Look what I made..!

Ever since we got goats last spring, I have been thinking I needed to learn to make cheese. I found the thought daunting. But today, I got brave.

First I put a quart of fresh goats milk into a saucepan. I had to heat it to 180F. My spiffy new clip on thermometer worked a treat! Once the milk was the correct temperature, I added 1/4 cup of fresh lemon juice and one drop of rennet. Stirred a tad and voila! Curds began to form!

Then I poured the milk through several layers of cheesecloth set in a colander. The curds stayed in the cloth, the whey ran through (the pigs loved the whey!)

I left the cheesecloth wrapped curds suspended over the bowl for about an hour. Then I mixed the fresh new cheese with some crushed garlic, salt and basil. Oh... it was quite delicious on crackers. I am so pleased and proud to have made cheese!