Rosemary Goat Cheese Stuffed Figs with Prosciutto and A Trip to Spinning Spider Creamery

Rosemary Goat Cheese Stuffed Figs with Prosciutto and A Trip to Spinning Spider Creamery

There were beautiful cheeses in the drying room. Some were hand molded, surface ripened French cheeses that were coated in ash made from the apple trees on their farm. These cheeses will develop a white mold that will completely cover it. We also wandered into the aging room to see the cheeses at various stages in the aging process.

These are beautiful!

Chris does sell her cheeses to various restaurants and Greenlife Grocery, however, she says she still prefers selling them at Farmers’ Markets (that is where we first found them!). She likes that people can sample the cheeses and see how ripe they are and what they taste like at the time.

One of the cheeses I would like to taste is their Liesel that is rubbed first with olive oil and then with a mixture of spice and chocolate. Oh, mercy! She did not have any of this in production, so I guess we will have to go back! They also produce young blues, Gouda, cheddar, feta and yogurt. We took home a delicious soft goat cheese flavored with cracked black pepper, rosemary and fig preserves.

These are some of the Goat Blue cheeses.

Of course, the Bunkycooks were also lucky enough to watch the whole goat milking process. I have to admit that I have never milked a goat or cow nor have I seen this done before. It was like goats on parade! They methodically march in and go into a device that looks similar to a horse racing gate. However, there’s no running away here. These goats want to stay!

They are milked twice a day and enjoy the process (I would too if I had udders that were that big!), so they literally wait to be milked (no pushing and shoving, girls!). It really is very cute!

These goats want to go a milking!

Silas Owen is very handsome.

The goat parade!

The goats are then carefully cleaned and prepared for the milking process to prevent any sort of contamination. The milk is fed through a line right into a vat in the next room where it is chilled. Chris says that 180 to 200 gallons of milk per day is the right amount for her to handle to make cheese in their small operation. She said that each of the goats, on average, will produce 17 pounds of milk per day (or approximately 2 gallons each).

She also told me that goat’s milk should not taste or smell “goaty” if it is handled properly and not exposed to air while being transferred. Milk is very sensitive to odors. The actual milking of the goats takes about 10 minutes (except for Colbert – the slow and stubborn one! She took longer. She’s just like that Colbert guy on television!).

Colbert is slow and obstinate! Just like Colbert on television!

I was impressed that Chris knows each and every one of her seventy-five goats by name! There’s even a Mary Poppins. The goats also enjoy a little attention before and after milking. They are truly happy and healthy goats!

Goat kisses!

There are usually between eight to ten male goats (bucks) in that total number of seventy five goats. They are only allowed to come around the females (does) when the appropriate time comes. The rest of the time they are kept separate. That’s some kind of odds, boys!

Come on down for milking!

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