Yesterday I started a two gallon batch of Chevre, fresh cheese from goats milk. I've made several loaves from raw goat milk before, but not a fresh cheese. A fresh cheese is one that is made and meant to be eaten almost immediately. The shelf life of fresh cheeses is much, much shorter than hard cheese, even if they are kept at lower than cellar temperatures (such as your refrigerator).This particular recipe is quite simple, and I have it posted here: http://cheeseaday.blogspot.com/2009/03/two-gallon-goat-rustic-soft-loaf.html
The texture is a little more coarse than I would like. Not in a bad way, and definitely in the range that I have tasted in many 'artisan' goat cheeses, but it is something I could improve. I think this slight modification would probably produce something even better:
Recipe
- 2 gallons raw goats milk
- 1 pint cultured buttermilk
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 teaspoon liquid of rennet
Add to the form, and press with perhaps 1lbs of pressure for 24 hours.
I will try this variation next time, but as it is I have more chevre than I know what to do with. The crackers pictured above are simply slices of the cheese (which indicates it got stronger than it should, since chevre usually doesn't slice as nice as that) on a wheat cracker with lemon zest. What it really needs is a sweet component, like maybe fig or pear, but I had neither available. When tasting the cheese by itself it has a nice kick, but the flavor blends in rather quickly, and adding lemon zest to just about anything will make it better.
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