Giving Goat Another Chance

There are very few ingredients that completely turn me off from trying a recipe, but goat’s cheese is one of those ingredients.  I will never, ever forget the first time I bought goat cheese.  I had planned a special dinner that night, and the highlight of the evening was supposed to be a crostini, topped with goat cheese.  I’d heard so many wonderful things about goat cheese, and all day long when I opened the fridge I would see this lovely log of chevre, and anticipate the dinner hour.  The time came, and I finally ripped open the package and sliced off a tiny wheel and popped it in my mouth.  And promptly gagged, spit it out into the sink and tried to use a metal scrubbie to scrape the residue off my tongue.  Oh, it was so nasty and… well, goaty! It tasted just like the goat pens smelled at the county fair, if you know what I mean.  Just nasty!   Goat cheese was promptly and firmly promoted to the very small list of  “foods not to be trifled with” and I have stayed away from it ever since.

Over the past few years though, rumor and whatnot brought to my attention a local goat dairy.  While I knew my reaction to goat product, I was really excited at the idea of a local goat dairy in my neck of the woods.  Every once in a while they would appear in the local paper for having done something new on their farm, but I never actually saw the product out anywhere.  Finally, while grocery shopping, I saw it, I saw their product in the form of goat yogurt, so I bought a cup, excited to support someone local, and brought it home to try.  While I wouldn’t say I hated the yogurt, I couldn’t eat the whole cup. It still had that goaty taste in the background to me.  I do remember thinking though that if I ever were told that I couldn’t eat cows milk yogurt that I could get used to the goat yogurt over time.  I didn’t buy any more of it.

Yesterday though, the kids and I walked over to our brand-new local farmer’s market. Our initial report of the market is that there is plenty of room to grow, and I’m really anticipating over the next few weeks that the veggie farmers are going to show up with their produce, because that’s what was really missing in quantity. We picked up a few things, supporting those who did come, when the kids walked over to a stand and pointed out some honey.  Sure, we could get the honey, and then someone asked if we wanted to try some cheese.  I looked, and sure enough, we were at the stand for Caprine Supreme, the local goat dairy.  I wanted to turn down the offer of the cheese sample, but the kids were eager, so I put on my game face and popped a curd in my mouth, bracing myself for the nastiness I was sure would come.  And was surprised when it never did.  In fact, that goat cheese was delicious! The kids liked it too, and then proceeded to sample some of the goat yogurt- which they also both LOVED. We ended up buying some cheese, and on the way home, both kids finished off the yogurt sample and told me we should buy some of the goat yogurt, because it was the best yogurt they’d ever had.  Huh. Then Abigail asked me if she could try some goat milk sometime because she thought the cheese and the yogurt were both really delicious.  Those are her words by the way, “really delicious”.

So next week, we’ll go back to the Caprine Supreme stand and pick up some yogurt, and hopefully some fresh milk.  Talking to the owner, what makes their goat dairy stand out is that it is prepared as fresh as possible.  When they make yogurt or cheese, the milk goes straight from the goat to the vats for cheese or yogurt making.  With traditional dairies, sometimes that milk sits or has to get trucked to the cheese plant, and can sit for a while (refrigerated of course) before being transformed. (Standing time apparently translates to that gamey goaty flavor.)  Not at Caprine Supreme.  They make their cheese and yogurt right on the farm in their own creamery.  It’s fresh as fresh can be.  Even better, they don’t add any additives to their yogurt either.  Where we’re so used to thick American style yogurt that is eaten with a spoon, the goat yogurt is European style, so it can be scooped with a spoon, or drunk with a straw.  Apparently the time of year dictates how thick the yogurt actually gets.

Needless to say, I’m a little surprised at our find yesterday, but also delighted.  While we bought some cheese curds, I’m already thinking about trying a few of the other cheeses, and they turn out as I expect, I’ll be pulling out all those cookbooks and magazines that feature the recipes calling for goat cheese.  Fresher than fresh goat cheese actually tastes good.  Who knew?