Post by eric on Nov 16, 2019 18:54:19 GMT -5
Does anyone know how to achieve a more grainy/slightly crumbly texture in goat cheese instead of a smooth, sour cream like texture?
I've made goat cheese for about ten or eleven years, and while I occasionally have a batch where I add a little bit too much or too little rennet or salt, I was mostly very happy with the results until last year. I really want to multiply my own cultures and process my own rennet, and doing so worked well for multiple years, but it does add to the variables and make it harder to figure out what my problems are. I thought last year's poor results were due to batches of rennet that weren't right, and it seemed like some batches made with junket tablets (mainly just as a control) turned out well, but I butchered three or four goat kids this year, a couple of them as young as I've ever butchered kids before, and I'm getting more or less the same results with every batch of rennet. I even tried using junket tablets just for a test, and I got the same results that way. The cheese is making, but the texture is just totally different than in the past. In the past the texture was slightly grainy, almost crumbly in a way that I really liked. The last couple years I keep getting cheese that's the texture of sour cream or strained yogurt. I even got some purchased bacterial culture last year, and the first batch I made with it was very good, but then I couldn't repeat it again. Could there be some bacterial culture that's colonized my kitchen that's out-competing anything else? My cow's milk mozzarella meanwhile is turning out as good or better than ever, but I'm really not satisfied with the goat cheese. I don't know if it's the rennet or the bacterial culture or something about the milk or the goats themselves or something else that I've failed to account for. The weird thing is that I had consistently good results for 8 or 9 years and now I can't figure anything out. I don't feel like I really even made any changes.
I've made goat cheese for about ten or eleven years, and while I occasionally have a batch where I add a little bit too much or too little rennet or salt, I was mostly very happy with the results until last year. I really want to multiply my own cultures and process my own rennet, and doing so worked well for multiple years, but it does add to the variables and make it harder to figure out what my problems are. I thought last year's poor results were due to batches of rennet that weren't right, and it seemed like some batches made with junket tablets (mainly just as a control) turned out well, but I butchered three or four goat kids this year, a couple of them as young as I've ever butchered kids before, and I'm getting more or less the same results with every batch of rennet. I even tried using junket tablets just for a test, and I got the same results that way. The cheese is making, but the texture is just totally different than in the past. In the past the texture was slightly grainy, almost crumbly in a way that I really liked. The last couple years I keep getting cheese that's the texture of sour cream or strained yogurt. I even got some purchased bacterial culture last year, and the first batch I made with it was very good, but then I couldn't repeat it again. Could there be some bacterial culture that's colonized my kitchen that's out-competing anything else? My cow's milk mozzarella meanwhile is turning out as good or better than ever, but I'm really not satisfied with the goat cheese. I don't know if it's the rennet or the bacterial culture or something about the milk or the goats themselves or something else that I've failed to account for. The weird thing is that I had consistently good results for 8 or 9 years and now I can't figure anything out. I don't feel like I really even made any changes.