Homemade Goat's Cheese - Vegetarian Rennet and Lemon Juice

On to a new chapter in living foods (and increasing healthy gut bacteria) here with some exploration in cheese making, vegetarian rennet and all things to do with working my tiny bit of goat’s milk that I am getting each day.

Right now we have one goat that is milking – she has 3 kids on her, so we don’t take (or get) very much. And another goat who is a maiden milker but is due to have her kids at the beginning of May or so.

Not much milk at the moment – but hopefully more to come soon enough. The bit I do get goes mostly to my children, however I have been saving some over the past few days to try my hand at a little farmhouse cheese.

I have gone to a couple cheese making classes and read/studied lots about this wonderful art – so this week I decided to give it a try with my precious goat’s milk. However, my plan was to started out easy and simple either way.

To begin with I decided to make my own rennet – I don’t like the thought of using rennet from another species (animal rennet usually comes from calf stomach) and goat’s are vegetarians, so I thought – make some vegetarian rennet.

There are several plants apparently that are able to provide the necessary enzymes to get cheese making off to a good start. One of them is nettle – today I boiled some nettle (it was dried from last year) for 30 minutes and allowed it to steep, then added a little salt.

I then took 1 liter of raw goat’s milk and warmed it to about 25C, added a tablespoon or so of the nettle rennet and about 3 tablespoons lemon juice and stirred for a few minutes. Then I let it sit in the stainless steel pot for about an hour or so to see what might happen.

When I checked it – I could see the separation of curds and whey – so I poured it out into a strainer covered with layers of muslin cloth and placed the strainer over a large pot to catch the dripping whey.

This sat and drained down for another hour or so – and then I scooped the solid cheese out of the cloth and placed it into a bowl. This was salted with sea salt, sprinkled with homegrown garlic chives and promptly eaten!

Yum! And it was that easy….Now onwards and upwards!

April

Homemade goat's cheese - with sea salt and garlic chives

Here's what I am 'eating' right now during my cleanse...

A few of you have been asking, exactly what am I eating or drinking during a Master Cleanse - what gets taken in and how much. Well, today I thought that I would post this for you, here is my recipe and an explanation of why it is different. 

Today and for 9 days during a Master Cleanse, I drink a tea mixture with lemon juice, maple syrup and a tiny bit of black pepper. I mention drinking it only 9 days because the first full 24 hours I only take in water or straight herbal tea.

Starting with day 2 - I make litres of water, herbal tea, juice of 1 lemon, 2 tablespoons of maple syrup and a pinch of ground black pepper. Throughout the day I might drink over 2 litres of this but not usually much more than that. 

April's Master Cleanse ingredients

I also drink water with this and late at night some herbal tea, lots of liquid coming in but not overdoing it either. I also sip this during the day, I don't drink large amounts in one go, unless I am outside in the sun and working etc.

These particular ingredients I have found over the years since I have been regularly detoxing, are important for a couple of reasons. First, the water must be natural well or spring water, not stored in plastic bottles or treated in any way. You are gently flushing your tissues to remove toxins, this is not the time to introduce more of them.

Secondly, lemon is a natural cleaner, it is alkaline once in the body and has a host of positive benefits on internal organs. Lemon promotes and enhances;

• immune system health
• cleaning of internal gut tissue
• stimulates the liver 
• aids digestion
• contains Vitamin C, folic acid, potassium and phosphorus 
• aid weight loss

And much more. I use organic lemons to remove toxic debris, keep my tea/juice as clean as possible and not slow down my detox in any way. 

The single biggest difference in my methods of detoxing and what I recommend for people is to use herbs in the recipe. Herbal teas (which can be a few of many that are gentle) are a natural way to balance, regulate and improve body function while you do your cleanse.

I have always used herbs and it was a natural follow on for me to include them in my Master Cleanse formula. Of course, I also grow, harvest and make many of my own herbs for the teas - so I know exactly how they are handled and of course they are pesticide free. 

Lastly, I include a small pinch of black pepper as opposed to the cayenne in the traditional recipe mainly because I know the detrimental effects of Night Shades on health and spirit, but also because I do not particularly feel that cayenne pepper is particularly healing. Many people have problems with it.

Black pepper has several beneficial properties such as working as a mild diuretic, encourages the body to sweat (helps eliminate toxins), digestive aid, breaks up congestion and cleans the taste buds in the mouth. I like it because it has a nice energy and use an organic whole peppercorn which we grind. 

During a Master Cleanse such as I am doing right now, this is what I drink every day until I am finished. Each day that I do this I feel more and more like myself, I love my fasting days nearly as much as my food days and my life has dramatically changed for the better as a direct result of following The Pagan Diet - Food, Fast & Feast.

Remove the toxins, free yourself

April

Sunlight shining through the Master Cleanse juice - Juice Angel!!