Crottin de Coquet Part 1

Yesterday morning I milked my 5 girls and used 2 quarts of the milk for kefir and 1 quart for drinking, a gallon for cheesemaking and the rest to feed the bottle babies and  cats.

I'm making a little French cheese called Crottin. It means "little droppings"  which makes me smile but the cheese looks so divine I had to try! I've been wanting to since winter. 

I strained the milk and while it was still warm I added the chèvre packet of culture and rennet from New England Cheesemaking Supply. I also added 1/16th tsp. of Geotrichum mold powder. 

I stirred it and let it sit until this morning when I labeled the curd into a drain bag and let it hang until lunch time- too long but I was in town. 

I collected the whey and put it in mason jars in the refrigerator to use in smoothies later. It's also great for bread making and I usually give some to the dogs.

When I got home from town I spooned the curd into very small molds I bought on Amazon. The curd had hung for about   5 1/2 hours. I'm not sure how that will change the final product. 

After I packed the molds I sprinkled 1/4 tsp. of cheese salt over the top of them. I ended up with 8 packed molds. Now they are setting out with the drain bag over them for about 7 or 8 hours and I will take them out, turn them over and put them back in the molds and sprinkle that end with salt as well. 

*everything was sterilized because I'm using raw milk and aging these for about 2 months. 

I'll post part 2 tomorrow or Thursday.