Christmas lasted a whole month this year. Lucky for us! Meg, Pam and James came last weekend to continue our holiday celebration, now that the holidays are over for Meg's Cheese to You customers. We spent a whole day making cheese curds. It would be hard to beat that for fiesta-style entertainment in our family. Hours together in the kitchen, followed by days of feasting on our own handmade cheese.
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2 gallons of fresh goat milk |
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Adding the culture |
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Checking the recipe |
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Letting it rest after adding the rennet |
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Just the right consistency. The slit stays after the spatula is inserted. |
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Cutting the curds, horizontally, vertically, diagonally. |
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Separating the curds and whey. |
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James stirs the curds gently for 45 minutes. |
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Ready to press by hand |
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Pam pressing the curds |
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Russ and Meg drain the curds |
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Cheddaring the curds |
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Cut, salted, squeaky as can be, ready to eat! |
We also took down the tree, enjoying again at all the mementos we hang every year. And James treated us to dinner at Ichiban...a favorite for all of us. Now we need to start planning birthday visits :)