Spiced Orange Slices and Goat's Milk Faisselle

It's been a while since I posted a homemade cheese adventure.  I definitely know it's time to sit down and reevaluate when there hasn't been any handcrafted fromage in my kitchen for a couple of months.  Although, part of that stems from the fact that I have to unplug my extra fridge in the winter.  Our garage isn't heated, so the entire fridge turns into a deep-freeze box.  I have to make sure everything is cleared out and the fridge is clean, open, and unplugged before old man winter sneaks up and it's too late to save everything.  So, no second fridge, no extra space.  I'm pretty sure I'd get the evil eye...and the complaining belly...if I tried to keep enough space empty for "projects" in our everyday fridge.  But...since the coldest of the days have now passed, I once again have extended space for cheese making, curing, beer, and what ever else I may need it for.

Goat's Milk Faisselle

slightly adapted from 200 Easy Homemade Cheese Recipes

yield: ~18-24 oz

1 quart goat's milk

Pinch mesophilic culture

2 drops liquid rennet

In a large pot over medium heat, warm milk to 86°F, stirring gently to prevent scorching. Remove from heat. 

Sprinkle culture over surface of milk and let stand for a~5 minutes to rehydrate. Gently draw culture down into milk without breaking surface of milk, by using an up & down motion to mix in the culture with a skimmer or large spoon. 

Dilute rennet in 1 Tbs. cool water. Add to milk and, using the same up-and-down motion, draw rennet down into milk until well blended. Cover and let set at room temp in a draft-free location for 12 hours. 

Place six small or one large cheese mold in a flat-bottomed baking dish. Gently ladle curd into molds, taking care not to break up the curd. The whey will begin draining out of the holes in the molds right away and will collect in the dish. I found that my curd wasn't firm enough to keep from seeping completely through the holes in my cheese molds.  But I figured I'd go with it and see what happened.

As soon as the curd has drained down below the tops of the molds, cover the dish and place in the refrigerator. The faisselle is ready to use ans soon as it has drained to your desired texture. The longer it drains, the firmer it will become (because the molds are sitting in the whey, it will stay fairly moist). Store it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. To remove, unmold onto a plate.  After 4 days, only the bottoms of my little molds had some cheese left in them...just up to where the rest that had drained out sat.  I unmolded those the best I could.  Basically it was like a thick, tangy goat's milk yogurt.  Very tasty, especially against the sweetness of the spiced oranges.  I decided to pour it all into one large mold, this time lined with butter muslin to see what would happen.  It is in the fridge now, I'll add an update later today. (*see photo below for results!)

Spiced Orange Slices

slightly adapted from The Complete Book of Small Batch Preserving

 yield: 1 pint

2 large oranges
  8 c. hot water
½ tsp. salt
½ c. granulated sugar
¼ c. lightly packed brown sugar
¼ c. cider vinegar 

¼ c. water
2 Tbs. corn syrup
  4 whole cloves
  2 cardamom pods
  2 cinnamon sticks, 3 inches long
¼ tsp. black peppercorns

Combine whole unpeeled oranges, hot water, and salt in a large saucepan. Bring  to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30-45 minutes or until fruit is tender. Drain oranges, discarding liquid, and cool. 

Cut oranges in half crosswise and then into very thin slices. 

Combine granulated sugar, brown sugar, vinegar, water, corn syrup, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, and peppercorns in a large saucepan. Stir over high heat until sugars have dissolved. Reduce heat and cook for 10 minutes. Add orange slices, cover, and cook gently for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes. Remove and discard cardamom and cinnamon. 

This recipe is then able to be canned, if you wish (see instructions at forging fromage if you need them).  I just jarred them up and stuck them in the fridge.

*second attempt at "molding" Faisselle using butter muslin...still pretty loose