Crazy about goat !

[Dover]

I love it all...goat meat (cabrito), goat cheese, goat milk. And if you are also a fan you need to know about this company and their award winning goat milk butter (OMG!).

We will have goat cheese on our morning eggs or on bean tortillas (open faced corn tortilla, homemade pinto beans, an egg over easy and goat cheese crumbles on top), on salads...you name it.

And then we started drinking the ultra-pasteurized milk instead of cow's milk (this brand is very mild-flavored). Delicious in many recipes that call for milk as well.

Now I've even started giving it to my cats.

http://www.meyenberg.com/ -----------------------------


Products - http://www.meyenberg.com/?action=products

Cooking Goat Meat - http://www.jackmauldin.com/cooking_with_goat.htm

Wonderful recipes - http://www.meyenberg.com/?action=recipes



MEYENBERG Famous Chocolate Fudge


2-1oz. squares unsweetened chocolate
¾ cup MEYENBERG Evaporated Goat Milk
2 cups sugar
1 tsp light corn syrup
2 Tbs. butter or margarine
1 tsp. vanilla

(If desired, 1/3 cup cocoa powder may be substituted for the unsweentened chocolate, in which case you should increase the butter to 3 Tablespoons). Slowly melt the chocolate in milk. Add sugar and corn syrup. Cook slowly, stirring until sugar dissolves. Cook gently to soft ball stage (234°F), stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Add butter and cool at room temperature until lukewarm (110°F) without stirring. Add vanilla*. Beat vigorously until fudge becomes very thick and loses its gloss. Quickly spread in greased pan. When firm, cut into squares. Or, the fudge may be kneaded when hard, formed into rolls and sliced. Makes about 2 dozen pieces.

*For variety, add ½ cup broken nuts and/or raisins when you add the vanilla.

[hippywife]

1. I've found local sources

for both raw goat and cow milk for making my yogurt and cheese. We do have a producer in our co-op that sells meat but I never seem to get logged in to order before it all sells out! I do buy her laundry soap made from goat's milk, too, and we love it!

:hi:

[Dover]

2. I need to find some local sources. How did you go about it?

I also need to learn how to make goat butter...yum!

[hippywife]

3. The two I found

were advertising on craigslist but one of them has been listed here for quite a while:
http://www.localharvest.org/

Hope you find some!

[Dover]

4. Thanks! I see a couple of possibilities on that local harvest site.

I guess I could ask my county extension agent too (just thought of that).
But I don't see anyone making the butter. I wonder why?

[hippywife]

5. Coupla things.

Asking your county extension agent stuff like that usually isn't a good thing. They aren't usually supportive of the more sustainable agriculture methods, so they are less likely to help. Check with folks at your local farmers market and through some of the contacts yuou make from that website.

The butter thing, for me anyway, has been like this: The lady i buy my cream from does make butter, but it is almost $4 for 8 oz. I do buy her cream at the same price for 16 oz., but I can't yet make that leap to pay that much more for butter. I know it's worth it and I know all the reasons I should, but I haven't gotten there yet mentally, even tho I have with everything else.

On edit: If you find someone selling raw cow's milk, you should see a cream line on that gallon that's about 3 inches deep. You can skim that and make your own butter. I haven't done it yet, but my husband did it a long time ago and he said it's pretty easy. That way you can get two products out of one gallon of milk if you don't mind the cream not being incorporated back into it.

[Dover]

8. Thanks fo the info and advice.

I'd like to think not all extension agents are that way. Some really are dedicated to boosting the local farmers any way they can. But you're right that I would probably be better off talking with the farmers at the local farmer's market.

I don't have a clue how to make butter or cheese. Maybe if I find a good local source farmer
I can get them to teach me how in a hands-on kind of way. I'd prefer that to getting it from a book or even written down for me. I just learn better that way.
I wish there were a 'school' like this close by:

http://www.northhousefolkschool.com/classes/Foods.htm

I think I'd take every class they offered in every subject.

[hippywife]

9. Bear in mind that there are

farmers, and then there are "Farmers." You really want to find one that is a small family owned operation with maybe just a few milk cows that are grass-fed, not one that has tons of 'em that eat a lot of hay and grain. You really aren't going to find what you want by going through the extension office.

Talking with the folks at the local natural and organic farmer's market, not the conventional farm stand or market, is going to be your best bet. They are all small producers trying to make a living off of good, healthy, sustainable farming practices. The put a face to your food, and stake their reputations on it.

[Warpy]

6. Goats are also remarkably nice critters to keep, if you have room

they wag their tails in greeting, very endearing.

There is nothing better than strawberry goat milk kefir.

The only time I ate goat meat was when a Jamaican co worker brought in curried goat. It was very good. I'm just not a meat eater.

Still, were I ever to decide to do a small farm, my dairy animals would be goats.

[Dover]

7. I've heard they have very pronounced personalities....real characters.

If I raised them myself I doubt I'd be able to eat them. I do love the taste of slow cooked/smoked cabrito though. We used to have friends who had a goat farm and once or twice a year, with great
ceremony, they would offer up a goat for a feast. Besides that we've only had it on rare occasions, when its available. There was a nearby barbeque place that offered it only on Saturdays, but it would disappear minutes after they opened up.

I could live very happily on just the milk, cheese and butter though, and skip the meat.