Saturday, July 24, 2010

Raw Goat Cheese and Whey & Raw / Lacto-Fermented Sauerkraut

I finally got the rennet tablets and was able to make my own raw goat cheese and whey; we like it much better than the cooked stuff I demonstrated a few months ago (homemade goat cheese and whey using vinegar).
The milk is best used fresh from the goat, still warm.  If it has been refrigerated, put the gallon jug in a sink full of hot water and stir periodically till it is warm but NOT hot.  

The rennet looks like this ... you only need a small amount.  My first batch did not set right so I added a tiny bit more and that did the job good.  Gently crush it between two spoons and stir it into the milk.

It should set in about a half hour or less.  Pour into a strainer set in a bowl to catch the whey.  Here's the cheese:

And here is the whey:

The finished product ... 3 1/2qts of whey and about 2c of cheese - be sure to mix in 1t-1 1/2t of salt into the cheese.  You can also mix other things like onion flakes, Italian seasonings, or any other flavor to suit your taste.


LACTO-FERMENTATION
In the last post I did on goat cheese and whey, I listed several things to do with the whey.  One more you could do is make raw, fermented cabbage (a.k.a. raw sauerkraut or lacto-fermented sauerkraut).  Shred 1 medium head of cabbage.  Place in a bowl with 1T salt and 1/4c whey.  Pound till the juices come out good ... at least 10 minutes.  I did not have meat mallet so I used a small glass olive jar ... it worked just fine.  Shove it into a quart jar - the juice should come up over the cabbage at least a half inch.  Leave about an inch of headspace.  Set on the counter, in the counter, or wherever you'd like, for 3 days. It should start to bubble after 3-4 days. We left ours on the counter top for a little over 3 weeks before we put it in the fridge. I've heard the longer it sits in the fridge, the better it gets, though we just started doing this so I cannot make an accurate statement on that! (update - it tastes great even after being in the fridge for months).
- variation: if you do not have whey, you can substitute with one additional tablespoon of salt.

CLICK HERE FOR A BLOG POST WITH PICTURES: Sauerkraut

FYI - here is an article on Lacto-Fermentation.

1 comment:

  1. Wow that is soo cool! I love reading the different recipes and advise you give. I just wanted to let ya know that I'm giving you an award. You can find the link below for all the info. Congrats!

    :)God Bless
    http://surrenderalltoyou.blogspot.com/2010/07/sweet-blog-award.html

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