GOATS MILK CHEESE THE ANDALUZ WAY

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CHEESEMAKING

Our Andaluz neighbors make one to three two-pound cheeses each day (depending on the season and the amount of milk available) and here's the recipe they use:

For each round of the above weight, heat eight quarts of goat's milk to 86-88° F. Liquid fresh from the morning milking, kept in metal containers, will probably be warm enough without heating. In any case, the fluid should be as fresh as possible (and it must never be boiled).

Add to the warmed milk about one tablespoon of homemade liquid rennet or a corresponding amount of the commercial powdered product. Blend in the thickening agent and leave the mixture to coagulate for 15 to 30 minutes. The curdling process is complete once the milk retains its shape when the container is tilted. You can then stir the curd to break it up, and spoon off or drain away the whey (which is saved and used later to make a second type of cheese). The stirring should be done fairly promptly once the makings have set, since coagulated milk takes on an unpleasant tart taste if allowed to stand too long.

When most of the whey has been removed, the curd is shaped into rounds. This is done on a plank wide enough and long enough to hold several two pound cheeses. The portions of the board on which the molds stand are carved with a simple design a crisscross, perhaps and a drain track surrounds each patterned area and leads to the edge of the plank (where a container is placed to catch the whey).

The mold for a round is a belt approximately five inches wide and a yard long, woven of esparto grass fibers. This strap is curled to the desired diameter, placed on the plank over a carved section, and the curd is poured in and pressed with the hands to force out more whey. As the cheese begins to take shape, the belt is tightened if necessary to produce the right thickness. (The finished round should be about two inches deep and eight inches across.)

The people of Andalusia, of course, make cheese molds of esparto grass because the material is readily available and works well for the purpose. The traditional belt of woven vegetable fiber, however, might be successfully replaced by one of fine plastic or cloth screen, with two or three layers of the substitute material stitched together to form the proper mesh. Or the plank-and-belt method could be replaced entirely by any mold with suitable drainage such as a round, low, flat-bottomed basket lined with cheesecloth or gauze. (In the U.S. and Canada, firm cheese is usually made in some type of weighted press which applies higher pressure than the device described he re.-MOTHER.)

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