Chat
In other news (which I couldn't post yesterday), I made some delicious caramel sauce the other day out of goat milk. The recipe called for a quart of milk to make one cup of sauce. It also called for an hour of constant stirring. I thought to myself, "That's an awful lot of standing around stirring to make only one cup of sauce. And I have a TON of milk in the fridge right now. I have a brilliant idea! 
If I've got to stand around for an hour either way, I'm going to use a gallon of milk and make a quart of caramel sauce!"
What I failed to take into consideration is that four quarts would take four times as long to boil down as one. Oops.
After an hour and a half of dedicated stirring and no significant change to the milk mixture, my mistake finally dawned on me. Phil came to the rescue and we divided the milk into three different pots and both of us stirred. We still cut the operation short and ended up with nearly a half gallon of sauce, but I have to say it's extraordinary. Phil even likes it, and he's not really a fan of caramel. It's extremely rich and sweet, so we have to use it somewhat sparingly, meaning I have way more than I know what to do with. I gave away three small jars last night when we had company over, and I'm sure I'll be able to find some more takers. It's so good I'm thinking of buying an automatic pot stirrer, canning the stuff, and selling it at craft fairs. I'm thrilled to finally have a goat milk cooking success!
Also, the whipped cream from our goats is fabulous! It's a little frustrating to have to leave all that milk in the fridge long enough to separate sufficiently to make cream skimming worthwhile, but I can't complain about the end results. We've been eating it on fresh berries.
And as a last tidbit, Nubbin's milk is wonderful! Now I know why I'm bringing Nubian blood into our herd! Lilly's milk is ok, but it usually has a slightly bitter, goaty edge to it (although the cream from it is amazing). Nubbin's milk is creamy and almost indistinguishable from cow's milk. And she's such a wonderfully easy milker too. Her teats are just the right size (Lilly has Saanen-style whoppers I can hardly fit my hands around), and the milk practically falls out of the udder when I squeeze. Nubbin is a nice change from Lilly the milk machine. Not only are Lilly's teats enormous, she's got tiny orifices and what seems like about 15 gallons of milk to squeeze out of them. It's a good thing she's a quiet milker because I always have to take several breaks when I'm milking Lilly.
If I've got to stand around for an hour either way, I'm going to use a gallon of milk and make a quart of caramel sauce!"What I failed to take into consideration is that four quarts would take four times as long to boil down as one. Oops.
After an hour and a half of dedicated stirring and no significant change to the milk mixture, my mistake finally dawned on me. Phil came to the rescue and we divided the milk into three different pots and both of us stirred. We still cut the operation short and ended up with nearly a half gallon of sauce, but I have to say it's extraordinary. Phil even likes it, and he's not really a fan of caramel. It's extremely rich and sweet, so we have to use it somewhat sparingly, meaning I have way more than I know what to do with. I gave away three small jars last night when we had company over, and I'm sure I'll be able to find some more takers. It's so good I'm thinking of buying an automatic pot stirrer, canning the stuff, and selling it at craft fairs. I'm thrilled to finally have a goat milk cooking success!
Also, the whipped cream from our goats is fabulous! It's a little frustrating to have to leave all that milk in the fridge long enough to separate sufficiently to make cream skimming worthwhile, but I can't complain about the end results. We've been eating it on fresh berries.
And as a last tidbit, Nubbin's milk is wonderful! Now I know why I'm bringing Nubian blood into our herd! Lilly's milk is ok, but it usually has a slightly bitter, goaty edge to it (although the cream from it is amazing). Nubbin's milk is creamy and almost indistinguishable from cow's milk. And she's such a wonderfully easy milker too. Her teats are just the right size (Lilly has Saanen-style whoppers I can hardly fit my hands around), and the milk practically falls out of the udder when I squeeze. Nubbin is a nice change from Lilly the milk machine. Not only are Lilly's teats enormous, she's got tiny orifices and what seems like about 15 gallons of milk to squeeze out of them. It's a good thing she's a quiet milker because I always have to take several breaks when I'm milking Lilly.