Store bought goat cheese

moosemaniac · #1 02/01/07, 11:04 AM

Anyone ever try the goat milk cheeses in the grocery store "specialty" sections? I recently tried the "fresh" chevre and today I have the goat milk cheddar. Both cost what amounts to about $20 per pound. The stuff is nasty!!!!!!! Tastes very goaty.

For us to make and sell good quality cheeses we have to jump through all kinds of hoops. Apparently these bigger companies can get away with using less than fresh milk. The cheddar I got is from Wisconsin.

I don't get this at all. No wonder people are afraid to try anything made with goat milk. The chevre and cheddars I make don't take anything like this.

(just had to rant)

Ruth

A'sta at Hofstead · #2 02/01/07, 11:10 AM

Ruth, I love goat cheese and had to buy it at the market. It is a luxury item for sure.
There is a small farm down the road who make cheese from their goats, and though it is more expensive (a little bit) than grocery store cheese it is FAR superior and I make the trip to buy it there now. I cannot wait to get goats this spring and start making my own!!
(maybe you can tell me how you make the goat cheese truffles you spoke of at Christmas time?)

Mountaineer · #3 02/01/07, 12:00 PM

The store bought goat milk and cheese I've tried (soft and hard) have been SO GOOD! I've yet to witness goaty milk products.

A'sta at Hofstead · #4 02/01/07, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mountaineer

The store bought goat milk and cheese I've tried (soft and hard) have been SO GOOD! I've yet to witness goaty milk products.

Have you tried any made at a small local farm, it really is much better and less, um, I dont know? goaty, gamey?

T.Miller · #5 02/01/07, 12:18 PM

A while back I bought some goat cheese at the grocery store and it tasted awful. It tasted like my buck smells. My 14 year old daughter said, "gross Mom, I can't eat this it tastes like Junior". LoL

moosemaniac · #6 02/01/07, 12:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mama_pygmy

A while back I bought some goat cheese at the grocery store and it tasted awful. It tasted like my buck smells. My 14 year old daughter said, "gross Mom, I can't eat this it tastes like Junior". LoL

That's it! That's what I got...but it tastes like Oliver.

Homemade cheese never tastes like that. I have friends beating my door down for my chevre.

Ruth

chicky momma · #7 02/01/07, 01:17 PM

I too have bought goat cheese at the store to try it before getting goats. It was horrid. Can't find anyone near me who makes it yet. Have tried goats milk from a friend and it tastes fine. Thats why I couldn't understand how the cheese could be so bad. I've always heard that if you kept a buck with your does it makes the cheese "goaty". Hoping to get some goats next year. Would love to be able to make cheese too. Lisa

Aintlifegrand · #8 02/01/07, 01:40 PM

I am glad to hear that the cheese is different fresh than like that of the ones in the markets. We will be getting dairy goats in the fall ( nubian/Nigie crosses) and I tried the canned milk to see if I would like it and it was horrid, and then the goat cheese in the store was not much better.. I really want the dairy goats to work for us, but I am concerned about whether we would like the taste of their milk and cheese. But either way we will have some goats this fall as DH likes to have them around . I on the other hand would love for it to be practical as well as fun.

moosemaniac · #9 02/01/07, 01:50 PM

ALG, I love homemade goat milk cheese. I can't make enough of it. Best cheddar I ever ate I made. DH loves the feta. I make chevre whenever I have enough milk. It's awesome.

Ruth

Westwood · #10 02/01/07, 01:55 PM

When I still had the dairy we sold to Jackson Mitchell, who is the local buyer/canner of goat milk here. They picked up ONCE A WEEK. That's only part of why canned goat milk tastes bad. Even at once a week we had the best quality milk on the route.

dbarjacres · #11 02/01/07, 05:31 PM

I know exactly what you mean! My dad thought he was being "nice" and bought me a fancy little thing of goat cheese last winter to try (it wasn't cheap either). I took a bite and gagged. It tasted like I just licked a buck in rut from head to toe, and took extra time on the beard! Gross!! I asked this same question then and got the same sorts of answers, homemade is better. I love my nigerian milk, no goat taste, but have yet to try cheese.

Oregon Julie · #12 02/02/07, 01:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbarjminis

I took a bite and gagged. It tasted like I just licked a buck in rut from head to toe, and took extra time on the beard! Gross!!

