The cheese recipe that I am going to share with you tonight was discovered on some Sumerian clay tablets, circa 3500 bc and in continuous use right up to rule of Saadam Huessein. Raw milk left without refrigeration separates itself into curds and whey after about 12 to 18 hours. All that is needed is a method to remove the curds from the whey, enter "cheesecloth". Hang the cloth ball of curds to drain for another 12 hours and you have fresh, alive, raw, delicious goat cheese. If you let it age for sixty days you could buy or sell it in WHOLE FOODS. The Federal Government figures that all the bad bacteria would have died in that timeframe.

The real difference in cheeses is the starter or the catalyst that makes the milk curdle. Rennet is the bacteria from the intestine of the goat which separates the curds from the whey. Therefore the Sumerian cheese had a different taste from a goat herd on the other side of the Euphraytes. For example the Italians have over 400 different types of cheeses, forbidden by law to be pasteurized, to maintain the purity of their distinct flavors. All distilled water tastes the same. The cheese you buy at Kroger's or Rice Epicurean has been artificially inseminated. Since the milk comes from the nanny's teat at 90 degrees all you have to do is wait for it to naturally curdle making in our case "Fomage AnalaGoatCompany.com". 

We are not ready to try flavoring our cheese straight from the tap. We buy 'starter' packs from www.cheesemakers.com that have rennet and the culturing agent combined e.g. 'Fomage Blanc', 'Chevre', 'Mozzarella', and more. My favorite discovery has been making "Philadelphia" quality cream cheese from my KEFIR cultured milk. The old Sumerian way. Sit the strained beverage (48 hour kefir) out on the shelf for 2 or 3 days, pour it into a pillow case - I'm sure Saddam's ancestors had pillows - and hang it up for six to 12 hours. Next you need fresh Bialys to go with the Kefir cream cheese spread.

You want to make your own raw cheese not because it tastes better, or it is healthier. You want to eat raw cheese, raw butter and non radiated meat because of the peer pressure to be thin or at least not obviously fat. America didn't get fat on Velvetta and Philadelphia Cream Cheese, and Pasteurized milk. Two thirds of the American population is overweight because of McDonald's and government subsidies for corn producers. This is a fatty acid molecule in its natural kinked state. This is the same molecule after "Mazola" has turned it into a trans-fatty acid. I can tell you to stop eating these things because they will kill you just like cigarettes. Or consuming manufactured food products will make you fat all the way to obesity but in the U.S. of A. that's like a bartender that doesn't drink or smoke. I'm suggesting you do like the French fight fat with fat. They don't pasteurize their milk and cheese. Or how about the billion Indian populace that consumes over half of the world's butter and yogurt supply without a fat one in the lot.

My favorite Atkin's Diet dessert was a block of cream cheese on a Graham cracker. Now I don't buy much in the grocery store To paraphrase Little Miss Muffett. I'm sitting on my tuffet eating my Kefir cream cheese and throwing the graham cracker away.