Sena and I made our first Feta last night. We used raw, Jersey milk from Baldwin Brook Farm in Cantebury. Everything went well, up to the salt brining step at the very end. My recipe called for 3 days of brining, but we only brined overnight, and when I tasted the cheese in the morning it was way too salty.In the future we will brine for one ot two hours only. Fortunately you can reverse the saltiness, which is what we did, by putting the cheese in a pure whey brine or plain water until it comes back to the desired saltiness.
I made Ricotta with the whey left from the Feta. I had some topped with peaches from our tree, which I froze in the summer, and it was delicious.
I've also been making cultured buttermilk, a big hit with the family and super-easy to make.
Adventures in dairy have begun!
My grocery list for this week has only 3 items on it: milk, cream, and nuts. The milk and cream will soon disappear - we're going to see our (hopefully) future cows on Friday. The nuts, I'm not so sure. We grew peanuts this past year but they didn't do well. Maybe we'll try a different variety in the future, but for now, we're buying nuts. In any case, I feel like we're getting closer to our goal of self-sufficiency, and that is encouraging.
Here's a picture of our cheeses. Ricotta is in the glass bowl, the rest is Feta.
4 comments:
bravo , fetelor ! brinza arata f. frumos, iti face pofta... eu sint o mare amatoare de brinze, abia astept sa le gust. noroc cu vaca, trimite-ne poze. mama.
Yay for homemade cheese! That's a great accomplishment. Hurrah for the cow. Did you guys build a barn? It's been a while since I visited and I can't remember seeing one there.
I hope it all goes smoothly.
PS-- We've been making pies: www.littlewhitehouse.blogspot.com
We have two barns for the cows, one movable, one stationary. Also, Ed has the pasture fenced and ready for rotational grazing. I think we're pretty ready. Hopefully all will go well with the vet tomorrow and the cows will soon be here.
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