Making Goat’s Milk Caramel (Cajeta)

The process for making cajeta is not unlike boiling sap to make maple syrup. We hand-stir large copper pots of fresh goat milk and organic cane sugar over high heat for roughly six hours. During these long hours of stirring, the water in the milk evaporates and the remaining sugars in the milk and the cane sugar caramelize and produce our uniquely velvety, creamy, not-too-sweet caramel sauces.Watch Our Video featured on The Daily Grommet

The Caramel Process Step By Step:

	Sun and Soil The whole process starts with the sun and healthy soil. Goats on Pasture High quality pasture is the staple of the goats’ diet. Our goats are rotationally grazed from May until November. Our goats graze on 20 acres that surround the farm.
	The Milk The goats are milked early in the morning and late afternoon.
	Our Four Types of Caramel We make four distinct and unique flavors of caramel: Original, Vanilla Bean – using whole organic vanilla beans, Cinnamon – using three different kinds of organic cinnamon sticks, and Coffee Bean – with whole organic beans from Equal Exchange fair trade coffee company.
	How we infuse the flavors After the organic cane sugar is dissolved in milk we add either vanilla beans, coffee beans, or cinnamon sticks to the pots.  The vanilla, coffee and cinnamon will boil with the milk for several hours until they are strained out during processing.
	The Ingredients It takes two major ingredients to turn goat’s milk and sugar into cajeta; heat and time. Each batch takes about six hours to produce. Milk and organic cane sugar are hand stirred during this time in beautiful cooper cauldrons over high heat. About an hour into the process the milk begins to froth – this is the best time to skim some off and have a morning latte!
	The Process Similar to making maple syrup, much of the water is evaporated during the process allowing the sugars to brown. Just like maple syrup, it is an art to get the perfect caramel with the right consistency and flavor.
	Our caramel is a pourable consistency, making it easy to drizzle on deserts like ice cream!
	It’s Done! We use a refractometer, thermometer and years of staring at pots of caramel to decide when it’s the right color and consistency and ready to be poured into the filler and bottled.
	We use a syrup filler to put caramel into the jars.
	Each jar is hot water processed to make for a shelf stable product.
	From Us to You Each jar is hand labeled and packaged, ready for sale. Our caramel is sold at co-ops and natural and specialty food stores throughout the country. Our caramel is also available for purchase directly from our farm and via our website.