Caprine cooking with Mary Jane Toth

Caprine cooking with Mary Jane Toth:
Editor's Note: Without a doubt, Mary Jane Toth is my hero. When I first embarked on my
own dairy goat journey 20 years ago, she was there, in my kitchen, in the form of her first
.:book, Caprine Cooking, encouraging me on in my quest to make use of all that wonderful
goat milk my does were producing.
Now she has done it again. Just last week I got a copy of her new book, A Cheesemaker's
Journey, and once again I am inspired to raise and produce dairy goats, and create won.. derfulness with all that excepttonot.rnilk.
, . This time, every thing .in Mary Jane's book is easy to' understand, recipes are graded on
a level of one to five for difficulty; and the spiral bound back and delectable pictures make it
very hard to put down!
1can't wait until my own goats produce extra milk this spring because Mary Jane has put
into print the culrnlnotton of my dreams, and those, I am sure; of many others.
It is with great opprecictlon I announce here that Mary Jane Toth has agreed to run a
regular column in Dairy Goat Journal, explaining how to make goat milk cheese and other
products, shoring her vast experience in the industry, and highlighting recipes that have
worked for her for decades.
, ".Her new book is cvclloble from the' Dairy Goat Journal Bookstore (1-800-551-5691;
www.
dOirygoatjournaLcom), and her oersoncltouch .on.ccprtnecooklnqwlth-be
available for
. many issues to' come, right here in Dairy Goat Joumoi ':
Chevre French-Style
Soft Cheese
This is a versatile style soft cheese.
A great cheese to make when you have
a home dairy and you are up to your
eyeballs in milk. It can be used to make
anything you would use cream cheese
for and it freezes very well. Of all the
cheeses that you can learn to make,
this is an absolute must. Because of its
versatility it has hundreds of uses.
Supplies:
>f:,I5-6quart stainless pot
>fa Thermometer
that can read
80°F
>fa.Cheesecloth (muslin type-this
is not what is sold in grocery stores as
cheesecloth)
>f;I.Large
spoon to stir pot
~ Some place to hang the cheese
to drain
Recipe:
5 quarts whole goat milk
1/8 teaspoon mesophilic culture
or chevre culture
2 tablespoons diluted rennet (Dilution is 3 drops liquid rennet into
1/3 cup of cool water.)
DAIf/1"
GOAT IOu/INAL.
Mtll'Ch/April 2012 •
Warm the milk to 80°F. Sprinkle
the culture over warmed milk and
stir well. Add the diluted rennet and
stir well again. Cover and let set undisturbed for 8-12 hours. Cheese
is ready to drain when it looks like
thickened yogurt. It mayor may not
have a film of liquid on the top. Pour
into a cheesecloth lined pan and hang
to drain for 6-8 hours. Draining can
be hastened if you take down the bag
of curds and scrape the inside of the
bag towards the center, hang to finish
draining. Cheese is drained enough
:.,
when it reaches the consistency of
cream cheese.
Tips:
• If used as plain soft cream
cheese, salt at a ratio of one teaspoon
of kosher salt per pound.
• If freezing, freeze plain, unseasoned. I measure and freeze in onepound packages. Flatten the packages to make them easier to stack
in the freezer. This also makes them
easier to unthaw and use for specific
recipes.
• 2 cups equals 1 pound
Make a difference in your herd with the only humane way to milk with a
machine. Consider the improvements in the goat herd of John Hall, supplier
to the Beekman Boys. The same goats in 2011 milked with CoPulsation™
yielded 20% more milk with substantially improved SCC compared to 2010 with
a conventional system. We have proven goats will yield more milk and that the
SCC limit can be significantly reduced by using a CoPulsation ™ system.
Discover for yourself that goats will milk completely without milk wetted teats and
without pulling down on the cluster.
,''{. www.Facebook.com/CoPulsatioll
J
.'.'
