I thought that it would be fitting to start out my journey with the EASIEST recipe on the planet. Also it is an ingredient in a lot of other recipes, so it is very fitting to do first. When I first ‘made’ whey, my husband thought I was nuts. Little did he know that it is an extremely useful thing, with a great by-product of wonderfully flavorful cream cheese (not like the dead stuff in stores). And it lasts for months in the fridge. I have used whey to make dozens of recipes, including yogurt, pancakes, pickles, sauerkraut, kimchi, ketchup, mayonnaise, salad dressing… basically anything that you would like to preserve or culture and add beneficial bacteria to. I also use whey when I soak flour, grains, rice or beans to neutralize phytic acid and other anti-nutrients. And the whey is ‘good’ for you and can be taken as a tonic for upset stomach in a little bit of water. Let’s just say, I used to love vinegar pickles but condiments with whey make me feel good! And the cream cheese is AMAZING. Give it a try, you’ll see!
Whey and Cream Cheese
Rating: 4 forks (key)
they don’t know they’re eating it when they eat it! But they eat it all of the time!
Difficulty:
Easiest
Page in NT: 87
Yield:
2 cups whey and 2 cups cream cheese
Equipment:
Ingredients:
Preparation:
If you are using piima milk or whole-milk buttermilk, let stand at room temperature 1-2 days until the milk visibly separates into white curds and yellowish whey. If you are using yoghurt, no advance preparation is required. You may use homemade yoghurt or good quality commercial plain yoghurt. If you are using raw milk, place the milk in a clean glass container and allow it to stand at room temperature 1-4 days until it separates. For the raw milk to separate into curds and whey properly the air must be around 73 degrees Fahrenheit.
Line a large strainer set over a bowl with cheesecloth or a clean dish towel. Pour in the yogurt or separated milk, cover and let stand at room temperature for several hours (longer for yogurt). The whey will run into the bowl and the milk solids will stay in the strainer. Tie up the towel with the milk solids inside, being careful not to squeeze. Tie this little sack to a wooden spoon placed across the top of a container so that more whey can drip out. When the bag stops dripping, the cheese is ready. Store whey in a mason jar and cream cheese in a covered glass container. Refrigerated, the cream cheese keeps for about 1 month and the whey for up to 6 months.
There are affiliate links in this post. I only include these links for products and services that I use myself and work hard to research and try out everything before publishing to my readers. If you have any comments about the links in any post please bring them to my attention at kim@theNourishingCook.com.
{ 80 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi! Looks like an interesting project! I’ll be a regular here, for sure.
I make whey from raw milk which yields quite a bit. Because we don’t use it terribly often, I have discovered that whey can be frozen without losing its potency as a fermentation starter! I usually freeze it in glass pint jars and pull a jar out once a week or so.
I freeze it in ice cube trays and store in ziplock bags.
Peggy… thanks so much for joining us! That is a great suggestion to freeze the whey. Yes I agree, there is a lot more whey from the raw milk than yogurt. When I had way too much once, I used to put some on our dog’s food and they loved it. And it was good for them too.
“When I first ‘made’ whey, my husband thought I was nuts.” This comment made me chuckle as mine did too – now he’s so impressed he can’t wait to explain to our friends and family how things operate in our kitchen!
So tell me, what is the longest you’ve left your milk to ferment before making into whey and cream cheese? I’ve always been curious as to how long people have left it…
Justine… thanks for the comment! I think it depends on the milk and how fresh it is. I haven’t had the milk for awhile, but I remember it taking 3-5 days depending on how soon I received it. Lately I’ve been using store-bought yogurt… I plan on doing it the other way (no pun intended) soon though…
Could I use a cheesecloth for this instead of a dish towel?
Elise… absolutely, cheesecloth would work great. I’ve even used paper towels suspended in a strainer in a pinch before and it worked fine…
I have some cultured buttermilk that is grade A pasteurized. Would that be okay to use?
Per Nourishing Traditions, you can use whole milk buttermilk as long as it’s not ultra-pasteurized. Here is what Sally says “let buttermilk stand at room temperature 1-2 days until the milk visibly separates into white curds and yellowish whey.” You will get much better results with whole milk buttermilk. The process has never failed me with whole milk yogurt, I have never used buttermilk to do this so please let us know what kind of results you receive. thanks!!
