We have an abundance of goatโs milk for the first time since getting goats 16 years ago.ย While weโve been milking goats for all those years, it was rare for us to have more than just a little milk for our coffee.ย Every year weโve had at least one, and often 3 or 4 orphaned lambs or goat kids that needed the milk more than we did.ย But this year there are no orphans and all the milk is coming into the kitchen every night.ย Yay!
In other years I would get to make five or six batches of cheese between weaning the bottle babies and the start of breeding season when the milk supply dwindled.ย Then weโd be down to just enough milk for coffee, again.ย With goatโs milk you really want fresh milk for cheese making, so no saving up milk for several days just to make cheese.
Chedvah is one of this year’s milking does. She was a bottle baby last year.
Iโm making cheese almost daily right now.ย And that is a lot of whey to deal with.ย It always amazes me that after the cheese curds are removed how much whey is actually left.ย So lately Iโve been looking for ways to utilize the whey from cheese making better.
What to do with all that whey?
I make ricotta cheese and one 6 litre/quart batch of whey yields about 1 ยฝ cups of ricotta.ย Thereโs still more than 5 quarts of whey left.ย So once youโve taken out 2 pounds of hard cheese and 1 ยฝ cups of ricotta cheese whatโs left isnโt just water.
Whey has all the B-vitamins, plus calcium, phosphorous, potassium, selenium, zinc, and magnesium.ย Whey is also a high quality protein.ย When milk is separated into curds and whey to make cheese, the casein protein goes with the cheese curds, while the serum protein stays with the whey.ย Serum protein is a complete protein.ย (http://www.livestrong.com/article/533194-nutritional-value-of-milk-whey-liquid/)ย Most of the carbohydrates in whey are in the form of milk sugar or lactose.ย Thatโs why people who are lactose intolerant can often eat cheese, much of the lactose is removed with the whey.
It seems a shame to dump the whey down the sink.ย Certainly it would be better to pour it on the garden.ย Whey has a fertilizer potential of Nitrogen 1.22, Phosphorous .40, Potassium 1.46, plus calcium, magnesium, sodium, and chlorine.
But what if you could turn whey into more food?ย Well it turns out you can.
Whey is high in lactose aka milk sugar.ย After youโve taken your hard cheese and your ricotta cheese, that 5 quarts of leftover whey can be simmered down to make several sweet confections.ย Different countries traditionally made different sweet confections from the whey. In Mexico Dulce de Leche a caramel-like sauce that is served like, well, caramel is made from the whey plus added sugar and cream.ย It can be cooked down further to a fudge-like consistency then beaten like fudge and poured into molds or further cooked into toffee.
It doesnโt taste quite the same as caramel made with milk and sugar, though.ย It has a more complex flavour, sweet, with a slight saltiness, and a slightly sour finish.ย It reminds me of salted caramels.ย I had visions of toasted pecan cheese cake drizzled with it just before serving.
Dulce de leche made from whey.
Gjetost is another cheese that can be made from goat whey.ย When made from cowsโ milk whey it is called Mysost.ย I found a recipe for it inThe Art of Natural Cheese Making by David Asher (2015)(p. 260 to 262).ย It is more dessert than cheese, with a fudge-like consistency.
Gjetost is made by slowly simmering whey in a pot until the liquid is reduced to one fourth its volume and has taken on a light caramel colour.ย At this point cream is added to the whey and it is cooked more quickly, stirring constantly to prevent large lactose crystals from forming in the cheese.ย The cheese will continue to caramelise turning from golden brown to darker brown.ย It will begin to solidify in the bottom of the pan.ย At this point the cheese is removed from the heat and beaten with a spoon, in the same way that fudge is beaten.ย Then it is poured into buttered molds to cool.
Gjetost can take two days to make.ย I found that using myInstant-Pot™ to simmer down the whey was much easier and used less energy than simmering on the stove top.ย There is no need to stir it at this point.ย I left the lid off it though, to encourage evaporation.
Near the end of the cooking time, I turned my Instant-Pot™ to sautรฉ with medium heat and that was just right to finish the cheese, without burning.
How to make Gjetost
Ingredients:
1 to 2 gallons of sweet whey left from cheese making or ricotta making
1 to 2 cups of sweet, heavy cream
2 tbsp. of butter (to reduce foaming)
Method:
Simmer the whey in a slow cooker or Instant-Pot on medium heat for several hours or overnight with the lid off.ย There is no need to stir this.
When the volume of the whey is reduced by 75%, add the cream and butter.ย Turn up the heat.ย Use the sautรฉ feature on the Instant-Pot on medium heat.ย Stirring constantly simmer the whey while it reduces further and caramelizes.
The whey will turn browner as it caramelises. If it begins to burn, turn the heat down.ย Once it is thickened, it will coat a spoon, and you can part the liquid without it running back into itself, remove from the heat.ย How long you cook it, the degree of browning, and how long you stir it for determine the final consistency of the Gjetost.ย Continue stirring for several minutes to prevent large lactose crystals from forming.ย Pour into buttered molds.ย ย Allow it to cool.
The brown cheese is very hot at this point so plan to use stainless steel molds rather than plastic molds.ย ย Plastic molds will melt and warp.ย (The voice of experience).
How to store Gjetost:
Once it is cooled it can be wrapped in parchment paper and refrigerated.ย It will keep indefinitely in the fridge.
How to serve Gjetost:
The cheese is sweet, sour, and salty.ย In Norway it is served for breakfast, sliced very thinly, with fruit and rye bread.ย Itโs tucked into school lunches with lingon berry jam and rye crackers.ย It melts well in fondue.ย It can be grated and used sparingly as a pizza topping.ย In Norway it is called โSki Cheeseโ and taken on excursions as a trail food.
