It’s not the popular orange variety that’s paired with bun at this time of year, but those looking to add a different flavour to how they eat this Easter may opt for locally made goat cheese!

“I was surprised to see how many goats were roaming the streets as I drove from the airport to my home,” says cheese maker Lise Bouffard who moved to Jamaica nine years ago, “and even more surprised that I couldn’t find goat cheese anywhere.”

Bouffard who is a native of Canada’s French province of Quebec, tells Thursday Food that she has been making cheese for the last five years, but only began pursuing it seriously for the last three.

The cheese or Chèvre frais is done in her cosy Manchester home after she sources the milk from goats which graze on her Knockpatrick farm.

“The Alpine and Nubian are the two breeds used for milking,” Bouffard shares, adding that she now owns six ewes and a ram.

Having collected the milk, she explains that she strains the liquid with a metal colander and then with a piece of fabric to further eliminate dirt or goat hair. Once strained, Bouffard ensures that the milk is used at room temperature – between 24 and 35 degrees Celsius.

She adds diluted forms of Rennet – an enzyme which is derived from the stomach of a calf – and Calcium Chloride to the milk followed by a Lactate Culture, which ensures that the mixture reaches a uniform consistency.

The mixture is left to sit, while the whey (the solid part) floats in curd (the fat of the milk) – this takes from 14-16 hours to happen.

“I hang it overnight and within eight hours all the liquid is drained,” Bouffard says, noting that she pours the entire mixture into a draining bag. When all the liquid is drained she adds salt to the cheese.

Unable to find moulds in which to place the cheese on local shelves, Bouffard made her own.

“I used plastic ice cream containers and PVC pipes,” laughs Bouffard as she holds up the makeshift moulds complete with tiny holes that facilitate the further draining/drying of the cheese.

She realised that more could be done with local herbs and spices to give the goat cheese greater appeal to the palate not used to its sharp, milky taste.

“I make a jerk, thyme and plain,” Bouffard shares, noting that during taste a test most people preferred the jerk. She wraps the finished cheese in plastic and tells Thursday Food that it will last up to two weeks once refrigerated.

Though Bouffard sees her cheese making as little more than a hobby with just a few steady customers, she believes that goat cheese production can be a veritable business for small farmers.

“I compare Jamaica to Quebec of 25 years ago, where people were not used to a variety of cheeses,” she says, “but today the opposite is true, the dairy industry within the province has taken to the variety.”

Bouffard, like most other small farmers, suffers from the lack of capital that would otherwise ensure consistency.

“My biggest challenge is getting a constant source of milk,” she says, explaining that the goats are not always lactating. Bouffard admits that organising one’s herd so that milking is staggered and by extension not seasonal is one way of dealing with the problem.

It takes approximately seven pounds of milk to produce a pound of cheese.

Bouffard, one of only two people who produce goat cheese in Jamaica, maintains that her stuff is better than what’s available on shelves island-wide since “the milk from imported cheese is pasteurised and mine is made from raw milk and is therefore more flavourful.”

She, like many of our small farmers, craves the support of the local market.

“The hotels have some role to play in the advertising of locally grown products,” she says, “much of the foreign goods they use can be substituted with what we have here.”