GOATS MILK CHEESE THE ANDALUZ WAY

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The milkless period is a serious matter in Andalusia, since many country families live in areas where fresh meat is largely unavailable and, thus, depend on goat cheese (along with preserved meats, beans, and eggs) for a large part of their protein supply. New World homesteaders and commune members who are working toward selfsufficiency often follow much the same pattern of eating and such folks can perhaps learn from their Andaluz brothers and sisters of the land how to preserve cheese-without refrigeration to broaden a diet during the winter months.

Although the techniques may vary slightly from place to place, two basic methods of aging queso de cabra seem to prevail and each has its firm adherents. There is general agreement on one point, however: Very fresh cheese retains too much internal moisture to cure properly, and can't be treated for storage. The processes I'm about to describe should be started only when the rounds are amarillo (dried and yellowed). That stage is usually reached by a cheese after two weeks to a month of aging the exact time depends on drying conditions.

One technique of preservation is to rub each cheese with olive oil-or oil and a handful of paprika-and leave it for three days. It's then treated again in the same way and left another three days after which it's rubbed once more and left to stand a week, rubbed and left two weeks, then rubbed a last time and stored for at least two months.

A simpler but more expensive process is to stack the desired number of cheeses, cover them completely in olive oil, and leave them undisturbed for at least two months. Or-as an alternative to submersion-the rounds can be piled and only partially covered in oil. For five or six cheeses, for instance, the preserving liquid can be poured into the container to surround one or two. The wheels must then be shuffled once or twice a week to assure that each is adequately soaked for proper aging. This system uses less oil-an economic consideration-but the results are considered less good than when the cheeses are completely covered.

(Olive oil-and most other vegetable oils of good qualityare so expensive in this part of the world that few of us could consider soaking whole cheeses in the Spanish way. Remember, also, that only unprocessed oils can be used to preserve food as Jo Ann describes. The refined products usually sold in the U.S. have lost their natural antioxidants and will become rancid if exposed to air at room temperature. A possible alternative: Old-timers used to keep some meats without refrigeration by packing them in a can of lard and placing the container in a cool storage area. The same idea might keep cheese from drying out or molding if you lack a cellar with ideal storage temperature and humidity.-MOTHER.)

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