Kefir Cream Cheese

I have been making milk kefir for about six weeks now. I decided to experiment with some cheese recipes. This one is for a herb cream cheese. Yummy! 

I was surprised. Removing the whey has removed the sour kefir favour. I honestly love this recipe and it is so easy to make. Truly foolproof!

I started a batch of kefir, of about two litres. I left it for two days instead of the usual one and waited for it to separate into curds and whey. 

When it looked like this, I knew it was ready. 

I strained it first to remove the milk kefir grains. I will use those to start another batch. 

I then placed a cheesecloth over a colander and poured the kefir into it. I left it for 24 hrs.

After 24 hrs it looked like this. 

I got my seasoning ready which consisted of sea salt, garlic and thyme to taste. 

I mixed all the ingredients together until I was satisfied with the favour.

The two litres of kefir produced 0.5 litre worth of cheese and 1.5 litres of whey.

I stored the cheese and some of the whey in 0.5 litre mason jars. They will hold for a few weeks easily in the fridge. I will be using the whey for fermenting vegetables during the week.

The rest of the whey made wonderful brown bread and Yorkshire puddings.  The brown bread was served with the cheese and it didn't last the evening. A great tasting combo. The rest of the cheese will be served with salads throughout the week.

June update

The polytunnel is bursting and competition for space is high. So for this year I'm winning against the weeds as they are at a disadvantage for space and light. The peas, brood beans and strawberries are cropping heavy and the courgettes, marrow and globe artichoke are almost there.

Outdoors things are much slower. The onions and garlic are doing well as are the carrots and parsnips. The cabbages are coming along slowly, the ones that survived the slugs, only to be attacked soon by the caterpillars. We also have leeks, Jerusalem artichokes, tomatoes, squashes, sweet corn, potatoes and salads.

The cow was in standing heat yesterday evening at milking so the AI man came again this morning! Hopefully third time lucky or we might have to rethink things!

I had made a hard cheese about six weeks ago and I attempted to age it. I took it out last night and declared that I was only to try it. Hubby had a laugh at me and suggested the pigs were hungry. It looked terrible with a probability of food provisioning. But it was a lovely strong crumbly hard cow cheese. And hubby loved it!

Easy Mozzarella Cheese

I have tried a few cheeses so far but this one seems to me to be the easiest to make when you consider effort and taste.
It doesn't last long here as we use it in salads, pizza and for any cooking recipes.

Using a gallon of fresh warm milk, I add a cup of homemade yogurt and about 10 drops of rennet into the milk and stir. The yogurt changes the ph of the milk.
I need to keep  it warm ( 32C/90F ) so  usually I put it on the warm plate of the range and leave it there for about 45mins for the curd to set.

When you can press down on the curd then it is ready for the curds to be cut. Using a clean knife cut the curds into one inch cubes. It doesn't need to be perfect or exact, slicing the curds releases the whey. Let it stand for a further 10 mins.

When you come back the curds should have sank to the bottom.
Pour out half of the whey ( you can feed it to pigs and chickens or use it in cooking) and start to gently heat the curds to 150F. When it reaches this temperature maintain it for 5 mins and then strain the cheese through cheese cloth and hang it or put it into molds for a few hours depending on how hard/dry you like it.
A few hours gives a softer cheese that will only last a few days while hanging overnight results in a drier cheese that will last up to a week and be suitable for grating.

It can also be soaked in brine to expand the shelf life.

Cream cheese

While I was making the yogurt I put on a batch of soft cheese. It takes a little longer as I had to hang it overnight to strain the whey. It has a mild flavour that is improved by the addition of fresh herbs from the garden and a good quality salt. It doesn't last very long, maybe 3-4 days in the fridge so it's best to make it in small quantities or freeze batches of it.

I filtered and heated up the fresh milk in a saucepan. Once it was up to 30-35 degrees I added the rennet and kept stirring the surface to prevent the cream rising. When it started to thicken I left it for an hour.
I got a knife then and cut the curds into cubes. This releases more whey.

I then filtered it through a cheese cloth lined strainer. I covered it and left it overnight.
n the morning a put it into a cheese mold and placed it under a cheese press for a few hours. This released more whey. I then flavored and seasoned it with sea salt, parsley and spring onions from our garden.
We used a lot of it on a fresh loaf and give the rest to fellow neighbours.