Recipe: Make Your Own Chèvre - Goat Cheese from Grocery Store Goat Milk

I noticed a few weeks back that along with the myriad of plant-based alternative milks, the Manchester Market carries quarts of goats milk in the dairy section. I am a huge fan of goat cheese and DIY projects and so decided to make my own -- with spectacular results! For under $4 you can make your own chèvre, flavored however you like, following these few steps:

Note: Manchester Market carries ultra-pasturized goats milk which works okay, but if you have access to non-ultra-pasturized goats milks, you will have even better results. 

Ingredients

1 quart goats milk

1/4 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice

salt - to taste

fresh herbs or other flavoring agents (optional)

Step 1. Heat milk to 180 degrees F. Remove from heat and add lemon juice. After a few minutes, the milk should separate into tiny curds and watery whey.

Tiny curds have separated out from the liquidly whey due to the acid and heat.

Step 2. Line a colander with multiple layers (at least 4) of cheese cloth. You can also use a clean dish towel (only do this if you don’t use scented laundry soap or any fabric softener - otherwise you will end up with weird flavors in your cheese!) Place the colander over a bowl. Pour the milk into the colander.

Step 3. Once most of the liquid has drained out, you can pull up the four corners of the cheese cloth and twist to squeeze out more liquid. You can stop here or hang the cheese cloth tied to a wooden spoon over a bowl (or sink) for a couple of hours.

You can hang the cheese over the sink, but if you hang it over a bowl you can catch the whey to use later.

Step 4. Scrap the cheese into a bowl and add salt and herbs. Stir.

Another option is to add the salt to taste (and herbs if using) while still in the cheese cloth, then twist the cheese cloth until the soft cheese is pushed into a ball in the middle, then set this in the strainer with a weight on top of it for a few hours.

Forcing the cheese into the bottom of the cheese cloth into a ball and placing it in a strainer with a weight on top presses more liquid out and results in a thicker, firmer cheese.

Step 5. Serve with crackers and/or fruit!

I added chopped fresh chives from the garden

Really delicious! on crackers.

Note: When you are done, you are left with almost a quart of weirdly fluorescent whey. This whey is mildly lemony, mildly goaty, and high in protein. You can use it in place of buttermilk in recipes. It will keep for up to 5 days in the fridge. I used it to dunk chicken drumsticks in before rolling them in breadcrumbs to make pretty amazing oven fried chicken. What I plan to do with the rest of it is use it in place of buttermilk in this buttermilk ranch dressing recipe.

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.