Our Second Donation to #afundforjennie

Well, it's taken me a bit longer than planned to get this posted, but here it is!  Our second donation to a #afundforjennie.  It has been so heartwarming to see the love and generosity that people have shown for Jennie and her girls.  I've been following Bloggers Without Borders on Twitter and I love seeing all the new donations come through!

Goat Cheese, Goat Cheese and MORE Goat Cheese!

Baked Ricotta

Cran-Orange-Walnut Torte

Pink Peppercorn Heart

       
This auction will consist of the following: Two Chevre Tortes including Sun-Dried Tomato with Pesto and our Gold Medal Winner-Cranberry, Orange and Crushed Walnut.

Two Chevre Spreads, choose from the following flavors: Natural, Organic Basil & Olive Oil, Roasted Red Sweet Pepper, Herbs de Provence, Roasted Garlic & Chive or Fig-Almond.  Two marinated Chevres in your choice of Herbal Peppercorn, Spicy 4 Pepper (Hot!), Artichoke-Grilled Sweet Pepper, Sun-Dried Tomato with Pine Nuts, Jalapeno-Garlic, or Mediterranean. 

Mold Ripened Pyramid

One round of Baked Goat's Milk Ricotta & one tub Raw Goat's Milk Feta.

Two mold-ripened chevres to be chosen from supply on hand at auction end.  We make these in Natural, Pink Peppercorn, Savory,  Green Peppercorn, Creme de Cassis and Ash Coated. 

 

Two fresh chevre logs or buttons in your choice of Natural, Tuscan Herb, Smoked Paprika, Pepper Blend, Fresh Organic Chive or Pink Peppercorn.

Two jars of our delicious Chevrecakes.  You may choose from Mixed Berry, Blueberry, Raspberry or Cajeta toppings.  We also give you a choice of crustless, graham cracker, almond, walnut or pecan crust.   All are Gluten Free except the graham cracker.

Mold Ripened Aperitif

 
List of items included:
2 Chevre Tortes
2 Chevre Spreads
2 Marinated Chevre

2 Chevre Logs or Buttons

1 Round Baked Ricotta
1 Tub Goat Milk Feta

2 Jars Chevrecakes
2 Mold Ripened Chevre

Total Value:$96 plus we will ship 2nd day air to any US address

The auction will end on Sunday, September 11 at 6 PM, MST.  I will announce the winner on this blog, Facebook and Twitter. I will ship your items within 3 days of payment, but it must also be on a Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, as this item will ship 2nd day air.

The First of Two Donations for "A Fund for Jennie"

If you follow any of the baking or food blogs you may have heard about "A Fund for Jennie."  Jennifer Perillo lost her husband of 16 years, Mikey, to a sudden heart attack on August 7. The food blogging community has come together to create a fund for Jennifer and her two girls ages 3 and 8.  The fund was started by Shauna Ahern and Maggy Keet.  #afundforjennie is the first project being organized by "Bloggers Without Borders", which was created by Maggy Keet and Erika Pineda-Ghanny.  The non-profit organization was formed to connect bloggers to one another, and to help them assist those in need. It is an online platform that will spread the word about charitable happenings in the blogging community.

We wanted to help in some small way and have donated two items to be auctioned on our blog.  The first item is a gift pack of our Cajeta, or Goat's Milk Caramel Sauce.  This includes all six flavors that we currently offer.  You will receive six, 9 oz. jars of Cajeta in the following flavors: Traditional, Cinnamon-Vanilla, Espresso, Sea Salt, Honey Lavender and Caliente (Habanero).  The value of this set is $48 and we will ship this item anywhere in the US.

The starting bid on this auction is $20.  All funds raised will go to Jennie.  This auction will end at 6 PM, MST on Sunday, September 4, 2011.  I will announce the winner on this blog and on Facebook (Fiore di Capra) and Twitter (@fioredicapra). I will ship the Cajeta within 3 days of payment. Please bid generously to show your support!  You may also send a donation to Jennie by clicking the badge below.  This will take you to the Paypal account that has been set up for her and her girls.   I will be posting a second donation tomorrow, which will be an assortment of goat cheese valued at over $50!

Fresh Goat's Milk Mozzarella

We've had lots of requests for Goat's Milk Mozzarella lately so I thought I would give it a try.  I used to make this cheese several years ago and it was always unpredictable.  Well, it still is!  My success rate has been pretty good when using cow's milk, but goat's milk seems to yield a different result each time.

The recipe I used was from New England Cheesemaking, 30 Minute Mozzarella.  I have found that our milk requires less citric acid than is called for, so I reduced the amount to 1 tsp per gallon of milk used.  You may need to increase this by 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon depending on your milk.

Here is the basic recipe:

1 gallon of fresh goat milk
1 teaspoon of citric acid diluted in 1 cup of cool water
1/4 teaspoon of liquid rennet or 1/4 of a rennet tablet-I used single strength liquid
1/8 teaspoon of milk lipase powder-optional but it does give more flavor

For detailed instructions with photos go to http://www.cheesemaking.com/howtomakemozzarellacheese.html

If you are in the Tucson area, stop by our booth at the St. Phillips Plaza Farmer's Market on Sundays and try some of our goat cheese!  We plan to offer fresh Mozzarella in Natural and Mesquite Smoked.

Annual herd testing is once again completed!

Our annual herd tests for Tuberculosis and Brucellosis are now behind us.  Every year, I try to find a better, more efficient way to handle this chore.  Getting each animal into the milk parlor where our veterinarian is waiting to draw blood and administer the TB test is a major challenge.  This year, with a much smaller herd we managed to get all the goats through in about 2 hours.  Not bad.  All Raw Milk dairies are required to test for TB and Brucellosis yearly. If we were only selling cheese, we could reduce this to once every three years.

To add to the stress of the morning, our wonderful state dairy inspector dropped by during the blood draw to take random samples from the bulk tank and bottled milk!  We are very lucky to have great people to work with in our state. The Arizona Department of Agriculture has been very supportive of our small farm and dairy right from the start.  I hear about what others go through in Pennsylvania and other states and I know how lucky we are to have the great staff up in Phoenix at the ADA.

Welcome to the Fiore di Capra blog!  Through our blog, we plan to share with you a little bit of our life on the farm.  We'll post recipes using our goat milk and cheese, new products that we create, and photos of the goats and other critters that live here.