Little Miss Muffet sat on her Tuffet, eating her curds and whey

Miss Muffet was a quitter. If she had got off her tuffet, she could have made some yummy cheese with those curds!

I made goat cheese for the first time the other day! I started with the recipe here, and had a experienced FB friend walk me through it via facebook. She was very patient to sit and answer all my stupid questions. 

Here's what I did, and what I should have done different:

My supplies: one quart of goat's milk, 1/3 cup of lemon juice, 1/8 tsp of non-iodized salt, and muslin for straining, as well as a good thermometer and stainless steel pot.

My strainer is ready over a bowl and lined with muslin. Did you know...that cheesecloth isn't the best thing to use in making cheesecloth? Muslin is. Don't look at me, I dunno either!

I slowly (as in slower than molasses, like watching paint dry kind of slow) heated the milk to 180 degrees, stirring frequently. Now here's where I messed up a little. See how looooong this thermometer is, and how much of it is NOT in the milk? That's what not to do, I later found out. The thermometer needs to be at least 3/4 covered by the milk to accurately read the temperature. So now you and I both know.

Once it gets to temperature the website said to turn off heat and add lemon juice. Wait, just turn it off. Do I remove the pot from the heat, or leave it there to stay kind of warm? Freaking out a little here since it didn't baby step it for me. Thankfully my expert on hand said, "Dummy, take it off the heat." No, she didn't call me a dummy, but she might have been thinking it. I wouldn't blame her. 

So I turned off the heat, took it off the burner, and added the lemon juice and gave it a stir. Now to let it sit for 10 minutes and start to curdle.

Doesn't look so appetizing here, but just wait...

After 10 minutes, I poured it all through the muslin-lined strainer, then pulled the corners of the muslin up around the spoon and secured it with a rubber band.  The whey (the liquid part) drains into the bowl below.

I let it drain for about an hour and a half. I squeezed some of the excess whey from the bag of curds too, and wish I hadn't. I think on my next batch I will drain it for about half that time, so it will be creamier, and not so crumbly.

 I had about 1.5 pints of whey left over, and can use it to make Grandmother Bread tonight.

Here come the curds!

 I think we can call these cheese now!

 I added in some chives...

 A sprinkle of coarse kosher salt...

 Mixed it all up...

And ate it for supper with some garlic Triscuits! 

I've made one more batch since then, and it went a lot easier, now that I know what I am doing, at least with this kind. I can't wait to make more cheeses!