Making Cajeta (Mexican Goat Milk Caramel)

We have well over a gallon of fresh goat milk in our ice box.  We've made pounds of cheese, made smoothies with it, use it instead of cow milk for everyday dairy needs and since we milk twice a day, it keeps piling up!  What to do with all this goat milk?  Well, we decided to make cajeta.  Cajeta is Mexican goat milk caramel, and it is delicious!

Recipe: (from Home Cheese Making by Ricki Carroll)

2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3 quarts whole goat's milk
3 cups sugar

You dissolve the cornstarch and baking soda in 1 cup of the milk and stir to dissolve.  Then add the remaining milk and the sugar and stir... 

Bring it to a boil while continuing to stir...

And stir...  You can see the color starting to change.

And keep on stirring.  The consistency of the cajeta will start to thicken over time and the color will continue to darken.  You've gotta be patient.

You have to monitor the color and temperature closely.  When it hits 220 degrees, it is a thin, fluid sauce that you can use for drizzling over ice cream.  Getting it to 245 degrees results in a firm, chewy caramel.  By now the kitchen is filled with a rich aroma that beckons you to stand over the pot in gluttonous anticipation of the final product.

Pull the finished product off of the fire and pour or spoon into jars.  3 quarts of goat milk made 2 pints of caramel.

Unfortunately, I was at work when Tricia put this together and wasn't able to participate in my favorite activity - cleaning up the bowl and spoons!  You can't let any of that go to waste.  I think my wife handled that task in my absence after she took this photo:

Cajeta is great on ice cream or for any other way you'd eat caramel.  We are going to cut up pears and top with goat cheese, pecans, and cajeta on top.  Apples would be a fine substitute as well.  Or heck, you could just dip a spoon into that jar and get a big dollop of cajeta and eat it like candy.  This might just be my favorite way to eat it.

The jars will keep in the fridge, but we'll be making more and more cajeta.  I seriously doubt we have to worry about it going bad in the ice box.  Tricia was thinking about making millionaires with it by rolling pecans in it and dip into chocolate to make everyone's favorite candy.  YUM!

Old Time Soda Shop

In a neighboring small town, an entrepreneur opened an old time soda shop named "Mr. Clint's."  It is on the old main street in town.  Tricia and Benjamin stepped in and brought me a soft drink in a bottle called Hank's Black Cherry Soda.  It was delicious!  I like old, nostalgic things.  I had to go check this place out.   When you walk in the door, it is like stepping back in time. 

The front of the shop has country themed gifts, signs, furniture and knick-knacks for sale.  There are swinging saloon doors you go through to get back to the soda shop.

There is a wide assortment of soft drinks in glass bottles to choose from red soda to really, really strange flavored beverages.  It was hard to make up my mind what to purchase.  They sell a soft drink you might remember that is called "Bubble Up."  Merle Haggard sang about Bubble Up in his country hit, "Rainbow Stew" back in the early 80's.

After you finally make your decision, you walk to an old phone booth, and instead of making a call, you can use a bottle opener to open your soft drink.  All the bottle caps fall into a box below.

After a lot of deliberation, we finally made our selections.  I opted for a Coconut Lime soda.  Benjamin had a Root Beer, and Tricia chose a Coconut Cream Soda.  They were all really good.

But we just scratched the surface when it comes to the different flavors that Mr. Clint's has.  Soft drinks aren't the only item in the soda shop.  You can find all sorts of vintage chewing gum and old fashioned candies.  He even sells chocolate-covered bacon!  Benjamin brought home a bag full of salt water taffy in various flavors.