Kim, I have not come across anyone using whey derived from culturing Kefir. Is this not something that you use for culturing vegetables? I love gingered carrots and use the Kefir whey. This morning I had some fruit left over that I didn’t want to lose so thought I would culture those along with the carrots.. I used 1 granny smith, 2 pears, 4 carrots, 3″ piece of ginger and 1 cup of cranberries along with 3 T kefir whey, and 1 T of sea salt.
Any comments would be useful. Is there any info on not mixing carrots with fruit?
Dear Winnie,
A great resource for kefir related information is http://users.sa.chariot.net.au/~dna/
I think it should work better than fine, because kefir has got certain organisms that help keep food for a long time as well as improving the bioavailability of nutrients. I have only used it for making bread, but will use it for kimchi today!
Just saw the whey recipe. Good it’s easy. E
I’m going to try the whey recipe. It calls for yogurt and whole milk but doesn’t specify how much milk to use and how to use it.
Or, does it mean I can use either yogurt or milk?
Could you please clarify this for me.
Thank you.
Margo
Margo… you can use either whole milk yogurt or raw whole milk. I feel it’s the easiest to use the yogurt, but it really depends on what you can get easily. I usually buy the 32 ounce size but you could even use the small size you’ll just get less whey and cream cheese.
Elaine.. yep it’s really easy. If you run into anything weird just let us know. There are a lot of really knowledgeable people on here!
I wonder is this the same as kefir? If not what exactly are the differences? What do you use the whey for after you make it? I have gotten kefir grains from the net and cover them with fresh raw milk to make my kefir and I just eat it with a little garlic powder and salt with a spoon, a cup at a time. Looks like I’m gonna like your blog.
No, Kefir is made by fermenting milk with Kefir grains. It’s kind of like yogurt, but runnier.
Whoops, failed to read the rest of your comment before replying. You obviously know what Kefir is! Were you asking if you can make whey with kefir? I just tried it! The resulting cream cheese is delicious and I’ll be using the whey to make Kimchi!
I ended up leaving the buttermilk out for 2 1/2 days since it didn’t look curdled enough at 1-2 days. Once I poured the curdled buttermilk into the towel it seemed to drip for quite a while – a good 1/2 day or so. Parts of the cream cheese were thicker than others, but I thought that might even out once I put it in the fridge. It seems to have thickened a bit now. I haven’t actually tried the cream cheese yet, I’m just hoping I did it right!
Elise… it sounds like you did it right, congrats! Just remember to salt the cream cheese a bit before you taste it, brings out the flavors. Thanks for sharing your update, this is helpful for all of us to know the details around the buttermilk. thanks!!
June… I believe that you can also use kefir, but I’ve never done this myself yet. Kefir just has a different good bacteria strain than yogurt, I believe. I use whey for all sorts of lacto-fermented vegetables such as sauerkraut and ginger carrots, and for soaking beans and grains before cooking them.
I’ve made homemade cheese a few times before, and I’m wondering if the whey that is a byproduct of cheese making (you wind up with a whole bunch of it–easily over 3 quarts from a batch of cheese made with a gallon of milk!) is the same (or at least similar in terms of containing probiotic stuff that can be used for the lacto-fermented recipes in NT) as the whey made from yogurt.
Kim, do you know? Or any other readers of this blog, do you know?
Thanks,
Scott
The whey from cheesemaking is similar but does not have all of the cultures in it, since it’s been heated. So it won’t work as a fermentation starter like the ‘raw’ whey will. However, there are a lot of uses for the cheese whey, as you’re right it still does have some of the good stuff in it. I’ve heard of people adding it to soups, breads, and other recipes as the liquid ingredient. Some people also give it to their pets.
Kim,
Thanks for the reply. It prompted me to look up the temperatures involved in cheese and yogurt making. The max temp in the cheesemaking recipe I use ( http://www.leeners.com/cheese-recipes-mozzarella.html ) is 105, and the incubation temps I saw for yogurt recipes varied from 110 to 122, and one page mentioned that temps over 130 kill the yogurt cultures. So as far as temp goes, it seems that yogurt is actually done at a higher temp than the cheese recipe I use.
However, it also got me thinking, the cultures are different stuff… cheese is made with rennet, yogurt with previous yogurt. Probably a lot of overlapping enzymes & bacteria, but still different.
So maybe I’ll do a little “pepsi challenge” someday–make two batches of kraut, one with cheese whey and the other with yogurt whey. If I do, I’ll post the results here.
