It took a lot of web searching, emails, and phone calls—with a couple of blind alleys thrown in—until at last I found someone in the Boston area who sells raw goat’s milk. Some of the listings on the Weston A. Price Foundation’s site turn out to be not in business or not taking on new customers.
Maybe because Boston is so settled, and its agricultural past so distant, but raw milk seems foreign to pretty much anyone I mention it to, foodies and non-foodies alike. The few raw milk sources around seem to be mostly out in the rural western part of the state, a good couple hours from me.
I was after the goat’s milk partly because of research suggesting that cow’s milk from late pregnancy may contain more hormones than I should have, and partly because I just wanted to try it. (I definitely haven’t sworn off the cow’s milk.)
It was still a 55-minute ride from where I live west of Boston to “Ladies Choice Farms” south of Boston, in Kingston, MA. There I met Beth Corbett, the goat milker and breeder (see photo of her top right, and one of her goats).
The good news is that the ride to Kingston is one of the nicer rides around Boston, about half way to Cape Cod, past salt water marshes and scrub trees. I expected something approximating a small farm, but in actuality, Ladies Choice Farms is a small bungalow set in a residential neighborhood of cape and colonial-style homes, which appear to have a half acre to an acre each.
In back of Beth’s home is what appears to be a large garage, but is in fact the goat barn, housing about 15 does, plus a half dozen or so kids, with three bucks out back. When she’s not raising and milking goats, Beth is a truck driver. But she says she usually spends four hours a day tending her goats, which she obviously feels much affection for.
She says that while I may not have met them, there definitely are people in the area interested in raw milk—that dozens search her out the way I did from both the Boston area and Cape Cod, and then traipse to her farm every couple of weeks to pick up their milk. In Massachusetts, it’s legal to sell raw milk directly from the farm.
She introduced me to several of the goats and showed me the hay she feeds them. Last summer was a bad summer for hay, so she had to scrounge around for high-quality stuff.
As for the milk, she says her French Alpine goats produce milk with a higher fat content than most goat’s milk, which she prefers since she likes to make cheese from it. It definitely does taste very similar to the cow’s milk I buy–only the slight lingering "bouquet" suggested to me it was goat’s milk.
It was a schlep to obtain my milk, but somehow it was a nice schlep. And the entrepreneur in me suspects there’s an interesting business opportunity raising goats and selling the milk in the Boston area.
If you feel inclined, cheesemaking with fresh goat milk is great fun. I’ve just started the past few weeks with a few fresh cheeses; it’s amazing how fast and easy some of them are, especially whole milk ricotta. I got a book on home cheesemaking for my birthday and the supply company (cultures, butter muslin, etc.) in your neck of the woods, too (New England. It doesn’t take much to get started.
I’m still getting my feet wet with cheesemaing. So far, I’ve tried ricotta both ways, first from whole milk, and then from fresh whey left over from making feta cheese. I’m not sure the "re-cooked" method was worth my effort – very small yield (less than 1/4 cup) and it took much longer to drain because the curds were like silt instead of coarse. If one has to be super frugal to extract every last bit of protein, I could understand making the effort, but for enough ricotta to make a cheesecake, I’ll stick to a gallon of whole milk, which yielded about 2 pounds of great cheese in far less time.
Despite my efforts to not establish this pattern, my 8 yo son has picked up the notion that dessert is an everynight event (my indulgent husband’s own English sweet tooth has something to do with that). One of my new strategies to keep desserts infrequent, relatively healthy (we are also a low carb family), and homemade so we can enjoy them without overindulging. For example, if we want cheesecake, we need to grind the nuts for the crust and make the ricotta for the cheese before we can bake it. If we want ice cream, we can have it if we make it. Consequently, our most frequent dessert is baked custard, which I can mix up in a few minutes (often with raw milk that has become a bit too sour for drinking or I need to make room in the fridge) and toss in the oven to bake during dinner. But I think my son is on to me, because when I say no dessert tonight, he says "How about custard with fruit? It’s mostly eggs". And I didn’t think he was paying attention!
The ricotta with honey or jam makes a very good desert that my son also favors. Boys will be boys, I guess.
I was out on a rare shopping day in Winchester, Va. yesterday. There are so many new shopping centers going up. I thought "who has the time and money to do all that shopping?" I was exhausted when I got home. The grocery store workers and hardware store workers seemed really disgruntled. I think if people just did for themselves a bit more, life would be more interesting for most people and better for the Earth in general.It’s a great deal nicer in my opinion to stay at home and bake bread and make cheese where you can appreciate the process than it is to ramble around like a zombie some huge grocery store. David observes that the trip to the farm was pretty, and on the whole his experience seemed rewarding and interesting. I really like for people to literally "go outside the bos" (guilty secret aside, of course).
Meanwhile, prepare a strainer lined in cheesecloth. Strain the curds, reserving the lemony whey for other uses. Rinse in cool water. Add a pinch of salt, and I like to add 3-4 cloves crushed minced garlic. Mix together with your fingers. Hang or press for about 3 hours. Can be used as a cheese on crackers, made into a dip, or as ricotta especially in stuffed manicotti, lasagna, and other similar dishes.
Paneer cheese is also used in many Indian recipes including Kofta, and added to spinach cooked in Indian spices.
It takes about 15 minutes to make, pluse time to hang.
