Queso de Cabra

Last summer I began experimenting with making cheese. I purchased some supplies from the New England Cheese Making Supply Company and started with what is probably the simplest of cheeses, ricotta. I also had fun making mozarella, which must be stretched and kneaded to obtain its stringy consistency. I’ve long wanted to make goat cheese, which is one of my favorite kinds of cheese and another easy one to make since it requires no aging and does not need to be pressed like hard cheeses.

When I saw a man with two goats at the market yesterday, I knew my time had come to try making goat cheese. Apparently Friday is goat day, because I then saw several other people with two goats in tow and small bags full of cups. They generally sell by the cup, but I asked to purchase a litre (about 5 of these little cups). The milk was squeezed into a bag and I took it home, as fresh as can be, to make the cheese. Now that’s raw milk cheese! With the addition of a few teaspoons of cider vinegar and a tiny pinch of vegetarian rennet, the curds separated from the whey. After a few hours hanging in cheesecloth, the whey had fully drained and I was left with a nice, soft, mild goat cheese. I added a bit of cheese salt and freshly ground pepper for a bit more flavor, then sprinkled the cheese over a salad of tomatoes and basil from our terrace garden. ¡Que rica! The salad was part of a birthday lunch for our friend and neighbor, Furio, who’s from Italy. So this almost-Caprese salad was a nice treat. Now that I’m back in the groove of cheesemaking, I’m ready to give mozarella another go. Unfortunately, cows are a bit large to take to market every Friday, so I’ll have to settle for refrigerated milk…