Cream cheese is SO easy and it's so much richer in flavor than the blah store bought kind. THEN there is always the option of adding strawberry jam to make strawberry cream cheese that Philadelphia would swoon over or any herb or combination of herbs to make your own unique flavor! We often add just plain dried basil from our garden for a little garden freshness in the middle of winter! We use so much more cream cheese than we ever did when we had to buy it. I use it in recipes now, we spread it on anything and everything!
Here's how!
Take 1 gallon of milk plus one pint of heavy cream. I just use 2 - 1/2 gallon jars of un-skimmed raw milk right from our cow. Well, I chill it first ;-) Right now we're getting a solid+ cup of cream on every half gallon of milk.... gotta love a Jersey!!
O.k. so you pour your milk into a large stock pot. I use my 8 quart one. and heat it to 86 degrees.
Add 1 packet of buttermilk culture from New England Cheese. These run .60 per packet when you buy them in bulk. They keep a year+ if you store them in the freezer.
Add 4 drops of single strength rennet or 2 - 3 drops of double strength Rennet.
Stir really well.
Cover the pot and let this sit in an out of the way spot in the kitchen where you won't trip over it. Let it sit for 24 hours.
Line a colander or bowl with a cheese cloth or butter muslin. Pour or scoop your solid curd into the cloth. Take opposite corners and tie together forming ties to hang the whole curd up above your pan. Let it hang there (I use a cupboard door handle) above your pot for another 24 hours.
Take the cloth off. Chill and store in a covered container or bowl. This lasts a solid week, 10 days it's still usable, by 2 weeks it begins to get fuzzy - if it lasts that long.
When I make this recipe I get 2 solid pounds of cream cheese to use for delicious Cheese Cake. Mmmm sounds like a good idea for another post :-)
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I have GOT to try this! :) Thanks for the tutorial!
ReplyDeleteGreat minds... I kid you not, tonight's my blogging night and I'm posting a tutorial for cream cheese for today's post. I already took all the photos and everything so I'm not turning back now ;)
ReplyDeleteI can attest that this makes a mighty FINE cheesecake. I've made 3 now with 2 batches of this cream cheese and they were so good!!
Thanks for the recipe. Now I don't have to try out all the different recipes I've come across to find a good one. My kids love cream cheese.
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking of trying this for a couple of months now. Thanks for the push to DO IT!
ReplyDeleteLook at all that cream in the top of those jars! That's awesome. Thanks for the tutorial. Seems a easier than my failed mozzarella. I might find some success with cream cheese.
ReplyDeleteYou let it sit on the counter for 24 hours then hang it for 24 hours. No refridgeation in 48 hours? Seems like it would turn.
ReplyDeleteNo, that would be main stream society and their milk products that would convince you of that. When they pasturize and whatever else they do to the milk supply now-a-days they strip it of all the good bacteria that makes it healthy. The 24 hours and 24 hours gives it the time to do what it has to do to develop flavor and healthy "stuff". It takes a long time for raw milk to go sour. Think 100 years ago and how they clabored milk without any cultures at all except the previous batch. Truly the store bought stuff that is stripped of all it's natural nutrients and then maybe a mineral here or a vitamin there added back in will go sour and in my opinion is no longer to be considered food. Ooops, sorry, I'll get off my soap box now. Love my raw milk!!
Deleteso this cannot be made w/pasturized cow milk? I dont have access to raw milk.
ReplyDeleteashley
a.snail.lover@gmail.com
Hi Ashley,
DeleteYes, it can be made with pasturized milk but it will not work with the ultra pasturized that is sold now. So check your label and make sure it does not say ultra or highly pasturized. For just regular pasturized milk the culture will bring back some of the flora and fauna that the pasturization killed. It will work fine but if you could find raw milk the health benefits will be much higher. But homemade from pasturized milk is better than buying even more processed foods that have been made into cream cheese from the store. Make sense? I hope this helps you. There is a BUNCH of recipes and information at cheesemaking.com where I buy my cultures. Lots of info and fun!!!
Thanks, I would love to try this myself! Saw it on Pinterest.
ReplyDeleteIn the process of making this now! I live in California where unfortunately raw dairy is next to impossible to find, so I am using pasteurized organic (not ultra pasteurized; I double checked!) milk and cream from the co-op. I'm so excited to see the results!
ReplyDelete