Thursday, July 1, 2010

Feta Roundup!


Salty, pungeant, glorious....Feta!  A month ago, I proposed a challenge...a challenge to forge Feta.  Goat's milk feta was the original plan, but many places have extremely  highly-priced goats milk (like my place...Northern Indiana)...so in the end, whether the milk came from goats, cows, sheep...the important thing was turning into that tangy delight!  Feta had some fabulous results...let's take a look, shall we?

Let's begin with a Rebecca of GrongarBlog...this is her first month forging with us, and she knocked it out of the park!  She was able to use Goats milk...she rigged up an awesome draining contraption in her cool basement, and was met with success.  She says "After it was rinsed, the taste was great: mildly goaty, slightly salty. The texture was firm while still being creamy, and not at all “squeaky” like many store-bought fetas."  I think she's a natural...just look for yourself!
Next up is my original cheesing partner-in-crime, Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies.  Natashya thought she'd have to forge using simply cows milk, "... but at the last minute hubs came home with a little of both. Goat's milk does make for lovely, tangy, and delicate cheese. Cow's milk is cheap. We compromised."  And with delicious results, I might add! Check it out...
Next up is Alicia of Foodycat.  She was also able to use goats milk for her feta, which "was a success"...brain-shaped and all wink, wink.  She says "I jumped the gun a bit - we ate the first half of the cheese a day early because I just couldn't resist. We had it in a Greek-ish salad of cucumber, tomato, avocado and red onion, dressed with oregano, basil, olive oil and white wine vinegar. It was delicious! Not too salty, not mushy, not too crumbly, with just the right hint of goaty tang."  Nice.  See....
And bringing it all home is me (Heather) of girlichef.  Now, although I proposed this challenge, I ran sorely behind.  As a matter of fact, I haven't even posted it yet because I'm in the midst of making it RIGHT THIS MINUTE!  *UPDATE~ Okay, even though I'm late to the party I like to make a fashionable entrance, I've finally linked up my Feta!  I, too, used cow milk because I wasn't ready to mortgage my house to obtain the goat milk.  I loved the final result...salty, tangy, feta-ey!!  Since I had a few people ahem who worked through the kinks before me, I used Natashya's adaptations to make mine.
 

Everybody did a fabulous job forging Feta this month...thanks so much for joining us, ladies!!  I'm looking forward to Natashya's soon-to-be-announced challenge...and don't forget, we're still working on forging Gouda!  Please feel free to forge with us...jump in!

8 comments:

Heather S-G said...

Fabulous Forging, ladies!!

Spryte said...

You are all amazing!!!!!!

pam said...

Oh my goodness! I've got to order my cheesemaking supplies!

NKP said...

Awesome round-up Heather! Thanks so much for the cheesy feta challenge!
July's challenge to come tomorrow.
Cheers, everyone - great cheese!

Alicia Foodycat said...

Oh how wonderful! I had no idea you could sautee feta!

Rebecca said...

I love the round-up. Everyone did such a great job! I'm having so much fun being part of this group. We (finally) made our Gouda yesterday - on the hottest day of the year so far. Ugh. But I think it turned out nicely and amazed that I can make something that looks so REAL. I can't wait to test it out at the end of the month.

Anonymous said...

I should stop reading your cheese roundups - everything looks so yummy that I want to start making cheese, too. I have too many projects going on right now, though *sigh*.

Heather S-G said...

Hey guys...better late than never? My actual Forging Feta link is finally up ;)