OMG! Been there, done that. I love good goat cheese, but none of the commercial stuff I have bought has been good. Well I take that back, I bought one variety at (believe it or not) our local Costco and it was good, the first time. The next time it was slightly "bucky".

I have purchased two different brands of goat yogurt and just about vomited when I ate a spoonful. Horrible nasty stuff, kind of like how I would imagine sucking on a bucks beard in the middle of rut would be. What really ----es me off (no pun intended) is that this stuff ain't cheap, it is dear to buy it and I cannot for the life of me figure out how ANYONE can eat it and how the companies can stay in business.

Farmers market is the way to go, but I rarely get to them. Need to change that if I want good goat related products I guess as I don't have the time to milk my own and make this myself.

Laura Workman · #13 02/02/07, 02:59 AM

A woman new to goats took her doeling to be bred. They did the deed and she brought the doeling home. She called me up wondering why the doeling "smelled like goat cheese"! Is that too funny?? I always said commercial chevre tastes like you walked out to the buck pen and licked a buck in rut, and here she's saying the buck smell on her freshly bred doe smells like goat cheese! It just slays me!

moosemaniac · #14 02/02/07, 03:51 AM

So how can we as goat producers do something about this? The general public is getting a really bad example when it comes to goat cheeses. We need to start a coalition or something to educate people.

Ruth

steff bugielski · #15 02/02/07, 05:14 AM

My cheese never tastes bad. I have actually tried to duplicate that taste, just to know what the heck they do to it.
I have made cheese from old milk, more than 12 days old. that is as close to that taste I can come up with.
I do keep my stinky boy with the girls always. My milk and cheese is always fresh tasting.
The inspector says" you can sell your milk no matter how old it is. As long as your customers like the taste" so there is no regulation on how old the milk needs to be to make cheese. They are pasturizing it so who cares. Most cheese producers are buying milk from other farms. If you sell your milk to a processor your farm is not even inspected. It can be filthy cause ther are going to pasturize it so who cares.
In NY at least.
Steff

dezeeuwgoats · #16 02/02/07, 09:29 AM

Yes, the sad thing is people will either need to be educated, lucky, or law-breaking to try the 'real thing'.

For those thinking about getting into goats - store bought products are not the way to go about finding out if you like goat's milk! If that person is persistant, or knows that, they might find a small producer. If they are in a state where it is illegal - they'd both be breaking the law.

I just don't understand the laws. Evidently, you can sell 'old as the hills milk' because someone in NY jumped through the hoops, but down here - it's either a grade a dairy certification, with about a $250k investment needed or you are out of luck. You'd think if the laws were for our 'protection' they'd be the same everywhere, yet some states allow for the sale of even raw milk produced on the farm

Niki

ozark_jewels · #17 02/02/07, 09:37 AM

There is a large goat dairy out in Colorado that makes and sells their cheese across the US. I can't remember the name of the dairy right now but when I was there, I got several different types of their cheese and some of the sausage they make. It was *delicious*. I really do think the difference is in the care and handling of the milk. Here it was milked from the goats, went to the milk tank and was used within a day or two to make the cheese. It did not get brought in from several different farms(who knows *how* clean these farms are) and only picked up once a week! That is just asking for nasty milk and milk products. I've had some of the commercially produced cheeses.....Yech!

moosemaniac · #18 02/02/07, 09:40 AM

I emailed the distributor of the Wisconsin goat milk cheddar telling them how awful the stuff is. Funny thing...I haven't heard a word back from them

Ruth

ozark_jewels · #19 02/02/07, 09:48 AM

Ah, I remembered the name of the dairy in Colorado that makes and sells such good cheese and sausage. It was Oro Blanco Goat Dairy. I was out there delivering goats a couple years ago. I assume they are still running but their website is no longer online.

mamahen · #20 02/02/07, 10:04 AM

I wish I could taste GOOD goat products!!

The only cheese I've ever tasted was just like all the others, I guess. Very bucky tasting. I did taste my own goats milk. It was sweet & good.

But when my girls were lactating, I left the kids on. One had such tiny udders, I doubt I would've gotten more than quart a day!! The other was quite a bit better, but had twins. No more babies in the near future, so no milk for me.

Ah well, if anyone wants to sell some of their marvelous wares to me, I'm game!