Scott
this is great Scott! I love experiments. I bet both krauts will turn out though, maybe the ‘cheese’ kraut will take a bit more time to ferment. You really only need salt to ferment the kraut. I just like the whey because it makes things more predictable. Thanks for adding so much to the discussion and for doing research to boot!
Hi I used to make this from raw milk. Very easy. Simply put in a jar and leave at room temp for 3 days and then strain (through a cheesecloth). If you leave it longer it will have curdled a little bit more / taste a bit more curdled.
I now Kefir my raw milk and so now make whey from Keffired milk. i.e. put the grains in the milk and leave it for approx 2 days. Doesn’t need as long because of the Kefir culture. You can see it has separated when there is clear liquid (whey) showing. Although i then leave it a bit longer (usually 2 days). Timing also depends upon how many grains to milk you use so it is really go by a look and feel.
Then strain the grains out, then put in cheesecloth to strain.
I use whey in tons of things – fermented veges, soaking oats, rice, beans, lentils, Beet Kvas, drinks
Would love to hear more ideas about the cheese as I am not a big soft cheese eater and rarely eat crackers.
Thank you for your comment – I tried making whey from raw milk and it sat on the counter for 2 weeks and never separated?! I’ll just use my Kefir instead! If I add it to something hot, does it kill all the beneficial nutrients?
Hi Christie,
I tried to make the cream cheese and whey this week from raw milk as well. I am on day 5 and it does not look like it is separating very well at all. I do have some curds on the top, but the rest looks like the color of regular milk. Has anyone tried using raw milk and were you successful???
Add me to that thread. My first batch of cream cheese and whey from raw milk turned out perfect (beginner’s luck?). I left the milk, in its original glass bottle, on the counter. After four days I couldn’t really see any visible separation, but I poured it into the strainer/dishcloth and let it do its thing. It turned out perfect. So… my next attempt, I left the bottle out on the counter and after two days, it starts leaking through the sealed cap. I figure it must be ready because my previous batch didn’t do that (still can’t see any separation) so I take the cap off and strain it. Not good. I get the cream in the cloth and milk in the bowl. So… I put everything back into a 1/2 gallon wide-mouth jar, put a loose cover on it and wait a couple more days. After 5 days total, I still don’t see the separation but I try to strain it again–not good. I’ve got more curds but the “whey” is opaque, not translucent like my first batch. This is frustrating when I can’t figure out what would be different different about how this was being done. The only variable is room temperature, which has been between 68 and 70 for the past month or so. I’ve checked all the fermentation sites I could find and no answers yet.
Any help?
Addendum… I have also made the cream cheese and whey from organic whole milk yogurt, but the resulting cream cheese tastes like yogurt. Whereas, the cream cheese from raw milk tastes heavenly!
fi you read the recipe again you’ll see you need to have the milk at 73 or so to get it to ferment properly. I’ve never done this, still reading, but I bet it wasn’t warm enough.
This was my first ‘recipe’ to try and it was so neat to watch it work. The cream cheese really is yummy! About the whey – mine has a little milky film on top (a bit of the yogurt that slipped through, I assume). Do I need to remove all traces of this in order for it not to spoil? Thanks!
Hi Karen… cool that it worked out! Sometimes a bit of yogurt gets in my whey too (no pun intended haha) and I just scoop it out, or leave it. It may affect the spoilage but I guess most of the time I use it up before that so I haven’t had a problem. I would suggest freezing the whey if you won’t use it in the next month or so. It will last longer than that in the fridge, but sometimes I just put it in a jar and label it. thanks for the comment…
thanks for the post, I am surprised no one else has mentioned this, but I just screwed in a small hook under our kitchen cabinet and I put the yogurt in a mesh nutmilk bag (you can buy them for about $4) and then hang it over a bowl. SUPER easy and works like a charm! We have the kind of cabinets that have about a 2″ overhang on the bottom, so you can’t even see the hook when it’s not being used.
Thanks for this site and this recipe. Just tried it with a good yoghurt (we can’t get whole milk here in Nova Scotia unfortunately – at least not legally) and it worked fine. I now have whey so will try pickling beets and ginger soon. But the ‘cream cheese’ is delicious and considering how expensive cheese is here in Canada, and all from pasteurised milk that I can get here, well, I think I’ll start making my own. Just started making my own cultured butter (why I bought the yoghurt), so now I have two uses for the yoghurt – 3 really: to culture the butter (with whipping cream), to make whey (for pickling) and also to have lovely fresh cream cheese.
