Last week I went to see Steve, our goat cheese artisan at Yellison farm and I had a stunning day with him. I helped milk the goats, hang the curd and pack some delicious crowdie.  What a day, being surrounded by so much cheese, it was heaven for a Frenchy like me!

Our first cheese making course is next week but I couldn’t wait until then; I got too excited about it and decided to have a go at making some using lemon juice  instead of rennet and starter.

It turned out better than expected and I even had some compliments from Chris and Rose!  The consistency was something like a boursin or a cheese roulé, very creamy and easily spreadable. I decided to flavour it with some new season wild garlic leaves that are just ready for harvesting in the woods at the moment.

Here is the recipe, I hope you will have as much fun doing it as I did!

Homemade goat cheese

Ingredients

1L goat milk (pasteurised or non-pasteurised but not homogenised)

¼ cup lemon juice

Instructions            

Heat the milk to 82°C, once it has reached this temperature, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the lemon juice. Let it sit for 5 minutes and you will see the curd starting to form. Poor the liquid into a muslin bag, hang it and let it drip for 2 hours.

Weigh the curd and add 2% of its total weight in salt.  Mix well and if you wish, add any herbs or spices. Store it in your fridge for few hours to a day before eating so that the flavour of the herbs can develop.

This cheese is better served cold.

It really is easy!

Note

1L of goat milk gives 800ml of whey and 190g of curd (approximately 18% of the milk is turned into cheese).

The whey with its great nutritional benefits has various uses, such as adding it to smoothies, soups, stews and bread.