Chevre (Goat Cheese) Recipe

Acidify & Heat Milk

Begin by warming the milk to 68-72°F (20-22°C). You do this by placing the milk in a pot or sink of warm water or, if fresh from the herd, allow the milk to cool naturally to this temp for an hour or so. Ricki suggests heating to 86F but I find that in the summertime 72°F works well for me here and slows the acid production and curd formation down for a more even textured curd. In the winter time I have used the 86F as a starting point but rarely find good goats milk then.

Once the milk is at the correct temperature the Chevre culture can be added. To prevent the powder from caking and sinking in clumps, sprinkle the powder over the surface of the milk and then allow about two minutes for the powder to re-hydrate before stirring it in.

Coagulation

The milk now needs to sit quiet for 6-12 hours while the culture works and the rennet coagulates the curd. The thermal mass of this milk should keep it warm during this period. It is OK if the temp drops a few degrees during this time. The longer the curd sets the more acid will be produced.

Drain Curds & Release Whey

When a good curd has formed, you will see a thin layer of whey over the curd mass and the curd may show cracks and separation from the sides. It will also show a clean break when tested with a knife or finger.

This curd can now be transferred to a butter muslin lined colander with a ladle or slotted spoon to allow the whey to drain. The amount of time needed for draining will be about 6 hours at 68-72°F but this is dependent on what you want as Chevre-less time for a sweeter and moister cheese and more time for a drier and tangier cheese. Remember that the bacteria is still working and as long as the whey is present they are able to convert the lactose (in the whey) to lactic acid.

The time of draining and the temperature of the room determine how much whey drains from the curd. The draining period regulates the body characteristics and determines the final quality of the cheese. This period can be as much as 12-36 hours at a temperature of 68-72°F. Higher temperatures promote gas formation and excessive moisture loss; lower temperatures inhibit whey drainage and produce a very moist cheese with very short shelf life.

Salting & Finishing

Once the cheese has drained to your preference, it is time to salt the cheese and refrigerate your finished Chevre. About 1.5-2 tsp. of the cheese salt will be good. The salting will help the flavor but more importantly it will slow/stop the bacteria from producing excessive acid.

This is also the time that fresh herbs or spices (use your imagination) can be added and mixed in well with the salt.

Now your fresh Chevre needs only to be chilled ASAP to further slow the bacteria from working.

Just store this in a bowl with a cover and it is ready for eating or cooking. As with any fresh cheese it will be best consumed in a week to ten days.

Molding the Chevre

The Chevre can be molded into forms either before or after draining. There are a variety of forms that can be used for making the Chevre into wonderful compact shapes. Two hours after forming, a quarter teaspoon of kosher salt is added to the top of each cheese in its form. In the morning the cheeses can be turned and returned to the forms. Another quarter teaspoon of salt is sprinkled on top. The cheeses are then left until the late afternoon when the cheeses are removed from the forms and placed on drain matting set on open air shelving in a 60-65°F room with a fan to move air over the cheeses.

Surface Treatment & Aging

The Chevre is finally unmolded and allowed to ripen with the added surface ripening cultures. As these cheeses age, molds will grow on the surface producing enzymes that change the pH and general curd structure from the surface inwards.

This includes:

1. Natural yeast and molds from the environment that will form a natural mottled surface of white and blue molds as seen in many French style farmstead cheeses.
2. Adding a commercial culture of Geotrichum and P.candidum as a combo to the milk at the same time as the base culture for a velvety white surface upon aging or even Geotrichum in a solo addition for a unique moist wrinkled surface.
3. An Ash coating to the cheese surface when mixed with the salt and the combo in #2 above. This forms a very beautiful jet black layer which is quickly over grown by the velvety white of the P.candidum.
4. The ash functions to lower the acid level and speed up the ripening of the cheese. When cut this cheese provides a very beautiful presentation. Velvety white surface with a thin black line and snow white curd becoming somewhat translucent as it ripens from the surface inwards.
5. Simply rolling the surface in chopped, herbs, spices, or even flower petals for a unique appearance and flavor. Many combinations of these can produce wonderful compatible flavors.
6. If ripening cultures are added, the cheeses should be turned over the second day and then left until there is visible mold growth on the surface. This should take three to five days. When there is growth, turn the cheeses over and move them to a more humid place at 45-48°F and 90% relative humidity with a gentle air flow. Turn the cheeses daily until they are completely covered with white mold (about ten days after forming the cheeses).

The cheeses are generally ready to eat in two to three weeks and can be ripened longer as flavor develops.

Ripened goat cheese, which represents perhaps 10 percent of America's total goat cheese production, is aged for about four weeks, just long enough for a skin to develop, as with Brie or Camembert. This brief aging evaporates moisture, giving the cheese a pleasantly chalky texture and a tangier, more concentrated flavor than that of fresh cheese.

Even lower in moisture and more concentrated in flavor is aged goat cheese. It makes up only about 5 percent of all goat cheese produced in the United States because it requires six months or so of aging.

All in all I think these options should inspire the goat cheese producers to experiment and provide many sessions of fun in making cheese.

This should be plenty to keep everyone busy until next month when I return from the Slow Foods Cheese Festival in Bra Italy and visits to cheese makers in Italy and France.