I've been trying lots of new things lately. My personality is such that I have to keep occupied with lots of new and exciting things to keep me sane. And, what can be more exciting than making your own cream cheese!? Real nail biter huh?
Alright so not all THAT exciting, but definitely new! I got the recipe out of this do it yourself preparedness book from Jamie and Rich for christmas. I'm not sure that I'll ever be forced into a situation that requires me to know this for self preservation, but you never know, cream cheese factory workers could go on strike at any moment and then what will we do?!
Well, if you have a dairy cow near by, you'll be ok. Next best thing for me was cream from the dairy isle. Right next to the cream cheese ironically which was on sale in abundance for $1 a brick, but who wants to do things the easy way?
Heres the process as printed in the book:
Now, you'll notice in the description that it says to suspend the cream in a clean "cloth." In hindsight, even though they didn't specify (and I had no idea what I was doing) I'm pretty sure they meant cheese cloth. But looking at the stuff, you'd have to use a lot of layers of cheese cloth because it's woven pretty lose and the cream would just drain within seconds instead of hours. Anyway, for this I craftily used a pillowcase which I washed by machine and then by hand and then boiled in water just to be safe. Still don't know if that was the best idea, but I liked that it was already in "sack" form and was easy to pour liquid into. Personally, I thought it was genius!
The book recommended to hang the cream for 24 hours (longer if needed) but when the 24 hours was up, it was still pretty liquidy. So, I hung it for an additional 24 hours. The cheese eventually coagulated to the sides of the cloth and came out looking like this:
In this picture I am draining off the remaining liquid in actual cheese cloth that I discovered at the Hippie store (The Real Food Market). Turns out 2 cups of cream yeilds about 3/4 cup of cheese. You'll have to excuse these last pictures. I couldn't find the camera and had to use my phone so they are blurry. But you can see how nicely it turned out once you stir it around.
It was a little more bland than regular cream cheese but the texture was what really threw me. At first it was exactly the same texture as store bought cream cheese, but then it just kinda melted in your mouth. Very butter like in that sense. Little weird, but good. Given these properties, I decided to make my tiny morsel into chocolate cream cheese frosting by adding a little salt, powdered sugar, and cocoa powder. It was the BEST chocolate frosting I've ever had!
The most interesting part of the whole process was just learning how to do it. I was surprised to see how easy it was and that I didn't need any crazy machinery. I don't know that I would use this knowledge on a consistent basis though because store bought cream cheese is much more inexpensive. It was however, very educational.
Now, you'll notice in the description that it says to suspend the cream in a clean "cloth." In hindsight, even though they didn't specify (and I had no idea what I was doing) I'm pretty sure they meant cheese cloth. But looking at the stuff, you'd have to use a lot of layers of cheese cloth because it's woven pretty lose and the cream would just drain within seconds instead of hours. Anyway, for this I craftily used a pillowcase which I washed by machine and then by hand and then boiled in water just to be safe. Still don't know if that was the best idea, but I liked that it was already in "sack" form and was easy to pour liquid into. Personally, I thought it was genius! 
The book recommended to hang the cream for 24 hours (longer if needed) but when the 24 hours was up, it was still pretty liquidy. So, I hung it for an additional 24 hours. The cheese eventually coagulated to the sides of the cloth and came out looking like this:
In this picture I am draining off the remaining liquid in actual cheese cloth that I discovered at the Hippie store (The Real Food Market). Turns out 2 cups of cream yeilds about 3/4 cup of cheese. You'll have to excuse these last pictures. I couldn't find the camera and had to use my phone so they are blurry. But you can see how nicely it turned out once you stir it around. 
It was a little more bland than regular cream cheese but the texture was what really threw me. At first it was exactly the same texture as store bought cream cheese, but then it just kinda melted in your mouth. Very butter like in that sense. Little weird, but good. Given these properties, I decided to make my tiny morsel into chocolate cream cheese frosting by adding a little salt, powdered sugar, and cocoa powder. It was the BEST chocolate frosting I've ever had!
The most interesting part of the whole process was just learning how to do it. I was surprised to see how easy it was and that I didn't need any crazy machinery. I don't know that I would use this knowledge on a consistent basis though because store bought cream cheese is much more inexpensive. It was however, very educational. 
3 comments:
I have GOT to start doing more stuff like this. I mean, seriously Amie. If World War III happened tomorrow and we all turned Red Dawn-ish and headed for the hills, living off the land and implementing survival skills, let's face it. I would be the first to go (although with my substantial height and weight I could probably feed a few families). Seriously! I need to learn to make cream cheese. Thanks for sharing!
P.S. Jenn mentioned that you are still doing your other blog, but it's private now. Could you send me an invite, pretty please? Metenney@yahoo.com *hugs* Oh, and one more thing...I wanted to link to Halabalou for a blog thing I'm doing on Cupcake Chowder. Would that be OK? Just thought I'd be courteous and ask. Cheers!
amie that is awsome!!!! When everyone else is figuring out wheat I' going to break out my M&M's and trade for a loaf of bread. Do you have a favorite candy your willing to trade for? Love ya Dad
I think you get that need from me. I have been making soap and now soap molds.
I think my mind runs wild like yours too. When you mentioned the machinery I instantly imagined thousands of pillow cases hanging in the (post red dawn) imaginary cream cheese factory dripping their cream with little ladies coming along and touching them to see if "it's cream cheese" yet. And they were wearing polka dot dresses and had scarves in their hair. I better stop...
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