Homemade Goat Cheese!

So about 2-3 months ago I found this really easy recipe for making your own goat cheese. I can't have cow milk products, so I've been enjoying goat milk tremendously. This recipe doesn't require that expensive rennet enzyme like your average cheese recipe, so I thought it was a good place start. I hadn't tried it yet for two main reasons: (1) our freezer's been stocked with goat cheese from our trips to Austin's Whole Foods, so why make it? and (2) they don't sell cheese cloths at Wal-mart, our main grocery station.

A few weeks ago, I removed both road blocks when I used the last of the delish mozzarella goat cheese (nom nom, yum) and we found cheese cloth at HEB. So this past Sunday I decided to take the plunge.

Now, keep in mind I've never made cheese of any kind before, so I felt a little helpless at times when the recipe called form me to make a judgement based on milk consistency. It's a lot like making candy: the look and feel are important.

So, I followed all of the directions about heating and adding lemon juice...

Side track...

Kevin and I went to Sam's Club on Saturday to pick up a few things, and I remembered that we were out of lemon juice. So we went to the cooking aisle thinking, if we find a container of lemon juice that's not too ridiculous in size we'll get it. Well the containers they had weren't bad (about half gallon), but they came in groups of two. We decided, might as well. So we now have about a gallon of lemon juice. Stop by our place if you ever need some.

Back to the main story...
Then the recipe said that the milk will be ready to strain in about 20 seconds after adding the lemon. The milk will curdle, the directions said, but not look like cottage cheese curdle. Okay, when I think curdle, I think lumps of some size, any size. I wasn't seeing lumps of any size in my lemon milk. So I chalked it up to a failed experiment and decided to let the milk cool on the stove and then use solution for ice cream.

30 minutes later...
I stick my finger in the milk and notice this fine white sand-grain sized pieces. Huh? Maybe that's what the recipe was talking about. So I pour the mixture into the cheese cloth (folded over about 6 times), and viola! Cheese! I took pictures, but they're not accessible at the moment so I'll have to post them next week. The pictures seen here are from other Web sites.

The cheese has the consistency of cream cheese and it's really mild in flavor! I also added in some fresh rosemary from our garden and a sprinkle of garlic powder. The only thing bad about this recipe is the waste. Lots of whey went down the drain and the quart of milk made less than a cup of cheese. Now I'm not sure if this is generally what happens with all cheese production, so I'm thinking that my next step is to get my hands on some rennet and try again with a new recipe.

On the running front...
I ran my first sub-9-minute-per-mile pace this past Monday. Wahoo!!! I've never run in the 8's before, so I must have hit a new mile marker in running. I ran 2 miles in 17 minutes and 13 seconds! The temperature when I got back home was 79 degrees. Way cooler than July, but still not quite cold, so there's hope that I'll go even faster once the temperature drops some more. Yes!!!!!