cheese making for dummies

[Faith Hope]

I am trying to learn to make cheese. We have made yogurt cheese and curds and whey. They are wonderful.

Now, I want to try my hand at chevre. I bought the culture and rennet from hoegger supply a couple of months ago, but I am just now taking a look at my supplies.
As I am reading the directions, I see that the powdered culture should have been in the freezer this whole time? What if I didn't know this and left it sitting on a shelf? Will it be any good?

Help!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I made cheese for months and months last year while my does were lactating....I never kept the culture in the freezer and it worked great every time. However; I just started milking again and my first batch of hceese this seasn just didn't work quite right. Maybe I didn't let it drain long enough.

If you have plenty of milk - why not give it a try? Chevre is relatively easy to make and it's delicious. If it doesn't work I read something somewhere about running it through the blender and making mock "cream cheese" out of it.

If all else fails - dogs and/or chickens and/or pigs would love the results even if you don't!