Making My First Goat Cheese

Recently my friend Mark Ludeman who owns Ludeman's Farm and Garden Store here in Beaverton was kind enough to gift me raw goat's milk from his huge farm in unincorporated Washington County. I do not drink alot of milk and wanted to make something special so I decided to try my hand at making goat cheese. Now I cannot wait to try it again! It was extremely easy to make and requires very little time or supplies.


Heat a quart of the goat's milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat stirring often. You need the milk to reach 180 degrees which you can test with a meat thermometer.


Once your temperature has been reached remove your saucepan from heat and add 1/4 cup of fresh lemon juice to create a reaction. The reaction will be almost immediate and the milk will begin to look "curdled". Do not expect it to look like cottage cheese or super thick immediately - it may take a few moments.


Take a collander and line it with several layers of cheese cloth. Place the collander into a larger bowl to catch the milk run off.


Ladle the milk into the cheese cloth. Tie the cheesecloth and hang slightly from a wooden spoon for an hour and a half.


Go, watch a movie...take a walk...do your nails...knit...


Removed your cheese from the cheese cloth into a bowl and add two grated cloves of garlic and whatever herbs you would like. My cheese received garlic chives, parsley and garlic chive flowers fresh from my garden. Some other ideas are oregano, thyme, sage, rosemary...