I did wonder if I should make gjetost before I made ricotta with the whey or after.ย I did it both ways.ย The gjetost made from whey that had not been used for ricotta was sweeter and more caramel-like, both in taste and texture.ย I had to blend it with an immersion blender just after I added the butter and the cream, to incorporate milk curd that had separated out of the whey as it reduced.ย The gjetost make after ricotta making had a more earthy-leathery finish and didnโt need to be blended with the immersion blender to give it a creamy texture.
Yield from 6 quarts of goatโs milk
Hereโs my yield from 6 quarts of raw goatโs milk:
- 2 lbs of hard cheese
- 1 cup of ricotta
- 400 grams of gjetost
Your turn:
What do you make with your whey?ย Have you tried gjetost before?ย How about mysost?
I am new to this and wonder. I just did 1 1/2 gallons goats milk with 2 cups lemon juice and strained off with cheese cloth now is this ricotta and the next step as iv never made ricotta or do I just do the next steps at this point.
Did you heat the ricotta? For ricotta cheese, the milk is heated. Then the lemon juice is added. It is cooked at a low temperature until the milk separates into curds, then it is strained. The whey is clear liquid, mine is usually yellow in color but clear. The milk curds are white and hold together somewhat. Its just the whey that is used for gjetost.
Dulce de Leche is from Argentina, not from Mexico.
I have yogurt whey. Can Gjetost be made with that?
To follow up, the gjetost with karo did crystallize some after a couple of days in the fridge but with very fine crystals. Still much better.
My gjetost was grainy. I reheated 2 cups of it with about 2 tsp karo syrup. Voila! Smooth and lovely.
Also, had only a bit of lemon juice so used about 2 cups sour cream in a gallon of milk. Curds fell out thick and gjetost has the consistency of cream cheese – a nice spread
I got a ridiculous amount of curds using this recipe. 3 specks is what I got out of it. I used whey from queso fresco. Not sure if it varies by the type of cheese previously made, but this did not work for me.
Yes, it matters which kind of cheese the whey comes from.
Can I get a recipe to make sweet Gjetost from the whey left after making yogurt. I use Fairlife milk to make my yogurt if that helps?
I tried with yogurt whey, and it ends up sooo sour. Like on par with fresh lemon juice, itโs the concentration of existing flavors, I think!
On my instant pot sautรฉ I have three settings low high and custom
On your Insta pot approximately what temperature is your medium setting
I have the Original Instant Pot and the medium setting on slow cooker boils water gently. My Instant Pot Duo does not boil water on the medium setting.
Your advice, pictures, and comments improve so much on other sources I’ve seen online!
Instant Pot overnight — fantastic!
Thank you.
Do you have printable form of this recipe?
Thanks!
It worked! I’ve always thought that Gjetost was something only to be made in winter due to the stove being on that long but the slow cooker was a game changer!
Woot!
OK, please bear with me. I just made mozzarella (not the quick version, but the cultured) Now I can make Ricotta and then Gjetost? Or just one or the other?
You can make ricotta first and then use the left over whey to make gjetost.
Thanks for sharing your recipe! I had ricotta curds when the temperature started to reach 160 and not knowing if I should leave the curds in the pot I removed 95% of them. The last time I tried to make this cheese was years ago and with poor success. The cheese was really grainy and my instructions were not very good but I’m giving it a go one more time. Thanks again!
hi! what setting / temp did you use on the IP? And how longish did it take to evaporate down?
I used the slow cooker setting on low overnight.
What would happen if I did this with whey from making yogurt? Would it taste too sour?
No. It would be fine. It will be a little more salty.
IDK…I made it with the whey from making whole mile greek yogurt and it’s just sour. Sour like a lemon sour. Think great looking caramel with great mouth feel, but no sweetness, no detectable salt level, just sour. And I even added 2 cups of heavy cream hoping to balance things out a bit. Probably going to leave my mysost making days behind me, and try ricotta making as my last step instead.
It sounds like you made it with sour milk whey instead of with sweet ricotta whey, which is sweeter. The Gjetost is made from the whey after you’ve made ricotta and strained off the cheese curds.
A local friend and I use our whey for canning green chillies each year. They taste so fresh when opened and used. Not like the vinegar and hot bath method that leaves them gushy.
What a good idea. Thanks for sharing.
I know this is an old comment, but would anyone have that recipe for canning green chiles using leftover whey?
Norway it is served for breakfast, sliced very thinly, with fruit and rye bread. Itโs tucked into school lunches with lingon berry jam and rye crackers. It melts well in fondue. It can be grated and used sparingly as a pizza topping. In Norway it is called โSki Cheeseโ
Where did you get this information from? I’m Norwegian, and I have never heard of Brunost being referred to as ‘ski cheese’.
Sure, we have it on bread for breakfast and lunch, as an evening snack or, as you say, when we go skiing or hiking, but people rarely put fruit on it, traditionally, and lingonberryjam is not very common in a school lunch. Besides, when it comes to rye bread you might be thinking of our neighbours, as it is less common here – at least for kids.
Of course, with Scandinavian cooking becoming popular with fancy restaurants, you’ll find brunost being used in tons of different ways these days, but if you want to be accurate, it’s mostly known to be the best friend of fresh/tosted bread, ‘knekkebrรธd’ (like wasa), the Norwegian pancakes ‘sveler’ and wawaffles.
I also highly recommend using a slice or two in sauces for game , red meats or hearty vegetarian roasts :p
But regardless, fun to see a traditional recipe being used overseas, so well done