Thanks again.
Haven’t tried this yet but, I’ve got a 1/2 quart of raw milk in the fridge and I’m excited to start it this evening! One thing I’m wondering about people who have tried this with milk, are you sure you’ve got the right temp where you’re storing it? My NT book says 72 – 75 deg F and I think that might have a big effect on seperation. I think I’m going to put mine on top of the fridge, it gets pretty warm up there or, I might have to keep the thermostat going overnight instead of turning it off like I usually do, just to insure the temp stays consistent. Wish me luck!
I recently made whey from yogurt, and right now I’m making it from raw goat’s milk… the color of the whey looks different to me. The yogurt whey is more clear/yellowy looking and the raw milk whey is white. Is this normal??? Also, should I keep the two types of whey in their own separate containers?
reading through your replies, I was surprised no seems to have made flavoured cream cheese. I sometimes add chopped sun ripened tomato with chopped basil or finely chooped smoked salmon and chives. I admit I have not read yor book yet, it is on order, so flavourings coukd be a no no?
Cheers John.
great idea John! I do believe that there are some recipes for flavored cream cheese but I just haven’t gotten to them yet. Thanks for the reminder though because I just made a new batch of whey and should be doing this soon. Tomato and basil sound yummy…!
hi, I make my own greek yogurt using milk (non-raw). The yellowish-clear liquid I strain out is the whey right? What can I use that for? I just found this website and until now, I’d just been tossing it down the drain!!! when you said how to make whey, you specified raw milk — can I use the non-raw milk? we can’t get raw milk around where I am. Thank you.
I make this regularly from plain brown cow brand yogurt. Unfortunately here in Juneau, there aren’t any cows and I haven’t even heard of any goats. My option is ultra pastuerized everything. The yogurt makes a good whey that has worked beautifully for kraut etc. My challenge is that the cheese tastes like concentrated plain yogurt (imagine that). No one in my family has liked the cheese. Any ideas? Maybe the post about adding flavorings might do the trick.
Kim – I happily discovered your blog while searching for non-cow dairy options for making whey. Looks like Kaitlyn has had success using raw goat’s milk, but the only goat’s milk I can find in the stores is ultra-pasteurized. Do you know why ultra-pasteurized milk is not recommended for making whey? Thanks!
Hi Judi… pasteurized or ultra-pasteurized milk’s whey can’t be used for lacto-fermenting since all of the beneficial bacteria has been killed from the heat. However, raw goat’s milk or even yogurt from pasteurized goat’s milk can be used. Even though the milk used to make pasteurized goat’s milk yogurt has been heated, beneficial bacteria has been added back to culture the milk. Let me know if you have any more questions… thanks for joining us!
I made this once from raw milk that was past the point that I wanted to drink. It separated easily, and the curds came out almost hard. Mentally, I had a hard time trying it, so it sat in a bowl in the refridgerator for a couple of weeks. Last week I finally put a small bit on my toast, and it tasted horrible! It tasted sour and like it had gone bad, and I actually had a stomach ache and sweats for a couple of hours. Is that the normal taste, or did I mess up somewhere? Are you supposed to start with raw milk that you’d be comfortable drinking? My NT contact said that milk takes a long time to go bad and you could do it this way, but somewhere it went horribly wrong. Thoughts?
Okay, I have a half of a gallon of whole raw cow milk in my fridge, cow was milked 2 days ago. What do I set it out in? The jug it came in? Do I leave the lid on or take it off? I am afraid to waste $6 worth of milk on an experiment so I hope someone can answer. Thanks.
Mary… since your milk is pretty fresh it might take longer to separate into curds and whey. Sometimes you have to shake it a bit every once in awhile for the curds to glom together (technical term haha). Read the comments above because I believe other people have had some additional experiences with getting the raw milk to separate. Let us know how it goes!
I’m with Mary…This is my first attempt to make whey from raw goat’s milk. NT only states to put the milk in a clean glass container. It does not say whether or not to cover with a lid (tight or loose)…..Anyone have an answer? Thanks (just found the website tonight).
Hi,
To make cheese and whey just from raw milk the temperature is important to let it seperate, allthough it’s not described in my NT book.
