Homemade Goat Cheese: easy, frugal and delicious!
Why do I love this homemade goat cheese? Let me count the ways:
- It doesn’t require any special rennet or special cheese-making ingredients
- It only requires a few minutes of hands-on time
- It is raw, so it is chock full of live and beneficial enzymes
- It is packed with gut-healing probiotics
- It is completely lactose-free due to the preparation method
- It is easy to digest, even if you usually can’t tolerate dairy
- It is suitable for the specific carbohydrate diet, GAPS Diet and primal diets
- It is an excellent source of protein and healthy fats
- It is gosh-darned tasty
It starts with goat milk yogurt…
Goat mik yogurt is a staple in my diet. I ferment the yogurt for a full 24 hours, and this allows the probiotics to completely consume all of the lactose (milk sugar) in the milk. The resulting yogurt is lactose-free and very easy to digest. I recommend homemade, raw milk yogurt to almost everybody. Raw dairy is a very healing food due to the bioavailable vitamins, calcium paired with cofactors and the cellularly-protective saturated fat content. Even those who are lactose-intolerant can usually enjoy raw cow’s milk without a problem. Raw goats milk is even more digestible and is suitable for those who have a cow milk allergy.
You have a couple of options when making this homemade goat cheese. First, make the yogurt yourself as described below. This will allow you to have a raw goat cheese. Alternatively, you can start with purchased goat milk yogurt (you can usually find it in health food stores). In that case, the final product will not be raw since purchased yogurt is made from pasteurized goat milk.
If you don’t have access to raw goat milk or goat milk yogurt, you can use this technique with cow milk or purchased cow milk yogurt.
How to make homemade goat cheese
First, prepare a batch of raw goat milk yogurt according to my yogurt tutorial here. Like I mentioned, you can skip this step and start with purchased goat milk yogurt.
Next, it is time to drip the yogurt to separate the whey from the milk solids. I recommend purchasing a cotton cheese bag made specifically for this purpose. Before each use, soak the cheese bag in boiling water for 30-60 seconds (this softens and sterilizes the bag). Remove it, let it cool, and gently squeeze out the excess water (don’t wring the bag, though).
Then, place a fine-mesh strainer over a tall bowl. Line your strainer with the cheese bag and pour in your yogurt. Place this in the fridge for 12-24 hours. The whey will drip into the bowl below, leaving the thickened goat cheese in the bag. Scrap out the goat cheese from the bag and pour in more yogurt, until you have used all the yogurt. (You can save the mineral-rich whey and here is a list of things to do with whey from The Prairie Homestead.) I get about 2/3 – 3/4 cup goat cheese from 4 cups of yogurt.
Are you a fan of goat cheese? Do you have access to raw goat milk (I know it can be hard to find)? Remember, ask around at your farmer’s markets to locate a source of goat milk.
This looks DELICIOUS! I’ve heard of a goat dairy in my area that I’ve been thinking of visiting. I can’t wait to make yogurt and this cheese! Thanks for sharing.
I’m glad you have the access to goat milk… it can be harder to find. Enjoy the recipe!
I love goat cheese!
Lauren I have a quick question for you. I bought the great lakes gelatin through amazon and got it this week. I am so excited to starting adding it more to my eats.
I made some tea gelee and also gelees with blackberry juice (fruits from my backyard!)
I wanted to ask if you ever added the gelatin powder to smoothies?? Would that be too weird?
I like to blend smoothies sometimes with lots of ice and make kinda of an ice cream in the afternoon (you know, like banana soft serve ice cream?), and I was wondering if adding a bit of gelatin powder would be good, maybe help thicken up besides the good properties it have?
Thanks
Ana
Hi Ana! I actually have an ice cream/milkshake recipe that I use gelatin in, and I will post it soon. You can add the red carton of Great Lakes gelatin to liquids if the liquids are cold. It doesn’t dissolve well in warm liquids. I think it would work well in a smoothie. The green carton of Great Lakes gelatin, this one: http://amzn.to/1bhypBH, is designed to dissolve well in hot or cold beverages (but it doesn’t have the gelling properties of the red carton).
could you send the recipe to me by email?! Just so I can have an idea of how much to add and how you proceed with it?! By no means I want to steal your idea/recipe or anything, I just would like a guidance to try on my shake 🙂
I really like your blog and recipes!
Ana
Thanks Lauren!
I am looking forward to your ice cream/milkshake recipe now!!!
I have the red carton. Will try this afternoon to add to my shake and I will let you know how it turns out!
Ana
Thanks. I make this one too. I believe this type of cheese is called labna.
You have a wonderful site.
I have a question…is the final product tart like yogurt or cheesy? I made yogurt from cows milk this week and also strained the whey through a cheesecloth lined strainer but the “recipe” I followed referred to the final product as greek style yogurt. It reminded me a little of sour cream in tartness. What I am trying to figure out is, is it greek yogurt or goat cheese if you start with raw goat milk?
This is Greek yogurt, not goat cheese.