Magic

Chemistry was one of my favorite classes in high school. A quirky teacher helped for pure enterainment value (Jens Robinson, I will never forget you!) but playing and experimenting with raw materials was definately a magnet. Now that I'm all grown up (almost), I still crave the challenge of seek-and-discovery and relish the results of research and effort. Enter CHEESEMAKING!

"A cheese may disappoint.
It may be dull, it may be naive,
it may be over-sophisticated.
Yet it remains cheese, milk's
leap toward immortality." -Clifton Faidiman

Now that I have quarts, often gallons, of goat milk in the fridge as raw material for experimentation, my long-time interest in cheese making has returned with a vengence. With a number of books from my personal "homesteading" collection, more from the library, magazine articles, and online sources, I have all the recipes, tips, how-to videos, and information at my fingertips to pursue the process of turning fresh creamy milk into tastebud delights of various textures and flavors.

The alchemy of cheesemaking isn't complicated. The ingredients involved are readily available, even if you don't have a backyard goat or cow. Dry milk and store-bought cream can yield wonderful results. The challenge for me lies in using what I have or can re-purpose into equipment and supplies - like putting together a puzzle, with similar satisfaction when all the pieces finally come together.

Even while enjoying some of the results of my playtime I find myself continuing the search for just the right recipes that suit my taste, equipment, and time. The tang of fresh feta with my breakfast keeps me focused on the search for an even better result. (This is my current favorite breakfast - lightly steamed asparagus fresh from the asparagus patch, eggs fresh from the nest of Collin's Banty hens, and creamy salt-tanged feta I made a few weeks ago - it's almost gone, so time to get another batch brining!)

The process of first milking the obliging friendly neighbor goats, which I enjoy tremendously, then quickly chilling the quarts of creamy goodness to ensure the sweet clean flavor (no, it is NOT "goaty" tasting!), and finally working with that milk to make a totally different product, is very soul-satisfying. The curds in this bowl are now being pressed in the fridge, to form a block of feta cheese which in another 12 hours will then be cut into large cubes and brined for a few days to a week to develop that distinctive feta flavor.
There is magic in that process, of taking a liquid produced by well-cared-for animal friends and turning it into life-enhancing foods that are pure and clean. Definately a novelty, in the current world of fast food, chain markets of shipped foods (if you can call those chemical laden over-processed nutritionally dead packages and cans,"food") and factory-farmed animals.

I much prefer the ambiance of the barn, the maaaing and baaaaing of the goats and sheep as they greet me when I go to milk. I prefer the partnership of healthy animals and friendly neighbors. And I definately prefer those fresh tasty cheeses that I have made myself! They may not have the polish of cheeses produced by the factories - I definately fall into the "rustic" class, with aspirations to becoming "artisan" class - but by gum they are mine, start to finish and I know for sure what's in them!

Yep, it's magic. Magic that feeds my spirit as well as my body.