The temperature should be around 23 deg celsius or 73 deg Fahrenheit. If it’s colder it will not seperate.
Covering the jar is fine.
Jochem
Jochem… thank you! This is exactly what we needed. It seems some of our kitchens are too cold for raw milk separation. This info is very helpful.
Hello! I made whey and cream cheese. the only thing is the cream cheese did NOT taste good to me. It was really tart and not like the store bought cream cheese that I am used to. Some comments here mention that its great and fantastic. What did you do to make it so good? Is it an acquired taste? Did I leave it out too long (4 days seemed correct to me) and it soured extra? Is it supposed to taste kind of sharp tart like this? Any ideas.. greatly appreciated! thx!
Sabrina… it does taste quite different from store bought cream cheese as it’s alive with good bacteria. I think it may be an acquired taste, but it also depends a lot on the yogurt you use. I have found that if I use ‘European’ style yogurt that the cream cheese is much more tart because the yogurt is more tart to begin with. I have settled on the Stonyfield or brown cow brands for myself, as they are a bit milder. Even so they will be tart. Salt the ‘cream cheese’ and it helps though, or even flavor it more with garlic and herbs. You will adjust to it over time…
Also some have mentioned ‘great’ cream cheese but I think they used the raw milk method instead of the yogurt method. The raw milk method needs a warm room (about 73 degrees). This will taste more like store bought but will still be tangy…
hope this helps!
I did not read the directions carefuly enough and I left my milk in the original plasit jug. I am on day 2 1/2. Should I switch it to a glass container or will it work left in plastic?
sorry for delay in reply… it should be fine in the plastic… glass is just preferable but the plastic won’t hurt just one time…
I am looking for some feedback. I bought some organic full fat yogurt from Trader Joe’s a few weeks ago and made whey and cream cheese. It has a sell by date of Dec 6, 2010 on the container. I have the whey still in the mason jar in the fridge, but two weeks later I open the cream cheese and it’s all moldy. One day past it’s sell by date. I thought it would have lasted longer. Do you think I used an inferior store grade yogurt? It also took about 6 hours to strain. Did I let it sit out at room temp too long? Should I strain it in the fridge next time? Is it common to mold sooner once the whey is removed? Is the whey still okay? I did use it to make some pineapple vinegar and it made lots of bubbles so it must be active – right? Maybe some readers have some feedback for me? I’m new to all this and the NT ways.
The whey is probably still fine, especially if it is a clear yellow without traces of the milky yogurt substance in it. It’s possible that something came in contact with the cheese and contaminated it, and the leaving it out on the counter helped that bacteria grow. Or it could have been older yogurt than the sell by date led on.
I wouldn’t say leaving it out 6 hours was too long. I’ve done this many times, but it depends on temp in your kitchen and such. definitely try it in the fridge next time and see what happens.
I use that same type of yogurt (I love that TJ’s has this) and I will have to do some testing on my own to see if I have the same problem. Usually my cream cheese lasts a week to two weeks and the whey lasts 4-6 months.
That makes me feel better. I am not sure why but I feel like I can’t quite trust things yet. I think the problem is that I don’t trust myself! I don’t trust that I’m doing things “right”. The whey looks perfect to me. No traces of milk. Clear and yellowish. No funny odors. What I do think may have happened is that the towel I used contaminated it. I used a clean (regularly washed – no fabric softener) dish towel. I need to go buy some cheese cloth. Gosh…can you wash and re-use cheese cloth? I guess I have so many questions. Or, I can use paper towels like you mentioned. I think I will redo the whey just to be safe. My beet kvass did give me a tummy ache yesterday. Thanks for your great blog and your help!
Courtney… I had the EXACT same feelings when I started! And I was afraid to eat pretty much everything that I made too. Note on the beet kvass… if you’re not used to it and drank more than 2-3 ounces that could have caused the tummy ache, not necessarily the whey.
If you don’t want to use cheesecloth or paper towels, I also just started using this inexpensive cheese bag. Although someone that sews could just make this. I’ve heard of people going to the fabric store to buy cheesecloth.
Keep asking questions… that’s what we’re here for!
Kim, I have not come across anyone using whey derived from culturing Kefir. Is this not something that you use for culturing vegetables? I love gingered carrots and use the Kefir whey. This morning I had some fruit left over that I didn’t want to lose so thought I would culture those along with the carrots.. I used 1 granny smith, 2 pears, 4 carrots, 3″ piece of ginger and 1 cup of cranberries along with 3 T kefir whey, and 1 T of sea salt.
