure stirring? No way would I have done that! You arm had to be exhausted! I made homemade strawberry bread tonight - it was so good! Why had I never thought to make it before? huh, hmmmm. You forgot to post the recipe! |
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Post by anniefb on Jul 5, 2016 5:44:34 GMT
Sounds yummy! I've been wondering about trying my hand at cheese making. Definitely want to try it at some stage.
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nicolep
Drama Llama
Posts: 7,080 
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Post by nicolep on Jul 5, 2016 13:32:56 GMT
Oh yum! I love cottage cheese. That sounds like a labor of love for sure!
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schizo319
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,030
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Post by schizo319 on Jul 5, 2016 13:47:13 GMT
Wow, I'm totally intrigued by cheese making. Would love to try my hand at goat cheese (especially since you said it's easy and you can use powdered goat milk), any extra info you want to share would be greatly appreciated!
I actually did try something new yesterday. I "baked" bread in the crockpot. Standard white bread recipe, around 2 hours in the crockpot (no rising time needed). The loaves came out pale and sickly looking, but I tossed them under the broiler for 5 minutes and they turned out great! I also canned 4 pints of homegrown tomatoes.
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Post by elaine on Jul 5, 2016 14:07:44 GMT
ok, so this goat cheese... You have me intrigued. How long does it take with you active? How long to age until you would want to use it? You mentioned powdered goat milk. If we are doing this for health and foodie benefits, wouldn't the whole milk be better? Are there local places that sell the supplies, or is online the way to go? Any particular recipes that you like best, get best results with or are most foolproof? Ninety minutes of stirring sounds like more than I want to sign up for, but what are the benefits to making your own cottage cheese? If there are bone benefits, well, you sold me. Also, open to any resources you may know in the greater DC region. Making goat cheese is almost identical to making yogurt - it just takes longer and you use powdered culture, instead of yogurt, for your starter. It sets up/ferments for 12 hours after you heat the milk and add the culture. Then you drain it, as you would yogurt to make Greek yogurt, for 4-12 hours. Then you salt it, season it if you want to, and can eat it right away. Like yogurt, you cannot use ultra pasteurized milk to make goat cheese - the bacteria will die instead of turning the milk into cheese. Until just a few months ago, the only liquid goat milk we could buy here was ultra pasteurized, so I used the powdered goat milk - which all the sites and books say is fine. And it was. I make a batch a week in the summer, because my youngest loves it on bread for lunch and breakfast. One local Whole Foods now sells regular level pasteurized goat milk, so I have been using that. The cheese is creamier, but it is also very expensive - $7.99 per 1/2 gallon and you need to make a gallon at a time because the product shrinks so much when you expel all the whey. So, powdered milk is fine if all your stores carry is ultra-pasteurized goat milk. The health benefits of cultured cottage cheese are the pro-biotics. So, unfortunately, not bone health (although you still are getting a good dose of calcium), but digestive system. That, and like homemade yogurt, there are no additives - you are just consuming milk and live bacteria. I shared two sources earlier - www.culturesforhealth.com and www.cheesemaking.com - both which sell supplies and have tons of great free information. Amazon is a great source of powdered goat milk if your grocery stores don't carry it. |
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mimima
Drama Llama
Stay Gold, Ponyboy
Posts: 5,017
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Post by mimima on Jul 5, 2016 15:16:30 GMT
Ooooh, yum
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mlana
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,523
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Post by mlana on Jul 6, 2016 7:49:27 GMT
That sounds wonderful!
When I was a teen, we had milk goats and cows and I was the primary milker. We made butter, but never could get any of the cheeses to come out right. Now I buy milk from a local dairy that is non-homogenized and low temp pasteurized. I've been using it to make yogurt and then I use the yogurt to make cream cheese, sour cream, and Greek yogurt. I use the whey in my baking as a substitute for buttermilk, so nothing goes to waste.
Have you seen the videos on YouTube by Gavin Webb (I think is his name?). He's an Aussie who makes cheese at home and he does the best videos on it. He has a small fridge that he has set up as a cheese cave so he can age his cheeses. He's made a lot of different types of cheese, some hard, some soft, and some semi. Also, Dale Calder has a YouTube channel and he makes cheese, too. He's in Canada and some of the sources he uses for his cultures are in the US.
I've just started making kombucha . I started my scoby from scratch last month and yesterday I started my first real batch of kombucha. I'm hoping that DH will be able to drink it and that it will help with some of his digestion issues. We'll see.
I'm also getting ready to try my hand at making some ginger syrup to flavor my water and kombucha. I love the taste of ginger beer, so I thought I'd try this.
Marcy
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Post by elaine on Jul 6, 2016 13:15:55 GMT
That sounds wonderful! When I was a teen, we had milk goats and cows and I was the primary milker. We made butter, but never could get any of the cheeses to come out right. Now I buy milk from a local dairy that is non-homogenized and low temp pasteurized. I've been using it to make yogurt and then I use the yogurt to make cream cheese, sour cream, and Greek yogurt. I use the whey in my baking as a substitute for buttermilk, so nothing goes to waste. Have you seen the videos on YouTube by Gavin Webb (I think is his name?). He's an Aussie who makes cheese at home and he does the best videos on it. He has a small fridge that he has set up as a cheese cave so he can age his cheeses. He's made a lot of different types of cheese, some hard, some soft, and some semi. Also, Dale Calder has a YouTube channel and he makes cheese, too. He's in Canada and some of the sources he uses for his cultures are in the US. I've just started making kombucha . I started my scoby from scratch last month and yesterday I started my first real batch of kombucha. I'm hoping that DH will be able to drink it and that it will help with some of his digestion issues. We'll see. I'm also getting ready to try my hand at making some ginger syrup to flavor my water and kombucha. I love the taste of ginger beer, so I thought I'd try this. Marcy Marcy, I would love to have my own milk goats and cow! It sounds like you had a rich childhood. I use my whey in everything - it is a great liquid substitute in cooking too. It gives beans, chili, soups, stews, curries, etc., an extra dollop of protein. I had kefir going a couple of summers ago, but it quickly outgrew how much I could mix into smoothies for my boys. I may start that up again since they have had a break. I've looked into kombucha, but decided to just stick with the occasional purchase from Whole Foods. It isn't as good as it would be from scratch - I hope that you will keep us updated on how it goes. If you flavor it with ginger syrup, that will be even better for your dh's digestion! I will have to check out the YouTube videos you recommended - I love learning about culturing and cheese making! |
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It's always great to try new recipes that work. Congrats!