C
www.oPulsation.com
",,,,,,,.DI1i>yGol1fjollmfl/.collI
CoPulsation ™ Milking System
LR Gehm, LLC 607-849-3880
3;
d-tow ,to Choose
By
MARY JANE TOTH
'P
robably the most often asked
question from new cheese
makers is how to choose a
culture. This can be a daunting task,
but made much simpler when you
have a basic understanding of how
and why the cultures work. I hope you
find the following information useful
in choosing which cultures you need
to be successful in your home cheese
making endeavors.
It's important to understand why
you need a culture. The purpose of
the culture is to raise the acidity of the
milk, which helps the rennet to set the
cheese as well as aiding in preserving
and developing the flavor during the
aging process.
Milk is a perfect medium for good
and bad bacteria. The culture inoculates the milk with the good type of
bacteria, which multiply by consuming the lactose (milk sugar) in the
milk. The result raises the acidity and
once the good bacteria have taken hold
in the milk they help prevent the bad
bacteria form gaining a foothold. It's
like a war between the good and bad.
The good win the war when they can
quickly outnumber the bad.
.Basicinformation
Cultures can be broken into two
types: mesophilic and thermophilic.
Choosing either a thermophilic or
mesophilic will depend on the type of
cheese that you are going to make.
Mesophilic is a non-heat loving
culture and is used for making cheeses
that are not heated to more than 102°F.
This is the most common and is used
to make 90% of the variety of cheeses.
This would include soft cheese, chevre,
blue cheese, feta, cottage cheese, farmers cheese, Colby, cheddar, Camembert, brie, cultured buttermilk, and
38
a CuLture
sour cream, ere,
Thermophilic is a heat loving culture and is used to make cheeses that
can be heated to 130 degrees. This is
used in most Italian cheeses such as
Parmesan, provolone, mozzarella and
Swiss,Monterey jack, etc. Yogurt is also
made using a thermophilic culture.
Many varieties of these two types are
available with names such as flora dancia, lactoccus bulgarius etc. No matter
what types of fancy names are specific
to that culture it will still fall into one
of the two types of culture. This simply means that they can have different
strains of bacteria, which can produce
slight differences in taste. I have used
several with results pretty much the
same and with no big noticeable difference in taste in the end product. No
matter what it's called, mesophilic will
always be a mesophilic and the same is
true of the thermophilic.
freeze dried DVI
or reculturable:
Which type of culture
should you use?
Another question asked often is
choosing between making a mother
culture and using a DVI culture. All
cheese cultures will come as a freezedried packer. Keep them frozen for
long-term storage.
[)VI Culture:
DVI stands for "direct vat inoculant"; this is added directly to the
milk, usually at a rate of 1/8 teaspoon
for each gallon of milk. The freezedried packet can be kept in the freezer
for several months . .I have been using
one from my freezer that is about five
years old. Just make sure to keep it
double bagged in good freezer bags.
The advantage to the DVI culture is
that it can be kept in the freezer for
long periods of time. It's very handy
for the average home cheese maker
who is not making cheese on a daily
basis. DVI cultures are definitely my
preference. They are more convenient
and produce more consistent results.
Even large cheese making plants now
use them.
'Reculturoble or
Mother culture:
Must first be cultured in sterile
milk before it can be used. This type
of culture can be recultured by saving some from the previous batch to
make the next batch. This can be kept
going for a long time but the biggest
drawback is that it will only keep in
the refrigerator for about three days or
it can be frozen in cubes for about a
month. This means that you will need
to be diligent about reculturing it so
that the live bacteria are kept viable.
It will not last forever. If not properly
recultured on a regular basis it can
produce inconsistent results.
Chevre Spreadable Cheese
Chives & Garlic
1 lb. soft goat cheese
2 teaspoons dried chives or 2 tablespoons fresh chives
1 teaspoon kosher salt
V2 teaspoon garlic powder
Mix ingredients together. Shape
into logs or balls. Refrigerate.
Dill
1 lb. soft goat cheese
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 teaspoons dill weed
Mix together and shape into balls
or logs. Refrigerate.
Dill & Garlic
1 lb. soft goat cheese
teaspoon garlic powder
Ij2
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 teaspoons dill weed
only in the sesame seeds. Refrigerate.