Any comments would be useful. Is there any info on not mixing carrots with frui
hi – i also made the whey & cream cheese from raw milk…i had some raw milk that was souring and decided to try this…it took about 5 days to see any visual separation [although the fat separated to the top within 1 day]. The whey became visible in between the fat [at the top] & the curds which seemed to be at the bottom of the jar.
when i strained the curds & whey, the whey is yellow in color but not clear. Is this ok? i also got a bit of milky residue on the top of the whey.
as for the cream cheese- Are you supposed to mix the fat of the milk with the curds? the taste was not good at all, and the smell was also not good [think stinky socks or flatulence] is this normal? do i just need to add some flavoring & salt for better taste?
Hello,
I just used a cheesecloth to strain the raw milk that I have left out for about 3-4 days. My “whey” is not clear though and does smell sour- is this normal? There was a thick layer on top that separated as I left the milk out. Since it had been 4 days I figured it was ready. Should I have waited longer? Like I said the whey is not clear though and there are some white cloudy things inside after I strained. I guess I am just unsure how this should smell/taste? It just smells like sour milk. Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you!
You stole this recipe word for word from Nourishing Traditions and didn’t even give credit where credit is due!
Disregard, I guess it says at the top of the page, my bad
The closest source of raw milk for me is about a two hour drive. I was wondering if I ever wanted to try the real thing, could I purchase several gallons and freeze them first to make the trip worthwhile? Or should I try to make the whey/cheese with fresh, and just drink the frozen milk over time…will it retain the good stuff?
I will be trying it with yoghurt in the meantime…
I have frozen raw milk before, and it works just fine. One thing to be aware of is that the cream will separate out when defrosting. shaking it after defrosting didn’t always distribute the fat in the milk. I used a stick blender to blend it and it worked though. I think using frozen raw milk is a good way to stock up if you only have access to it every once in awhile.
Is there anyway you can compile all of your additional advice from the comments and put them up in the recipe. IE color of whey, how long it really takes, how it should smell, what it shouldn’t look like. Etc. Thank you
New to your blog so I have A LOT of catching up to do. I LOVE this cookbook, but I find myself using the same handful of recipes — too scared to try anything new. I’m so glad you are doing it for me. There is nothing better than a large jar of whey in the fridge and delicious cream cheese for dipping fruit. Easiest recipe, but one of the best!
I have a question. My son has dairy allergies and I wonder if this includes whey or lacto fermentation. we have always made kefir and others but recently we had allergy testing and he came back with a dairy allergy. Any thoughts? He just had surgery and is on a ton of antibiotics so I would like to get him some fermented food asap…stuck!
Thanks so much
Stacy
Just wondering, when I am using whole raw milk, should I remove the cream first before letting it separate?
I made the whey and cream cheese with organic raw milk. It sat at room temp for 4-5 days and when I separated it, the whey turned out perfect but the cream cheese was lumpy like cottage cheese? Did I wait to long for the traditional smoothness of cream cheese?
Thank you,
Jen
I used this recipe to make whey and cream cheese with organic whole yogurt. The recipe states the whey will last up to 6 months in a glass jar in the fridge, however mine got moldy after a month? Thoughts? I see here that many of you freeze it and I’ll definitely start doing that, but not sure what I did wrong that it didn’t “keep” longer.
my whey is yellow but not clear, sorta milky..should I strain it again?