I make the same sort of cheese with goat’s milk and it is really divine.
A couple of decades ago, I was a vegan for two years and was talked into trying garlic goat cheese made this way. I scarfed it down and started eating dairy again and never looked back.
As I understand it, ricotta is, in its true form, made from from whey left over from the making of other cheeses, i.e "re-cooked." The point, as Kirsten said, is to extract every last bit of protein from the milk. (Now there’s an attitude our Walmartized culture would benefit from adopting!)
Acid-cultured cheeses such as Linda’s paneer cheese (which we make at home from vinegar) leave very little protein behind, so the whey will not produce much if any ricotta.
Now, we make cottage cheese without acid, and the whey typically goes to the pigs. After reading this string of comments, we’ll definately try to make true ricotta from it.
Admittedly, I am new to cheesemaking. My cheesebook has at least two recipes for ricotta (both with acid). The first one I tried is from whole milk and it had a great yield, and the remaining whey was quite clear of curds and tart (I poured it on my blueberry bushes). I guess since it isn’t twice- cooked it technically isn’t ricotta, but nonetheless, it produced what I recognize as ricotta. The whole process was very fast and fun.
The second time I used the whey left over from making feta cheese, which was much milkier looking than the other whey. I heated it and added the acid, and it did not seem to separate the way it did with the whole milk. Then I realized that the curds are so small that they stayed suspended. So I ladled it into the butter muslin for straining and it took forever to strain. The tiny curds were like clay silt and they stuck to the fabric, creating a "skin" and prevented the whey from draining properly. Scraping the sides helped speed things up a bit, but it was midnight already so I left it hanging overnight. The next morning the whey had drained out and I had about 1/4 cup of what seemed like cream cheese left in the fabric. I mixed it with herbs and used it as a spread. Perhaps the feta cheese extracts too much curd to leave enough for ricotta.
I’ll try again and see if I can get a better yield.
But wow! This is fun!
I know lots of people who make cheese at home, and no one who considers himself an expert. Experts are hard to come by in this field–when they become experts, they tend to be in the cheese making business.
In my humble opinion Suzanne, you should go first to Ricki Carroll’s website:
http://www.cheesemaking.com
Wander around there a bit, then go ahead and start with a simple fresh cheese like paneer or cottage cheese. When you’re comfortable with that, move to more complicated fresh cheeses like mozarella. Then if you feel very adventurous and patient, move to aged cheeses.
If you want a good recipe for cottage cheese cultured with kefir, let me know and I’ll email one to you.
When looking for your whole foods, look to the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) for information on where to look (websites). Often times there are lists of farms in your area. Your local Extension Centers are still up and running.
Don’t forget to look towards your 4-H clubs (another USDA website). I am sure there are more around then one might imagine.
Take the time to go to the State and Local fairs. There are a great many people who love to talk about thier animals or farms and they’re always willing to use the "network" to help you find what you need.
Natural or Organic stores may have post boards with farm adverts. Last but not at all least, look for Farm Markets and perhaps a local (CSA-Community Supported Agriculture that you buy shares in) and use the current seasonal sensations. Keeps dinner and supper fresh and different.
Beth that is a great pic and a wonderful artical, keep up the great work.
I bought a copy of the book Home Cheese Making by Carroll. A great beginning book. I tried maybe 7 or 8 recipes over about a year – making cheese once or twice a month. So I probably made nearly 20 batches.
The results were mostly really amazing. I loved the cheddars especially, and learned what cheddaring is. It is an actual process used in making cheese.
A few other things I learned that might make it easier for others who want to venture into it:
Volume makes it worthwhile. Making hard (aged) cheese is labor intensive in that you do something, wait a while, do something else, wait a while, etc. for 8-12 hours. So I did it when my farmer had extra milk and could provide a whole pail (five gallons) of milk. There is just no point in doing it with less.
Be careful of the wax reheating the wax and reusing the brush may introduce bacteria you dont want. You probably need to use paraffin and not beeswax.
All my beeswax painted cheese failed.All my unwaxed cheese failed. One theory is that because I was also doing yogurt and sourdough bread there may have been too many wild things in my kitchen and the cheese was overwhelmed. I don’t know if that’s true, but it makes some sense.
Temperature for storing the aging cheese is important. Buy a good small frig just for cheese. So that makes it not such an easy hobby. I bought a cheap used dorm frig and when it died all my lovely cheese also was destroyed. Very sad to open a frig of horrible moldy smelly cheese that you carefully made and shaped by hand.
Cast iron pans make great weights for pressing cheese.You can stack them inside each other to get teh required weight.
Cheese is easier to make in the winter when it will dry. Making cheese in hot humid weather is less likely to work well.
I used old tomato cans for molds. I saved the lids to use as pushers, placed small jars on the lids, and weights on top of that. It made nice sized small cheese rounds that finished at about 1/2 pound each. I would usually do 8 cans at once. Next time I might use larger cans, and make 2-3 pound rounds.
I also had a whole batch of cheese fail because the rennet was bad. I bought it at a local store health food store Ill always do mail order form now on. They have greater turn over and probably fresher product.
Id like to try mozzarella. But Im on a long break from the other more intensive cheeses.
Good luck!
for the book and
A great web site for bacteria, rennet, books, wax, equipment, etc.
I’m just a happy customer, no other relationship!