Chessy Times Ahead?

As part of our life style we are hoping to achieve we have to start actually using everything we produce on the farm.  For the last two years we have had dairy cows.  Guess what?  We have (even yesterday) purchased dairy products.  Yep, I still would drink milk from the store while everyone else drank the cows milk.  We do pasteurize it, but that is because I haven't came to grips with the raw milk idea yet.  I know I know, it is healthy and as long as you have clean practices then it is best.  Our cows are all pastured so we don't have to worry about the barn cleaning and such.  But, it is something that I one day will over come.  Now, I never liked the cows milk from home.  I tasted it and I hated it.  We raise Jersey's.  Well, everything is a learning process.  Guess what we learned this week.  If you have Holstein milk, it tastes like the store.  It was the amount of butter fat in the Jersey milk that I couldn't take.  We got the Jersey's for their high butter fat and it turns out I cant bring myself to get past the strong taste.  Ironic I know.  So, since we now have a Holstein on the farm, I will be transitioning to that.  Ok, that saves some, but what about butter, cream, and heaven forbid, cheese.  We decided we have to learn to make it.  We have put it off for a very long time.  I personally didn't want to have anything to do with it.  I will do just about anything else.  But I didn't want to make cheese or cream or anything of the sort as I didn't want to be stuck to the stove all day long.

So yesterday we decide we are going to be ambitious and make something.  We made cottage cheese.  It didn't turn out just right, but that was our error and we figured it out.  But the taste was amazing!  It practically melted in your mouth too!  Ok, what to try next?  Cultured butter.  DH wants it, so why not?  Ok, then what?  When trying something new I always find I have more questions then answers.  Well, I did some research and found that out of one gallon of milk, I can make cottage cheese, then strain the whey to make cultured butter(all be it a small amount), then use the rest of the whey to make Ricotta!  Holy wow efficient.  What I didn't count on was the two day process it would take!  We saved the whey from yesterday's cottage cheese attempt and then had some sitting over night to finish this morning.  So, I have been at the stove cooking the curds.  Oh yeah, and guess what?  I enjoy it!  Shocked and surprised here.  I am not stuck at the stove.  I have plenty of time in between everything to go and do what I need to.  We will see how it all pans out.  I will update later about how it all went.  It is looking like we will have cheesy times ahead!  Wonderful flavors, experiments with spices, a sense of achievement and a great money saver!

For those that are interested in learning how cheese or butter is made, here is a great site for Cheese making.    I have learned a lot and even got my supplies from them.  They have good recipes to try.