I have made whey and cream cheese from raw milk twice. First time was with fresh milk. The whey turned out yellowish, slightly opaque, and had a little bit of whitish milk solids floating. It made perfect kim chi. This time I used 1 week old raw milk (discounted at my supplier) it looks the same and I used it for picked green tomatoes yesterday and will be making another huge batch of kim chi this week. My room temp was about 70 and I put it in quart mason jars (using the wide mouth jars made it easier to remove the curds for draining) with a paper coffee filter (with the ring screwed on) and left it on a tiled counter top. As a newbie, I can say I was put off by the smell. It does smell sour, occasionally like old socks, while it’s separating and while I am draining it. But once it’s done the smell is not as bad. I also find the taste of the cream cheese to be…well…sourish. So, I am having a hard time thinking of ways to use it. However, taking advice from J.R.R. Tolkien (Gandolf eats clotted cream and jam on toast) I tried it on toast with a fresh batch of concord grape jam I made (first time for that too!). This was MUCH better. I have not tried salting it or flavoring it yet, but I will be trying it with some honey mixed in to it as well. My other half also has a milk allergy (lactose intollerant) and I have my own issues with milk, so we have not had milk in the fridge for five years until now. We both seem to tolerate raw milk (drinking it straight) and it’s whey and cream cheese derivatives. My cream cheese was also lumpy, so I used my electric mixer with dough hooks to mix it all up and it was smoother and more speadable. Also, I carefully spooned the fat layer into a small dish off the top of each jar before draining the cheese because the first time I made it I lost a lot of the fat when it stuck to my cloth. Now I spoon out the curds into the cloth and halfway through I place the fatty part off the top into the center of the curds before adding the rest of the curds to the top. My cloth (I use white handkerchiefs) comes out cleaner and I lose less of the fat.
I tried to make whey/creme cheese using fresh raw milk, but I my house temp was only about 69 degrees so after a week it is just kind of some yogurt textured white stuff – is it safe to keep? Should I go ahead and try to strain it? Try to find a warmer spot? It doesn’t smell bad at all, but I’m not sure what to do with it since it didn’t separate properly. Any suggestions would be appreciated
I just got some raw milk today. I am wondering if I need to let the cream separate first and skim it off before I set it out to separate. Or can I just leave it all in and let it work it’s magic.
I make kefir, kefir cheese and clear straw colored whey. I believe that all the fat and carbohydrate are in the cheese and that the clear whey is 100% protein, although I can’t find any information about it on the net. I usually sweeten the cheese with a little honey and/or make dips – with french onion soup, or garlic and grated cucumber, or plain on bagels with smoked salmon. Lots of uses.
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Hi, I tried separating my own cream cheese and whey so I can start fermenting foods, but it didn’t work out, but the person that I get my raw milk from makes cheeses so she saved me the whey from that, she doesn’t heat it up more than 100- 101 degrees, is that whey good to use in recipies to ferment the foods? I have my left over milk from last week (got some new milk today) and I am clabbering that, so I’m going to try again, but just wondering if I can use the other whey. (I have a half gallon that she gave me)
“Appreciate you sharing, great blog.Thanks Again. Awesome.”
I make yogurt regularly, and I had a failed batch. Silly me thought I could reheat the milk to 180 degrees, cool it down to 110, and get my lovely creamy yogurt. Of course that didn’t happen, but when I Googled “what do to with separated yogurt” your website popped up. Thanks to you I turned my failed yogurt into homemade cheese. Thanks!
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I have a question hopefully someone can help me with! I set out to make the whey and cream cheese from Nourishing Traditions, and at the part I was supposed to tie up the cloth and let it drip a bit more, I fell asleep, thereby letting the whey and cream cheese set out for a total of 6 hours rather than the “several” the recipe calls for which I had been planning on keeping to three. It looked just like the photos here BEFORE I fell asleep, but now the whey looks more like yogurt. Have I truly failed the easiest recipe in the book!? I removed the cream cheese and poured the “yogurt” looking not quite whey through the cheesecloth and strainer again. Will I have any useable whey from this and possibly some sort of yogurt or other cheese like product, or is that part now unuseable?
I have a question hopefully someone can help me with! I set out to make the whey and cream cheese from Nourishing Traditions, and at the part I was supposed to tie up the cloth and let it drip a bit more, I fell asleep, thereby letting the whey and cream cheese set out for a total of 6 hours rather than the “several” the recipe calls for which I had been planning on keeping to three. It looked just like the photos here BEFORE I fell asleep, but now the whey looks more like yogurt. Have I truly failed the easiest recipe in the book!? I removed the cream cheese and poured the “yogurt” looking not quite whey through the cheesecloth and strainer again. Will I have any useable whey from this and possibly some sort of yogurt or other cheese like product, or is that part now unuseable? I had let the milk set out to seperate for only two days maximum prior if that makes a difference as well. Thank you!
Can I use whole cows milk pasteurized but not homogenized? There doesn’t seem to be instructions for this milk? I’m new to all this so any help would be greatly appreciated!
http://www.rosicrucianfellowship.com/rays/lacto-fermentation.pdf
This look familiar, did you write it or steal it.