How to Make Goat Cheese

It’s you want to learn how to make goat milk cheese, this recipe is perfect to start with! Quick, easy, and loved by everyone who tries it!

This homemade goat milk cheese is easy to make and such a crowd pleaser! It’s the perfect addition to a farm-to-table charcuterie spread, and we love bringing it to potlucks and other get-togethers. Because it’s not aged, it won’t taste “like goat” unless your milk already tastes that way (fresh goat milk should not taste like a billy goat if handled properly).

Milk goats are a popular dairy animal for small homesteads – and with good reason! They’re smaller than cows, and much less intimidating for a beginner. For some people, goat milk is easier on their stomach.

Goats are a good way to ease into having a steady supply of milk. Instead of needing to process five gallons a day with a cow, you may have somewhere between half and two gallons per goat.

And yet, you probably have some milk build up that you want to make cheese with.

The downsides to goat milk, you may have discovered, are little to no cream for making butter, and different results with cheesemaking.

You can make 30 minute mozzarella cheese with goat milk with good results. It tends to be softer than cow’s milk mozzarella, and each gallon of milk will probably yield less volume of cheese. It still makes great pizza though!

But the easiest thing you can make with goat milk is this homemade goat cheese. This is a farmer’s cheese. An acid coagulated curd, treated with baking soda to bring the pH down, and salt for a pleasing flavor.

That means no rennet needed – just some vinegar, lemon juice, or citric acid.

This is not a raw cheese. Raw milk and raw milk cheeses are great, and I highly recommend them, but they’re also a much longer process with aging involved. This is a quick and easy recipe.

A note on handling goat milk.

I mentioned above that your fresh goat milk shouldn’t have a strong flavor or “taste like a billy goat” if it’s handled properly. Some breeds are more prone to this strong flavor than others. For instance, alpine breeds are more likely to develop a strong flavor than Nubian goats.

But in both cases, when it’s fresh, it should have a nice, neutral flavor as long as your does are not in contact with a rutting buck.

If you have a strong flavor in your milk, consider these things, and compare them to your milk handling process:

All of your equipment should be sterile before milking. Besides the obvious bacteria, this it so ensure that no goat dandruff, hair, or milk particles are left aging, and developing flavor on your equipment to contaminate the fresh milk.

Your milk should not come into contact with goat hair. Goat have hair, that while it may not be immediately smelly when you’re next to your goat, contain the bacteria to start the flavor development in your milk. You can guard against this by adding some netting or a layer of cheese cloth over your milk pail to catch shedding hair as you milk.

Your milk should be strained immediately. You can use a disposable milk strainer for this, or something like a jelly bag. But do it right away to get any dandruff, or other contaminates out.

Your milk should be chilled as quickly as possible. Don’t delay in getting your milk from the goat to the refrigerator. Some ways to speed up the chilling process are to use small jars – less depth for the cold to penetrate, and/or to place jars of milk in a large bowl of ice water. This will chill the milk faster than a typical refrigerator. Heat will be your number one cause of developing a strong flavor, so keep this in mind when you’re cooking with goat milk. If you’re making gravy for instance, use very fresh milk, heat it quickly, and serve immediately.

Ingredients for making goat milk cheese

• Goat milk. I use whole goat milk. Typically, I use milk that has been aging in the refrigerator for a few days. Partly because that’s the milk I need to get used up, but it also makes a minor difference in how easily the curds separate from the whey, as the ph on milk is dropping as it ages.
• Lemon juice or vinegar. This is our acid that we’ll add to our heated milk to separate the curds from the whey.
• Baking soda. You will find that your cheese has a distinct acidic smell after you add the vinegar. This acid flavor tends to be too much for most people, so we neutralize it with baking soda.
• Salt. This brings out the flavor of the cheese, and helps preserve it. You can use cheese salt, or simply use a non-iodized table salt.
• Herbs and spices. I typically roll this cheese into logs or balls and roll them in pieces and/or herbs. Our favorite is garlic powder and basil. Other favorites are smoked paprika, and cracked pepper. We usually serve these logs with crackers, or something to put it on.

How to make goat milk cheese

This incredibly easy homemade cheese is a type of chévre, made with acid coagulation, and is not aged.

1. Heat milk over medium-low heat to 190-195 degrees. The hotter the milk, the  firmer the curd. However, if the milk isn’t hot enough, it may not separate into curd and whey.
   
   
2. Stir in lemon juice and continue stirring until curd separates. If after a minute or two the milk hasn’t separated, add more lemon juice/vinegar a little at a time until it does.
3. Drain curd into a jelly strainer or 3-4 layers of cheese cloth.
   
   
4. Let curd drain for 15-30 minutes.I like to tie the cheesecloth up on a hanger or dowel rod and hang over a bucket or milk pail. The pressure of the cloth helps the curd drain efficiently.
5. Once the curd is drainer, place in a large bowl, and milx will with baking soda and salt.
6. Divide into balls or logs of your desired size, and roll in herbs if desired.

Some ways we use this goat milk cheese:

• Rolled in herbs and served with an assortment of crackers – very popular at cookouts.
• In place of ricotta cheese
• This lemon goat cheese cake

Easy Goat Cheese Recipe (Panir Cheese)

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Ingredients

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• 1 Gallon goat milk
• 1/2 cup vinegar or lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt

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Instructions

1. Heat milk over medium-low heat to 180-190 degrees Fahrenheit. The hotter the milk, the firmer the curd. However, if the milk isn’t hot enough, it may not separate into curd and whey.
2. Stir in vinegar and continue stirring until curd separates. The milk should begin to separate immediately, and be completely separated within 30 seconds. If it doesn’t seperate, add more lemon juice/vinegar a tablespoon at a time until it does.
3. Drain curd into a jelly strainer or 3-5 layers of cheese cloth.
4. Let drain in the colander, or, for best results, tie the cheesecloth up on a dowel rod or sturdy hanger and let hang, so that the pressure from the hanging bag assists in squeezing out the whey.
5. Let hang until whey stops dripping out – this should take 15-30 minutes. Less if your curd is firm, more if it’s soft.
6. Dump curds into a bowl and thoroughly mix in baking soda and salt.
7. Shape into logs or balls and roll into your choice of herbs or spices.

1 gallon of milk should make between 1 and 1 1/2 pounds of cheese

Our cheese coating favorites are:

• Cracked pepper
• Basil and Garlic powder (this one is the most popular)
• Smoked paprika
• Rosemary leaves
• Italian seasoning

Enjoy!

Enjoy!