Make your own cream cheese

I love cheese. One of my favourite grocery indulgences is picking up package of fresh cheese from the deli counter… ricotta, mozzarella, feta, haloumi, I love them all!

I have always wanted to learn to make my own fresh cheese from scratch at home. However at the moment, I am lacking quite a few of the essential equipment and ingredients needed to do so. But then I came across this amazing and easy recipe for homemade cream cheese.

I’ve tried it out for myself a few times and I assure you it is totally doable. And you will be pretty blown away by the results.

What you need:

• 1 kg of natural unsweetened Greek yoghurt
• Half a teaspoon of salt
• A cheesecloth or muslin bag
• A fine sieve or colander
• A large bowl

Mix the salt with yoghurt. Then pour the yoghurt into the cheesecloth and place it into the colander. Stand the colander over the bowl and leave in the fridge overnight.

The next morning, the whey would have completely drained from the yoghurt, leaving behind a thick and creamy kind of ‘cheese’. Tip the cheese out of the cloth and save the whey for another use.

It tastes awesome drizzled with honey and some fresh bread.

You can experiment with different flavours by mixing in various spices and herbs in the yoghurt before setting it to drain.

(The whey that is left behind actually has a lot of nutritional properties in it. You can mix it in with smoothies and juices, if you don’t mind the sourish taste. I also found it great in pancakes)

 

Linking up to DinoMama and The Multitasking Mummy