March 19, 2009

Raw Cream Cheese Heaven!

I am so exited and thrilled that my latest accidental experiment turned out so well!! I was trying to make more of the wonderful raw buttermilk that I talked about in my last post and forgot about it!!! So when I finally remembered to look at it, the whey had already separated out of it. So I'm thinking...let's make cream cheese! Now the last time I tried making cream cheese I made it just from the raw milk..and I must say it turned out awfully gross. But this time being made from buttermilk and not just soured raw milk...it turned out Heavenly!!! Success!!

This is what you do:
**If you would like to see pictures: just look at the post I did here, only use the raw buttermilk and not plain raw milk!

1) Fill a quart mason jar with RAW buttermilk and screw on lid.
**You have to use the raw buttermilk you make yourself NOT the store bought kind!

2) Set it in a warm cabinet until you see the yellowish whey separate. This will take 1-2 days instead of 3-4 for just the raw milk.

3) Get a dishtowel or cloth napkin damp and place over a strainer/colander in a large bowl. Now pour the contents of your mason jar in and let it drain.

4) When most of it drains, tie the ends of the towel around a spoon and let drain until the dripping completely stops.

Now you have your whey and WONDERFUL CREAM CHEESE!!!!
I will never make the cream cheese from just soured milk again. This cream cheese from buttermilk tastes very similar from what you buy at the store only it is more light and fluffy. You may want to add a little salt if you like, but I don't find it necessary! You CAN use this with dessert recipes! I can't wait to make raw cheesecake with this!!!!

From the quart of buttermilk I got:
2 1/4 cup whey
1 1/4 cup cream cheese (10 oz)
COST: $1.50!!! Much cheaper than what you buy organic cream cheese at the store..plus it's raw!!















I just added this post to a wonderful blog carnival called, "Fight Back Fridays" on the blog called Food Renegade. It is a wonderful site...check it out here:
http://www.foodrenegade.com/fight-back-fridays-4/

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for joining in the carnival today! I NEVER would have thought of making buttermilk cream cheese. I bet it was yummy! Now I'm inspired to experiment making cream cheese with all sorts of cultured milks.

Cheers,
KristenM
(AKA FoodRenegade)

xacerb8 said...

I can't wait to try this! Only $1.50 for organic, raw milk cream cheese is amazing. Looking forward to reading more of your recipes.

Heart's Homestead said...

Have you posted a recipe for homemade cultured buttermilk?

I have tons of sweet 'buttermilk' left over from making butter out of raw milk, yet do not know how best to culture it.

I have made sweet cream cheese from pure raw cream and rennet - so rich!

One more question: can it truly be called 'cream' cheese when it is made from the part of the milk that is left when all of the butter fat (cream) has been taken out? I would think the richness would be affected.

I really appreciate the tips and recipes you post!

Heart's Homestead said...

Pardon me, I just noticed your previous post on buttermilk! I suppose I had better be more observant :)

Anonymous said...

So is the buttermilk the milk I have leftover from making butter, or is the cultured butter milk I get at the store?

kashia said...

I just made the raw cream cheese from milk yesterday- although my intent was to get the whey, I ended up with a ton of cheese. The taste wasn't something I could eat as is, so I experimented with flavors. The best was chocolate orange hazelnut (with orange oil)- the worst was pineapple (too acid and it turned the cheese bitter bitter bitter). Next time I will make the buttermilk cream cheese!

Becka said...

Hi there! I've been getting raw milk for a few months now, and using baby steps, I've been slowly learning what to do with each form of the milk. One thing I wasn't sure of is if the "buttermilk" that I pour off after making butter is truly buttermilk since it isn't cultured. Well, I solved that mystery by culturing the cream before I make the butter! It works great! When I skim the milk & collect all the cream in a jar, I use full-fat plain yogurt with live cultures, & add about 4 large tbps. to a near full quart-size jar of fresh cream. I let it sit out (with lid on) for 24-36 hours in my kitchen window. The live cultures from the yogurt go to work, culturing the cream, thus culturing the butter & buttermilk. Once I make the butter, I leave some out on the counter in a covered pyrex dish & we use it for spreading on toast. The rest goes in the fridge for veggies & cooking. I use the cultured buttermilk for soaking grains & making biscuits, but now I'm ready to take the next baby step & make cream cheese! I now have 3 pint-size jars of buttermilk in the fridge that I want to use up before I am too afraid to use it. I'm going to attempt to make cream cheese with it & I can't wait! Thanks for your great post & helpful tips! I'll let you know how it turns out. ;)

Kimberly Anne said...

Hi Cheryl,

I am Sally Fallon Morell's publicist, may I have your email address! I want to add you to our press list for our news releases.

Kimberly

Despina Arzouman said...

I use raw cream regularly for coffee, etc. I buy Organic Pastures raw dairy (here in L.A. County). Last Sept. 2011 I bought a pint of raw cream that got buried in my refrigerator. I found it months later, and it didn't look or smell bad. I didn't throw it away. It is now May 2012 - 8 months later and when I opened it again it seemed like buttermilk or watery cheese. I kept it because I didn't know if it was actually bad. It didn't separate nor smell foul. I poured a drop into a spoon and my dog lapped-it-up. I tasted it too and it tasted cheesy, not sour. Is there anything I can do with 8 month old raw heavy cream??

LittleKiwi said...

To Despina the commenter above - I arrived here today with basically the same question on my mind - only about some 4-week-old raw cream which I have in my fridge. It has gone south but still smells great.

Since I stumbled on this page googling for whether I could make it into cream cheese (which it smelled similar to) or something, and I see no one seems to have come back to you - I just thought I'd pass on a page with suggestions on what to do with raw milk and cream which are past their best which I found upon some further searching:

http://www.meanroostersoup.com/2011/01/20-things-to-do-with-soured-raw-milk-or-cream/

Hope that helps if you ended up hanging onto it for a few weeks longer... otherwise there's always the next pottle of forgotten treasure... :)

Best,
LittleKiwi

Unknown said...

Just made some with raw milk. Oh my goodness, it made the prettiest curds I have ever seen. I had to take a picture of them, they were so beautiful! Thank you for a truly easy and wonderful method!

Unknown said...

Just made some with raw milk. Oh my goodness, it made the prettiest curds I have ever seen. I had to take a picture of them, they were so beautiful! Thank you for a truly easy and wonderful method!

Unknown said...

I have been using RAW milk since November 2013. I get cream, make my own butter and buttermilk. Some of my buttermilk separates before I can use it, but I didn't know what the separated product was. I have been searching for a few months to figure it out so, THANKS! I now know that I've got a lot of cream cheese in my fridge:) Just need to strain off the whey and it's been in there long enough to definitely be probiotic:)