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Cheese making video
Topic Started: Jun 21 2012, 10:56 AM (105 Views)
Raven
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There is a video on beginning cheese making on the Hoegger Goat Supply website.
They have a few in their archives as well....hope that they stay around awhile as I don't have time to try it now! MC, if you get a chance to try it let us know how it goes.
Edited by Raven, Jun 21 2012, 10:57 AM.
The truth is not for all men, but only for those that seek it. Ayn Rand
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Mommacat
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Thanks for the video info, Raven. I am going to try making cottage cheese again and also going to try making sour cream. We use it a lot and it would be great if I could make it. However, I am going to do a bit of price comparision first. It may be that making my own is more expensive and in that case, I'll still use store brand stuff. However, this is great info to have if things go south and my local dairy case is no longer in operation! :)
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Grizzly
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Some things you can't look at the price between store bought and home made. In most cases home made is just plain better. Maybe it's just me but home made items or food seem to have a uniqueness or quality about them that can't be beat. Of coarse in some cases the finished product just turns out nasty so it's swept under the rug or a learning experience. Who knows, maybe that's what the controlling freaks of this country had in mind, to make things faster, cheaper so everyone will stop doing things for themselves and rely on the stores and some day become totally brain dead and reliant on others. Hey, their plan is working!
Our ancestors left Europe to get away from this crap...as seen on a bumpersticker fns
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Mommacat
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I think you may be onto something, Grizzly! Especially the 'brain dead' part!! :) I agree that homemade or grown food is tons better and would even pay the bit extra to do that. But, right now, I am really trying to pinch pennies so I have extra to spend on stores. But, at least as far as the sour cream goes, it figures out to be nearly the same to buy the ingredients to make it as it does to buy a carton already made. And, I remember the stuff my grandma used to make and it had a lot richer taste and wasn't quite as thick as the stuff you buy at the store now. So, that's my weekend experiment....
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HandFarming
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So how did the sour cream to for you? I have some good batches and some really weird insulating foam looking stuff that the chickens got. I would like to get it thicker and make cream cheese but boy does it take a lot of milk.

I tried mozzarella once and won't use goats milk for that again-too goaty!

I really like the goat yogurt though. I added some honey and spread on crackers like wheat thins. I would like to try more as I get time later this summer. It really is a fine art to do and a great skill to have.
You can lead an ass to knowledge, but you can not make it think.
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Raven
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This morning I took a butcher hog into the processor for a customer. I have a standing request for the butcher to save me all of the fat that my customers don't want. They had a whole box full! Now that we are going to have record heat this week into next, I get to render lard. Can't tell you how excited I am by that prospect (here you should pick up on my dripping sarcasm) The lard will be worth it but holy cow it is going to be hot. I have to do it right away as the butcher froze the stuff in one huge box sized lump that won't fit into the freezer. Oh well, I can always put it in the oven and go outside.
The truth is not for all men, but only for those that seek it. Ayn Rand
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Mommacat
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I'm envious, Raven! I so want to find some pork fat. I talked to one of the guys that has a butcher shop here in town and he said he'd keep me in mind, but he uses a lot of it during deer season for processing venison sausage. Bummer! Too bad you have to do it right away in the heat - it would be great if you could just put it on your wood stove and let it "cook" during the winter!

HF, the sour cream came out great! It was a bit thinner than store-bought, but I think they add stuff that makes it thick. So, as far as I am concerned, it was a great first attempt. And, one of the easiest things I've ever made! Well, I make huge messes with little or no effort....LOL
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Raven
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Commercial sour cream has added starches that make it thicker. Natural sour cream is much thinner than commercial.
Be careful when you get fat saved for you MC...the medications and chemicals that are given to pigs are stored in the fat as well as the liver. If you render that fat you will also be getting the crap that is fed to that animal. You can take some of the fat that I collect the next time you come down.
The truth is not for all men, but only for those that seek it. Ayn Rand
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HandFarming
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Some of my batches of sour cream were so thick I was going to let it drain into cream cheese but didn't bother with the time. That was with goats milk so I'd have to say its a matter of how much you let the whey drain.

Raven's right on the pork fat. Animals that eat green grass n hay have a high omega3 content as well as chlorophyll and anti-oxidants. See more about it on EatWild.com

I had some pork the other day and no reaction because it was most likely pastured pork. Then after that, went out to eat and had a small piece of bacon and whoa! It really makes a difference in what the animal eats and how it was raised. I still can't eat a lot of it, but every now and again I find a producer who has good stuff.

Raven-don't you have a small wood stove you can hook up outside instead of heat your house up? Summer kitchens used to be the norm in houses, now no one has them.
Edited by HandFarming, Jun 29 2012, 10:06 AM.
You can lead an ass to knowledge, but you can not make it think.
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Mommacat
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Thanks for the offer, Raven. I'll even buy it from you! I've only done it a few times and it turned out great. An outdoor wood stove would be a good idea, but you'd really have to watch it so you didn't get it too hot and burn the "cracklings". Burned lard is horrible tasting - everything you use it for tastes like it was burned, too. I think you're both right, it makes a huge difference in what the animal is fed and I wouldn't want any that came from a "bacon factory". But quite a few people around here raise one or two pigs a year for butchering and I think most of them would be wholesome enough. I just have to get in line and wait for somebody that doesn't also do venison sausage.

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