Mix together well, roll outside of
cheese in parsley if desired or decorate
with pickle slices or dill weed. Refrigerate.
french Onion
1 lb. soft goat cheese
3 tablespoons
dried
minced
on-
ion
1 teaspoon
kosher salt
Reconstitute dried onion in warm
water. Squeeze out excess water before
measuring onions for this recipe. Mix
ingredients together well and shape
into logs or balls. Refrigerate.
french Onion 'Pepper
Make French Onion as in above
recipe. Shape cheese into ball or log.
Roll outside into. cracked black pepper or seasoned pepper. Refrigerate.
Seasoned Chevre
Cheeses: Garlic
1 lb. soft goat cheese
1teaspoon kosher salt
1teaspoon garlic powder
Mix ingredients together.
Taco Cheese
1 lb. soft goat cheese
1 teaspoon kosher salt
14 teaspoon garlic powder
1 can tomato paste, 6 oz.
1 tablespoon dried mined onion
14 teaspoon red pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
Optional: 1 chopped hot pepper
or hot sauce to taste
Reconstitute dried onion, squeeze
out excess liquid. Mix the garlic powder, red pepper, salt, chili powder, onion and tomato paste into the cheese.
Add chopped hot pepper or sauce
if desired. Shape into balls or logs.
Refrigerate. This makes a great party
cheese!
Western 'Ranch Cheese
1 lb. soft goat cheese
3 teaspoon Ranch seasoning
(see recipe below)
mix
Add seasoning mix into cheese.
Mix well. Shape seasoned cheese into
balls or logs.
Shape
Western 'Ranch Seasoning
Mix
into balls or logs. Refrigerate.
2 tablespoons
'Pineapple Walnut Cheese
seasoned salt
1 lb. soft goat cheese
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
% cup crushed pineapple drained
Mix together and shape into balls
or logs. Use more nuts or add cher-
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons parsley flakes
1/2 teaspoon
onion powder
1 teaspoon garlicup powder
Shake seasonings together in a jar
with a tight fitting lid. This mix makes
a zesty Ranch dressing and veggie dip.
ries to garnish for a more festive look.
Refrigerate.
Stores well, in a tightly sealed container. Shake before using.
Seasoned Sesame
1 lb. soft goat cheese
1 teaspoon paprika
V2 teaspoon garlic powder
'Ranch Salad Dressing
3 teaspoon
Ranch seasoning mix
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup buttermilk or salad dressing
2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoon minced onion
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
Sesame seeds, for outside
of
cheese
Add ingredients into a jar with a
tight fitting lid. Shake to mix thor-
Mix all the seasonings with the
cheese. Shape and roll the outside
'Ranch Veggie Dip
DAf/!!"
GOATjOIlRNAL.
8 oz. sour cream or yogurt
3 teaspoons
Ranch Seasoning
Mix
Beat together
until smooth.
Re-
frigerate to chill. Great when served
with a tasty assortment of crisp raw
vegetables.
cHorseradish Cheddar Spread
8 oz. soft goat cheese
2 pkgs. cheddar cheese powder
1 teaspoon sugar
4 teaspoons horseradish, squeeze
out excess juice
Mix ingredients together. Store in
a recycled margarine tub with a lid.
Chill before serving. Makes a great
party spread for crackers.
Quick Tip: The cheddar cheese
powder used in this recipe comes
from inexpensive
boxed macaroni
and cheese dinners. We use the cheese
powder for seasoning cheese, and the
macaroni is used in other dishes. Bulk
food stores also carry a powdered
cheddar cheese.
Shrimp Spread
8 oz. soft goat cheese
1 can broken shrimp pieces
1/2 cup sour cream
Seafood cocktail sauce
Mix soft goat cheese and sour
cream. Beat until smooth. Stir in
drained shrimp. Put into a pretty dish
and top with seafood sauce. Chill and
serve with crackers.
This is a great party dish. I guarantee you'll get lots of compliments and
requests for this recipe
~,Complete
Dairy
Supply
oughly. Add to your favorite salad or
recipe.
Springwater Animal Supply
8 oz. soft goat cheese
ManhlAp1'il2012 • wuno.Dnirytloatjournal.com
1-800-600-0716
www.springwateranimalsupply.com
39