Chevre

One of my friends wanted to see how I make Chevre, so even though this cheese is soooo easy to make, I told her I would post a tutorial.

There are quite a few recipes for Chevre, the easiest one is to buy a packet of Chevre starter from New England Cheesemaking Supply. Be sure to check out the recipe tab on that page! Yum! This is the easiest method because the prep time is as long as it takes you to heat the milk to 86 degrees and add a packet of starter. This is absolutely the recipe to use if you cannot have cow milk.

New England Cheesemaking sells the Chevre starter packages of 5.

Fias Co Farm has a Chevre recipe here.

Fankhauser's Cheese Page has a recipe using ingredients you can buy from the grocery store here.

I use a recipe that I modified from Goat Cheese Plus (a yahoo group).

Ingredients:
1 gallon goat milk
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon rennet disolved in 1/4 cup unchlorinated (or distilled) water.

Directions:

Heat 1-gallon of goat milk to 86 degrees.

Add 1/4 cup buttermilk. Let rest for 30-60 minutes. 30 minutes is minimum, but if it goes longer that's okay.

1/4 teaspoon rennet dissolved in 1/4 cup cool, unchlorinated (or distilled) water.

Pour the dissolved rennet through a spoon with holes so the rennet doesn't get poured all into one spot. Doing it this way spreads out the rennet and starts the mixing process. 

Mix with an up and down motion for 1-minute to thoroughly mix rennet into the milk. 

Cover and let the milk set for 10-12 hours (overnight or all day). If your house is cool (under 72 degrees) cover the pot with a towel or put it in the oven. You can also put it in a Wonder Box.

After 10-12 hours the milk should be set. It will be thick like yogurt, but may not give a clean break. Gently pour or scoop the curds into cheesecloth, a cheese bag, Chevre cups, or plastic cups with holes.

Sometimes you can see the whey separating from the curds, like this time. But sometimes it looks just like yogurt. 

You can hang the curds in  cheesecloth, a cheese bag, put the curds in special chevre cups, or in plastic cups that have holes punched in the sides and bottoms. Punch the holes from the inside of the cup to the outside so that there aren't any little 'pokies' sticking into the cheese.

Traditional Chevre is a shaped cheese, Farmer's cheese is hung in a bag (also called 'Bag Cheese').

Here are the Chevre cups I bought from New England Cheesemaking supply. I use the canning funnel that my friend gave me so that when I scoop out the curds they slide easily into the cups without shleping over the cup rims.

The whey will drain out the small holes. It will take about 10-12 hours (overnight or all day) to drain enough for the cheese to be ready.

You can also drain the curds in a cheese bag or butter muslin (which is much better than cheesecloth). I use the arm from my cheese press to hold the bag. You can hang the bag from a kitchen cabinet knob. Don't be surprised if the house cat or dog decides that the drained whey is sitting in the bowl just for them!

If I drain it from the kitchen cabinet, this is what it looks like.

12 hours later, this is how much whey has drained from the cheese.

This is what it looks like when it comes out of the cups.

My favorite recipe is really the New England Cheesemaking Chevre starter. I like the flavor a bit better than the buttermilk recipe, but if I don't have any commercial starter, I use buttermilk. You can also use less rennet if you want to since this is really an acid ripened cheese, not a rennet cheese. (Instead of using  1/2 teaspoon of rennet you can add 2 drops of rennet to 1/4 cup uncholorinated water.)

We don't eat our Chevre plain very often, we usually add basil, onion granules, garlic granules, and salt to taste. (look here.) Here's a link to another post that has a list of different flavors you can add to chevre.

This Thanksgiving we will serve it with pepper jelly on top! Yum!

Update 10/5/11:
The name of the great canning funnel that my friend gave me is Bottle Mate Canning Funnel. You can google it and/or find it here.

Chevre

I made some more chevre last week. I really want to try making some homemade Velveeta. Here's the link for the recipe.

Instead, I just made the plain chevre again. I've been watching some of the cheesemaking and goat lists for ideas on what to flavor it with. Our favorite is onion, garlic, basil, and salt. Yum!

But here are a few other ideas:

• chipolte pepper
• onion and herb
• garlic and herb
• bacon and ranch (I think they must use the powdered ranch dressing)
• jalapeno and bacon
• a few different McCormic spice blends--one was Roasted Garlic and Sweet Pepper
• others use some of the Weber (the grill people) spice blends

Some sweet additives are:

• powdered sugar then rolled in crushed Heath bars
• powdered sugar and chocolate chips rolled in nuts (I would use pecans, but I'm sure others would like walnuts)
• plain chevre with warmed cajeta poured over the top, served with graham crackers
• cinnamon and honey used as a breakfast spread on toast

I'm sure it would work really well with any cheese ball recipes, too.

I was also told that chevre freezes beautifully, so I have 4 containers in the freezer. I'll save them for the upcoming holidays!

Chevre—update

Yum! I mixed the chevre I made over the last two days with salt and some herbs and it is delicious! I can hardly believe that I made something that tastes soooo good. I wish I lived closer to my family so I could share with them, they would all love it, too.

Here it is all ready to bring to Thanksgiving Dinner!

I added 3/4 teaspoon Sea Salt, 1 teaspoon Basil, 1/2 teaspoon Thyme, 3/4 teaspoon Garlic powder. It is so delicious that I doubt any will come home from Thanksgiving Dinner tonight.

Chevre

I am getting ready for Thanksgiving Dinner tomorrow. I'm a bit behind, but no matter! Thanksgiving will come whether I am ready or not.

Yesterday I started some Chevre for Thanksgiving. I am always trying to figure out better ways to drain the cheese. Trying to pour the whey into the cheesecloth is sometimes a bit sloppy. This seems to be the best way yet. I have a spaghetti pot that is tall and narrow. One of my wire strainers fit right into the opening. Then I lay a piece of butter muslin over the strainer.

I let the cheese drain for a while until I stop hearing constant dripping.

Here is what the strainer looks like sitting right in the spaghetti pot opening. I love how the strainer fits into the top of the pot perfectly! As if they were made to fit together for this job.

When the dripping of the whey has slowed down I twist up the muslin and put it between two dowels. Then I wrap a twist tie around the muslin and the dowels and sit it on top of the pot to finish draining for 8-12 hours depending on what consistency I want.

Actually, I drain it in the refrigerator until I remember it! Sometimes it is evening of the same day, sometimes the next morning.

Two things that make the spaghetti pot great for draining cheese is the narrow opening and the deep pot. The narrow opening allows me to use a strainer and dowels across the top. The deep pot allows the cheese drain for hours without having to check it often. If the pot is too shallow it fills up with whey quickly and then the cheese sits in the whey until I remember to take a peek at it.

My favorite chevre starter is found here (at New England Cheesemaking Supply). I love the flavor! It is perfect by itself, makes a great cheese for Chocolate Cheesecake Truffles, and is wonderful when it is mixed with herbs for a cracker spread.

Ahhh..... the magic of cheese!