ON FOOD: Say cheese: Beautiful curds garner kudos at class

Sure, I’ve had my share of compliments, like anybody else. But I had never been told I had beautiful curds. And I must confess it made me beam.

As a student at Patricia Costanzo’s class on making fresh goat-milk cheese, that was the ultimate kudo for a job well done. Costanzo had taken several gallons of fresh, raw goat milk from her Bare Bottom Ranch in Calhan to Chefs retail store for the recent class. There were six of us who donned aprons to make our own cheese.

One of the first steps to making goat cheese is to add rennet, a coagulating enzyme, to warm milk to make the milk solids clump together and separate from the whey; they are called curds. The curds are cut into 1- to 2-inch squares and heated again to cook gently.

During this final stage of cooking was when Costanzo made the comment — but then, she had said that to all the other wannabe cheesemakers, too.

Once the curds were heated through, we drained them through several layers of cheese cloth. We lightly salted the curds and pressed them into a round mold. With a follower — a round, wooden disc that fits inside the mold — we pressed the cheese into a round, flat shape.

That was it. We had our own round of fresh goat farmer’s cheese to take home.

It was a lot of fun and it tasted really good. Not like soft chervil. It had a milder flavor with a sort of squeaky texture.

“When you make this type of cheese it’s a two-for,” she said. “The separated whey can be made into ricotta.”
We did this, too, but there wasn’t enough for us each to take some home.

I’d highly recommend taking the class when it’s offered again at Chefs.

If you haven’t tasted raw goat milk, you can have an opportunity at Back to the Basics Natural Food Store, 2312 Vickers Drive, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 22.

You can learn more about the farm at bare bottomranch.com, or visit gazette.com in the video area to see an interview with Costanzo. You can admire my curds there, too.
—
Reach Farney at 636-0271. She appears Tuesdays on KOAA’s Comcast Channel 5 at noon.