Making Chevre

I finally had saved up enough goat milk to make a gallon a milk so I decided to make Chevre.

Culture Packets

Above is a picture of the culture packets I ordered from the Cheese Making Co that you add to your milk to make the cheese.

First I pasteurized my cheese which is recommended since it is a soft cheese.  You just need to heat your milk to a certain temperature for a certain amount of time.  I then let the milk cool to 86 degrees and mixed in the culture packet.  The you just put a lid on the pot and let it sit for 12 hours.

Chevre cheese curds

Above is what your milk looks like after the 12 hours.  Next you gently ladle to curds into a cloth lined colander to get out the whey (liquid). 

Chevre cheese curds in cloth to drain

Next you hang it to drain.  Depending on the creaminess of the cheese you want will depend on how long you hang it for.  I hung mine for about 3 hours

Chevre cheese curds hanging to drain

Once it is at the consistency you want, I separated mine into two dishes.  We flavored one dish with Good Seasons Dry Italian Dressing mix and the other dish with Hidden Valley Ranch dry Farmer's Dill mix.  Both tasted delicious

The cheese tastes exactly like the spreadable flavored pub cheese Aloutte.  I did notice that a few days later the cheese had firmed up a little more so I just added some milk into the cheese to make it creamy again.

Even my best friend Jackie loved it and she had never had goat cheese before.

Jackie enjoying Chevre on crackers.