We love our Nubian goats and of course we love their milk. There are many different ways to use raw goat milk and we’ve tried many of them. But we always seem to come back to our 3 favorite ways to use the milk. They’re quick, easy and fantastic. Let us tell you about them!
Goat’s Milk Ice Cream
This is a delicious and easy way to use goat’s milk. The sweet lady who sold us our Nubian doe first introduced us to this mouthwatering treat. We found a vanilla ice cream recipe that we love and don’t usually veer far from it. We already had an ice cream maker that we received as a gift and it works perfectly. This ice cream is lower in fat than other ice creams, because it uses whole milk and not just the cream.
Ingredients
• 4 cups raw goat milk
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
Directions
1. Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix until well blended.
2. Pour the mixture into the ice cream maker.
3. Turn it on and let it do its thing for about 25 minutes (ice cream makers do vary so make sure to use the correct amount of time for your maker). It won’t be super thick when it’s done, but if you stick in the freezer for a bit it will firm right up.
You can play with the recipe a bit to fit your own taste preferences, for example you can add more or less salt and vanilla extract depending on how you like it. Likewise, you don’t have to use the egg if you don’t want to, we happen to prefer the ice cream with a creamier texture so we add the egg.
Yield 2 quarts of ice cream.
Homemade Goat’s Milk Cottage Cheese
This one of my absolute favorite ways to use the goat milk, it’s delicious and super easy. It only takes few ingredients and a little bit of time.
Directions
1. Heat up 1/2 gallon of raw unpasteurized goat milk in a pot on medium heat until it almost boils.
2. Next, stir in 1/4 cup raw apple cider vinegar and remove from heat. When you stir, you will want to use a slotted spoon. Stir in an up and down motion so that the apple cider vinegar reaches the very bottom of the pot. Allow the milk to sit for a few minutes, until it’s clearly separated.
3. Next, strain the milk through a mesh sieve or cheese cloth. You can also use a plain white pillow case that’s been washed and bleached it works better than traditional cheese cloth.
The whey will filter through and the curds will be left in the sieve. Make sure to save the whey, it’s a great form of nutrients for your garden soil. If you’d rather feed it your chickens, dogs or cats go ahead, they love it!
Season the curds with salt and pepper. I’ve also used paprika and red pepper flakes, they’re super tasty seasonings to add.
We hope you like this homemade cottage cheese as much as we do!
Goat’s Milk Soap/Beef Tallow Soap
Making goat milk soap has been on our homesteading to do list for a long time. It always seemed a little scary and overwhelming to try something as grand as making soap. Much to our surprise, it wasn’t scary and actually pretty fun and very rewarding.
Our very first step was to research the process, recipe, ingredients and equipment needed. We found a great DIY article that included a recipe and very helpful tips and tricks from My Healthy Green Family.
Obviously we had the goat milk on hand. We had already frozen some excess milk months earlier that worked perfectly for this project. We needed to find the other necessary ingredients and equipment that we didn’t have. Through a little research we came across Soap-Making Resource it had everything we needed at a reasonable cost.
What we needed to make our goat milk/beef tallow soap.
Ingredients
• 27 ounces of goat milk – frozen in ice cube trays
• 44 ounces of beef tallow – rendered (we used a crock pot)
• 11.7 ounces of lye – which is caustic so we used protective gear like rubber gloves, goggles and long sleeves
• White distilled vinegar – in case of lye burns
• Scale – of good quality (which costs us about $30)
• 20 ounces of coconut oil
• 20 ounces of olive oil
• 1 ounce eucalyptus essential oil
Materials
• stick blender
• 2 thermometers
• 1 large bowl
Our Process
There are many different ways to use raw goat milk and we’ve tried many of them. But we always seem to come back to our 3 favorite ways to use the milk. They’re quick, easy and fantastic. Let us tell you about them!
First, we took the tallow which was previously rendered and mixed it with the coconut oil and the olive oil in a crock pot, stuck in a thermometer and let it warm up.
Second, while the oil mixture was warming up we put the frozen cubes of goat milk in the stockpot and let it thaw slightly and get slushy.
Third, VERY SLOWLY we added the lye to the slushy goat milk cubes while stirring frequently to keep the lye from scorching the milk.
Fourth, when the oil mixture in the crockpot and the lye mixture in the stockpot both reached 110 degrees we combined the mixtures together in the stockpot and then used a stick blender to mix until it reached the consistency of a light pudding.
Last, we poured the mixture into a mold or cookie sheet and let it set for 24 hours. Then we cut it into bars. It’s important to let the bars cure completely for 4 weeks before using it.
When all was said and done, the recipe made about 7 pounds of high-quality, pure and healthy soap that cost approximately $0.80 per bar.
It was well worth the initial investment and afternoon of work. So far, the soap has gotten us rave reviews from those who have received it as a gift.
It takes some preparation and research, especially for the first time making it, but all in all, this soap is an excellent and useful way to use excess goat’s milk. If you’re interested in making soap, we highly recommend you educate yourself on the process completely before diving in. That will ensure your soap-making success.
These are our favorite ways to use excess goat’s milk. The most important thing we’ve learned is that if you’re creative and willing to try new things, your precious, homegrown ingredients will never go to waste!
Jason, Amanda and their two daughters live on 20 irrigated acres outside of Cody, Wyoming. Jason has more than 15 years of professional natural resource, vegetation, rangeland management, invasive species management and rangeland restoration experience and Amanda has more than 9 years of experience in prevention and wellness program and nonprofit management. Together they ownThe Happy Cowgirl, where they blog and offer freelance writing services and small acreage consultation. Read all of their MOTHER EARTH NEWS postshere.
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