Mmm. Chocolate.

My big project today was chocolate, goat's milk fudge and chocolate chevre truffles. However, I am currently at war with candy thermometers. 

I had a glass one, you know one of those cheapo ones you buy at the grocery store, but it cracked when I was using it so not only was I out a candy thermometer but I also had to throw out the entire batch of confections I was making.  I managed to find a nice metal one, but while using it today it seemed like it was taking an awful long time to get to soft ball stage so I used the water test and augh, it was well past, almost to hard ball stage!  This explains why I had so much difficulty with the last batch of carmels I made.

Of course all of this is in preparation for the upcoming holiday markets.  I don't make chocolates all year around, although one of my cheese instructors encouraged me to enter the truffles into a cheese competition - apparently there is a confections category - who knew!  I did manage to make two kinds of truffles, the first is just a plain chocolate truffle sweetened with maple syrup (you really don't taste the maple), some are salted and others are just plain chocolate, and the second is a lemon honey chocolate truffle.

And last but not least, I made some honey spice chevre dog cookies too. 

Flocculating

I'm actually writing today from along side my cheese vat.  I finished packing our weekly order for Farmer's To You and find myself just hanging out waiting for my milk to flocculate so figured I'd take the opportunity to write.  If you are in the Boston area you should check out Farmers To You, a great way to get some real Vermont products straight from the farm!

There are actually other similar services in many areas and it is a great way to find wonderful foods, often from farmers in your local area.  Near us we also have the St. Johnsbury Food Alliance which tried their hands at an online market this fall for St.Johnsbury area folks.  The Central Vermont Food Hub, focusing on bringing their customers food from producers in Washington County, VT.  And recently a friend of the farm became involved in yet another local food/farm to the people type service for folks in the Charlotte/Shelburne area - yourfarmstand.com.  As a food producer it's great, and allows us to extend our reach to the consumer with relatively low overhead.

So back to my milk (which by now has flocculated) - working with goat milk today, making Feta.  Feta is actually a good cheese for the home cheese maker to start out with.  The basic process is simple and there are several tutorials on YouTube even!  Actually, what isn't there a tutorial for on YouTube?  Our Feta is made from our own recipe but as the process really isn't that different across the board, we think our secret really has more to do with our milk.   Time to cut the curd!

Tis The Season

Wreath - check.  Lights - check.  Bows -check.  We are officially decorated for the holidays!  Next up, stocking the farm store.  Post flood we've managed to make preserves, harvest honey, make some lucious goat milk soaps, make some cool goat notecards, and of course work on increasing the variety of cheeses well be offering.  I'll also be making truffles and goat milk fudge later this week to bring to market this weekend and also feature in the farm store.  Of course we will also have special dog cookies made from chèvre as well!

Yesterday we took samples of two of our developing cheeses.  The first is a Spanish style cheese from pasteurized goat milk.  We opted to go with a pasteurized milk vs raw milk as our goal is to sell the cheese when it is young.  Although I have to say that I recently tried a piece of the same type of cheese from Spain that was a bit older and YUUUUMMMM!  Our version is looking lovely.  With its earthy blue-grey rind it resembles the surface of a rock, but once I pulled a plug from the center of the cheese a beautiful, creamy white center was revealed which melted in my mouth, full of flavor. I can't wait to see what it is like in another couple weeks.

The second cheese represents our first attempt at a goat milk blue cheese. Blues are tough, but in my opinion, when they are good they are among the best.  When they aren't good thought they can be horrible, really horrible.  I've been told that its just not possible to make a good blue cheese with goat milk.  But after tasting a Italian Goat Gorgonzola, I respectfully disagree.  So, a few months and a fair amount of research later I've come up with a modified recipe for a blue that I hope will lead us somewhere.  Also on the table for future development is a goat/cow blue, in the style of a Spanish Valdeon (a traditional aged Spanish cheese, wrapped in sycamore maple or chestnut  leaves), but wrapping our version in a more Vermont leaf: sugar maple. This will be a project farther down the road as it isn't exactly the right season for fresh maple sugar leaves, and I'd like to gain a little more hands on experience with making blues first.

While our all goat blue is months away from being available, if all goes well our newest Spanish style aged cheese will be available before Christmas.

Just one of those days

Sunday's are usually pretty quiet here. This time of year things are slowing down. We are milking only once a day so there is less milk and so we are also making less cheese. We catch up on any pre-winter tasks, prepare for kidding season, and start making other products in preparation for the busy holiday season. Then there are Sundays like this one, that start off on the right track, but quickly become derailed by some unplanned event. Today, after a lovely brunch with family, we discovered a clogged drain. Of course it was discovered in the usual way, with water backing up all over the floor. After 2 bottles of drain cleaner and a lot of snaking, drain still not cleared. I guess it's time to call a professional.

NOTE: I typed this late last night (Sunday) but fell asleep without posting it. Oops!

Here we go

We don't have many market commitments this time of year so, since our milk production is still fairly decent, this is a big research and development time of year in the cheese make room. This week in particular has been ridiculously busy.

Monday I started 3 lactic cheeses which, if all goes as planned will be ready for sale right before Christmas.

Tuesday I started a special aged cheese. It's actually a little R&D we are working on so this particular cheese is a cross between that and something special for some friends.

Wednesday I made mozzarella, again part of the R&D project.

Thursday I set some Cream Cheese, more R&D.

Friday I set our weekly batch of chèvre, which I'm about to go out and set to drain. That is a record total for us as far as varieties of cheese made in a week, 7 in total this week. Phew!

Blog on...

As this time of year comes around I often find myself reflecting on all the things I wanted to accomplish over the last year but never managed to get to. No regrets really, just reflection. Granted this last year has been a tumultuous one with two floods in 3 months, but looking back there is one thing I would like to improve: keeping up with my farm/cheese maker blog.

So, without further ado, I am going to start blogging every day. From Thanksgiving to Thanksgiving I will write something, anything, about life here on the farm as a goat tender/cheese maker. I don't expect to experience any moment of enlightment or great revealation, just the day to day life on the farm.

So it begins...