What I Did With All That Milk
During the height of summer this year, our wonderful doe Tater was supplying us with a half gallon of milk a day. That is excellent milk production for a Nigerian Dwarf, and while it might not seem like huge amount, it is way more milk than a family of two can consume every day.
I did freeze a lot of Tater’s milk planning to make soap out of it at a later date. But for the rest of it I tried various recipes and had a wonderful time experimenting with my goat’s milk. We do not consume a huge amount of dairy in general and rarely eat cheese, so I was able to focus on special treats. Below are two of my favorite recipes from my first summer milking.
Goat’s Milk Ice Cream - Chocolate
This recipe does require an ice cream maker. There are several options on the market if you plan on making ice cream regularly. While an ice cream maker is an investment, I highly recommend getting one - the rewards are just too tasty!
What You Will Need:
3 cups of goat’s milk
1 cup of heavy cream
3.5oz of semi sweet baking chocolate, broken in to smaller chunks
4 eggs yolks
3/4 cups of sugar
1 tsp. of vanilla
Mix the milk, heavy cream, chocolate, and 1/4 cup of the sugar together in a heavy pot.
Over medium heat, bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring regularly so it all gets mixed together evenly. Remove from the heat once the mixture simmers.
In a medium sized bowl, mix together the egg yolks and the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar.
Carefully whisk a cup of the hot milk mixture into the eggs to avoid them scrambling and to bring them to temperature. Then, slowly mix the egg mixture into the hot milk, stirring continuously.
Bring the mixture back to a simmer and add the vanilla. You should see the mixture starting to thicken. At this point, you can strain your mix through a mesh strainer - although I did not do this step, and enjoyed my ice cream.
Put your mixture in the refrigerator to cool it before making the ice cream. This can take a few hours, and is easiest if you can leave it overnight.
For the final steps, follow your ice cream maker’s directions. I use a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker which has a frozen bowl: I just keep an eye on the ice cream until it reaches the desired thickness. Then, it can be eaten right away or placed in the freezer to continue to harden and to enjoy.
Milk Jam
The most common caramel sauce to make with goat’s milk is cajeta, a Mexican sauce made only with goat milk. Cajeta is delicious, but the milk jam recipe is very similar, and both yield amazingly deliciously results.
What You Will Need:
4 cups of goat’s milk
1 3/4 cups of sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
In a heavy pot, mix together the milk, sugar, salt, baking soda, and vanilla extract.
Over medium high heat, slowly bring the milk mixture to a boil without stirring. Keep a close eye on it, as it will foam over very quickly once it starts to bubble.
Lower the heat to its lowest setting and stir the milk mixture. Let it simmer on low for two hours, stirring continuously. Skim off any foam that forms on the top of the mixture as you stir.
After two hours your mixture should be thick and a deeper caramel orange in color. Pour into glass jars and allow to cool.
The milk jam should be kept in the refrigerator, and can be enjoyed over ice cream, fresh fruit, sweet bread….or just right off the spoon.
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These are just a coupe of the delicious ways to enjoy fresh goat’s milk. Of course, you can make up goat’s milk cheese, and you can very easily make a tasty yogurt. There are so many options when you have plenty of fresh milk to go around - these are just some of the sweet ones.