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Goat cheese or chèvre

How to make goat cheese and flavour it with herbs, garlic or fruit
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Homemade soft goat cheese, like chèvre, is an easy and delicious cheese for beginners. Adding flavors to goat cheese turns it into an impressive appetizer. See the section above for more information on how to flavor goat cheese.

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 1–gallon of whole goat’s milk
  • 1/2 portion of mesophilic starter or chevre starter (see notes for details)
  • 1/2 portion of rennet mixed in 1/4 cup of chlorine-free water (see notes for details)
  • 1 Tbsp cheese salt (optional)

Instructions

  1. Heat milk to 76F (24C).
  2. Add the rennet and the mesophilic culture at the same time. Stir thoroughly to ensure even mixing.
  3. Maintain at 72F (22C) for 12 hours to set the curd.
  4. After 12 hours, it will have formed a thick curd. Gently pour the entire batch into a strainer lined with butter muslin.
  5. Hang in the butter muslin for 6-48 hours, until you have reached the desired thickness. A shorter time, (6 hours) will result in a soft spreading cheese. A longer time will result in a firmer, crumbling cheese. This recipe will not result in a slicing cheese.
  6. When the cheese is finished draining, place it in a bowl. Add the salt. Additional flavors, like herbs, can either be stirred in with the salt or added on top of the cheese. See the sections above for more information on flavoring and forming the cheese.
  7. Store in an airtight container in the fridge and use within 1 month.

Notes

  • Only use half the amount of rennet that is normally used to set a gallon of milk. The exact amount will depend on whether you are using liquid rennet or a rennet tablet. Follow the instructions on your rennet package or use 1 drop of liquid rennet.
  • Chèvre is officially made with its own specific mesophilic culture. However, soft goat cheese can be made with any type of mesophilic culture, including a 1/4 cup of milk kefir or a 1/4 cup of mesophilic yogurt. For a mild-tasting cheese, don’t add any culture.

Keywords: chevre, goat cream cheese, soft cheese, easy, diy, homemade, flavoured, herb, garlic, fruit, olive

Find it online: https://www.fermentingforfoodies.com/homemade-goat-cheese/