I needed some whey for making fermented veggies and for soaking my quinoa. I've started making my own kefir which is sometimes ready too fast, so I simply drained the whey from a batch and ended up with cream cheese and nothing to do with it. This got me thinking. Experimenting is tons of fun and for years I’ve wanted to try
I’ve been making cheese.making my own cheese. I had only a small amount of cream cheese so I rigged up a press from a blueberry can out of a muffin mix. Of course my mom has cheese cloth on hand; so I was set.
I salted the disk and let it dry for several days. Today I dipped it in wax to stop the drying and give it time to age. Like Gouda cheese, I wanted to color the outer layer of wax; so after it was coated pretty well I added food coloring to the rest of the wax. The coloring didn’t mix with the wax so that part didn’t work. Maybe beet juice will work or the paste food coloring instead of the liquid. Anyway, now I have a cheese disk that looks a bit like an orange Holstein (maybe that's what it should be named). All that is left to do is wait several months before trying it; don’t think it will make it that long.
After pressing it overnight I got a disk about 2 1/2” across and 1/2” thick. It’s much classier it’s made from a canned-chicken can. Then I rigged up a pretty sweet cheese press using my dad’s wheelchair lift in the garage.
My first cheese form is made from a tuna fish can; now I also have a new larger one. After that I want to try coffee beans; no idea why but that’s what comes next. Maybe I should add a bit of maple syrup or raw honey as well. I need more milk. What about a chai flavored batch? The possibilities are ENDLESS!
Deborah, DoMH!
The next batch of cheese has already been pressed and is drying; it has blueberries, raspberries, nutmeg and cayenne pepper in it.Deborah, DoMH!