Homemade Goat Milk Chevre

Earlier this week, I attended an OMSI Science Pub about Artisan Cheese in Oregon – apparently, I am not the only one in Portland interested in making cheese.  Although, based on the questions asked after the lecture, people are primarily concerned how much mold can grow on their store-bought cheese before having to get rid of it.  The lecturer, OSU’s cheese specialist Lisbeth Goddick, said that cutting off the portion where the mold grows is sufficient (not just scraping off the mold).  Then, two more people asked about mold growing on other types of cheese.  Seriously people, if you are that concerned about it – throw that shit out!

Anyway, back in my mold-free world, cheese club had a last minute meeting on Saturday.  We decided to make a goat’s milk feta, cow’s milk ricotta, and our ole staple, mozzarella.  The ricotta failed miserably.  When the recipe says, “Do not allow to scorch,” they are not joking around.  They say it because then your cheese will taste like ass. Burnt ass.

Turns out, the cheese that was my favorite was one I didn’t even make at cheese club.  Goat’s milk chevre takes 24 hours, but was the easiest cheese I have made to date – you heat up goat’s milk (purchased at The People’s Coop) to 86 degrees, stir in the starter (from Foster and Dobbs), let it sit for 12 hours, and then drain in a cheese cloth for the next 12 hours.

It was certainly better than the campfire-infused ricotta.  And, I got to play a little with the recipes by adding herbs, salt, olive oil and garlic.

This one had a bit of olive oil, salt, and a sprinkle of Herbs de Provence.

This one was sprinkled with salt and left to marinate in a garlic-infused olive oil.  Later, I poured out the garlic and some of the olive oil and mixed in some fresh rosemary. It was delicious.

I left the remainder plain and have been eating it in omelets, salads, and spread on crackers.  I will definitely make this one again.

Oh, and in case you read my last post regarding slugs.  The death toll continues to rise over in SE Portland.  The salting method has proven to be just as sinister as I expected, with the slugs completely disintegrating after being doused, but also 100% effective.

Here is the tally:
Beer method: 2
Salting: 21!

My backyard is probably 15″ by 15″ and it is insane how many slugs live back there. Oh, I should say USED to live. Never mess with a Sicilian when death is on the line! MUAHAHAHAHA! AHAHAHA! AHA—-