How to milk a goat (and make cheese out of it)

This is the simplest cheese recipe. You will only need three things: a goat, rennet and salt. And no, you cannot skip the part of having a goat, because real cheese is made with raw milk, and raw milk is illegal to purchase. I know, this is a funny world.

Three years ago we acquired our first baby goats, we did not buy them, but spent a day helping the shepherd of this area, alias El Roig, and he gave us two goats as payment. We called them Luisi and Seymour. The first one stands for Billie Luisi, potter and small-scale goat keeper. And the second, stands for John Seymour, the so called father of self-sufficiency. 

Raw milk has all it needs to become cheese, in the same way that whole wheat flour has all it needs to become bread. All it needs from you is to provide the atmosphere and conditions for the good bacteria to develop and it will take care of the rest. 

Here below we share with you our favourite recipe. It is an extract from the book The Art of Natural Cheesemaking, by the one and only David Asher, fierce advocate of raw milk.

**Vernís' chèvre cheese**

Yields ≈400g

INGREDIENTS:

1,8 L raw goats' milk

30 ml kefir

0,04 g powder rennet

14 g good salt

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Milk your goats. We needed the milk of two days to get the 1,8 liters.

2. Slowly heat the milk until 32ºC. We want it to be at the same temperature as when it leaves the udder. Be careful not to over-heat it, so it would loose all natural bacteria and enzymes that ensures good and safe cheesemaking.

3. Add the kefir. Since we are using raw milk this step is optional.

4. Add the rennet. This recipe calls for a very small amount of rennet, resulting in a creamy cheese that is not very demanding. 

5. Stir softly and leave rest undisturbed for 24 h. 

6. Ladle the curds into a cheesecloth colander and leave it rest, covered, for 6 more hours. 

7. Add the salt. It will help to extract the rest of the whey from the cheese. Leave it rest for another couple hours.

8. Untie the cheesecloth and enjoy your delicious cheese. It is sweet and velvety and incredible really.

This is a very undemanding cheese recipe, all times are indicative and it does not suffer from being left forgotten for a few more hours. 

*BONUS TRACK*

How to milk a goat

STEP 1: Befriend that goat.

STEP 2: Clean the udder with warm water.

STEP 3: Hold the udder between the thumb and the index fingers.

STEP 4: Close the fist, directing the milk towards the exit orifice.

STEP 5: Open your hand and start again.

TRICK: It always helps having at hand something the goat will find delicious, such as grain or alfalfa.

WARNING: Be sure you are very good friend of that goat. That means you know that she is not sick and that she pastures everyday.