Spanish Style Goat's Cheese

Yesterday I had a go at making some more cheese - some Spanish style goat's cheese this time.

It was another from my Cheese Monkey Artisan Cheesemaking kit. I thought I'd try it before the more complicated recipe for Halloumi in the Beer Lover's Cheese Makeing kit I got for Christmas from Sue.

The recipe is quite simple.

To my 2l of goat's milk in the pan, I added a solution of citric acid.

Warming it to 85 deg C (stirring all the time) on a low heat took about 1/2 hour. Then it was a simple matter of draining the curds in a cheese cloth for an hour.

Despite the warnings in the recipe that I mgiht find the curds reluctant to form, I got  a really good yield - rather more than the 200g the recipe said to expect.

After drining for an hour, I added the sal and stirred.

Then I rolled the cheese into a suasage shape.

And sprinkled it with herbs,

I split it into 3 pieces and let it dry on a plate in the fridge overnight to firm up a bit.

And here is some of it on bread this morning.

Delicious! If and when I do it again I might press it to make a harder cheese. But we've got enough cheese for now. Now to roast some beetroot to make a beetroot and goat's cheese salad for a Sunday lunch starter tomorrow.

P.S. The Creamy Cheshire Cheese from last Sunday is now starting to taste more tangy, but I'll keep the block I wrapped in cheesecloth and put in a containr for another couple of weeks to see how it matures.