Making Chevre

Jay is so right on the cheescloth thing. I buy a bunch from New England Cheesmaking and then I wash it in the dishwasher and reuse....


Ginger

Dishwasher... great idea!

I don't have one of those, so I rinse thoroughly and boil the cloth. =0)

Once you've made your yogurt, then you can just use a bit of it for your next batch... sort of like sourdough starter, only different. LOL But that's another story.

I don't add dry powdered milk anymore... for all I know it is dried milk from China. I DO make my yogurt with whole milk; after it has cooled and the culture added, I put it in half pint canning jars and use my Excalibur dehydrator to warm it enough to set. Then screw the tops on tight, cool to room temp. and refrigerate.

That way I have individual servings ready to grab, and the Excalibur does a good job of keeping the temp. steady while I'm making it. (While the heated milk is cooling down, I test the dehydrator with a thermometer to see what setting keeps the temp. I want.)

One word of caution: I like the taste of Greek and Bulgarian yogurts, but they don't work for me as a starter culture. Not sure why.

I use "butter muslin" (from New England Cheesemaking Supply) to drain everything, even berries when I'm making jelly. Wash in hot soapy water, rinse with a tsp. of vinegar in the water, and dry for re-use. The fruits stain the muslin so those pieces only get used for fruits.

Interesting... we've used oikos yogurt with no problem. Are you using ultrapasteurized milk? We haven't been and I'm wondering if that's the difference.

Not UP milk that I know of... but it's been over a year since I made it. I'd love to find raw milk...

tougher and tougher to find unless you got your own milking animal. I m still trying to find a shareherd around my area. nothing yet they are all in the amish country side which is to far for me. :( some day :)

Call your local 4H extension office and see if there are kids with goats/cows/sheep that are milking. There should be.... It's baby season. You can buy private from them. If you were in Oregon I could get you all the milk you wanted!



Ginger

That's a great idea, Thanks.

This thread was very helpful to me. I love Fromage Blanc and I had not found a recipe for it here in the US that was accurate until I went scoping out somthing for this thread and found that one on New England Cheesemaking.

I am excited. I am going to make it soon!!!!


Ginger

This may sound strange but do you think I could make the yougurt in my incubator?

Hmmm good question Cajun.
Ginger sounds like your on the road to cheese making :) good idea on the 4H . Never thought of that .

Cajun...
I'll bet you could use your incubator. Folks use all sorts of set-ups... yogurt's not fussy like cultured cheeses. I'll bet if you could get the temp anywhere between 100 and 120, you'd be in fine shape.

I think a person could put a cookie cooling rack over a heating pad set on low, put the container of yogurt on the rack and cover the whole deal with a thick towel and it'd work. I've heard of folks using electric blankets, but that's seems kind of overkill for a quart of yogurt. LOL

The warmer the temp, the faster the set. The cooler, the slower. For myself, I've found I prefer cooler, as it's too easy to get tart yogurt with a higher temp and I'm not fond of tart yogurt.

Ginger, I've been curious about the Fromage Blanc... let us know how it goes! Do you have Ricki Carroll's book yet? OMG, to die for!

I already wanted a root cellar, now I'm dreaming of a root cellar/cheese cave combo...

LOL

LOL....

We have a 14 x 14 x 8 concrete in ground cistern that we do not have water rights to fill anymore...

I have been eyeing a backhoe and a concrete sawing company lately. I want a DOOR.....


Ginger

OOOOOooooooo....
=0)

The concrete bunker/cistern sounds promising!

I'm fortunate that I have both a spring house and a root cellar. The spring house might be perfect to grow mushrooms, but as it's not insulated, cannot be used for winter food storage or cheese. I thought about the root cellar for cheese, but in reality I need 2 root cellars... one with low humidity, and one with high humidity for storing different foods. It's not large enough to divide.

If we get a backhoe in here in a year or two to dig out a spot to extend the tiny back bedroom (when the kid's boyfriend moves up here), maybe I can afford to have an additional spot dug to extend the root cellar. Dreams are cheap.

ooooohhh aaaahhhh that would be cool :)

lets hope her boyfriend can dig holes :)

Can an excavator fit across your bridge or will it have to come through the creek? We have a root cellar at the barn but it needs a new roof. It doesn't have any shelves in it. What kind of shelves should I think about? The building is about 8x10 or 12. The roof is about 7 ft tall or so.

This message was edited Apr 16, 2009 10:10 PM

Neat! Do you have any idea how old it is? I love the old stone buildings. =0)

For shelves.... mostly it seems folks use what they can get. How humid is it in there? Looks like you've already got some ventilation.

here are some links i found for you
hope it helps
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Modern-Homesteading/1980-07-01/Root-Cellars.aspx
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/1991-08-01/Root-Cellaring.aspx
sue

Can't really tell on the humidity with the roof leaking the way it does. As to it's age, I think it is pretty old. There was an old homeplace where the barn sits now and the root cellar was part of the old homeplace. It would need a new roof, a good door and some screen over the vents to keep "visitors" away. I have thought of using it as a chicken house but that seems to be a waste of a good root cellar. It's always cool in there.

Thanks for the links. I'll check them out.

Well, you know we all have serious cellar envy, so don't even begin to think about making that a chicken coop. =0)


I know if I had such a fine old stone building, I'd be looking to put a new roof and door on it. Between produce storage, mushroom growing and future cheese cave, I'd be in an absolute dither about its potential!

I just finished reading about how ol' Charley (remember him? The old guy with the wagon bows ripped off?) hand dug a 12 x 14 foot root cellar on his new homestead to store his potatoes and onions in. Sounds like it took him about a week... it'd sure take me a might longer! LOL

What a lovely old building, lots of potential!

Shelves should withstand humidity. The ones in mine are wonky but they have been there for ages; they're probably wormy chestnut. They only go from the middle up, and my building is short like yours. My guess is that they had slatted wooden bins below to store potatoes, onions, etc. I put a bale of straw in mine 3 years ago and cover my shelves with it and bury potatoes, winter squash or whatever in the straw. I lost a few sweet potatoes one year... the veggies were touching the block walls, so now I make sure they are well buried in straw against the outside wall.

The extra space below the shelves gives me a place to drag in tender plants in pots for winter, things like my figs.

I have 3 books I bought used (and cheap) on half.com; all have some interesting tips and information. They are Root Cellaring, Putting Food By, and Stocking Up.

Here's a couple of photos

I have a window in mine, but single pane so it gets covered inside for insulation, and anyway veggies need to be stored in the dark or they will soon sprout...

ooohhh aaaaahhhh that is slick looking darius. Very envyous of the two of you.
i will look into those books you got . they sound interesting. :)

Got the new Countryside magazine today. It has something in it about root cellars but I haven't read it yet. I've been busy with the new foal and I went carting this afternoon. Then a young friend and I braided Max's mane and tail. Hez da bomb!!

oh i love Countrside !
yes he is very handsome ! oh so cute.

Jay
Have you made any more cheese lately? You have been awful quiet.