Thursday, September 20, 2007

A beautiful sight...

That is one gallon of yogurt being strained to make cream cheese. Yumm.

We've been gluten free for over 5 years, but recently we had to go SCD for my oldest. So we all did. (Specific Carbohydrate Diet) Part of it is eating home made yogurt full of all those good gut bugs. It also means not eating commercial cream cheese, yogurt, or milk. Therefore it means making oodles of yogurt. With honey added and diluted 50% with water, it makes a nice milk substitute. Strained and I have a very nice sour cream. Remove even more whey, add a little honey, and it's a delicious cream cheese, or icing for carrot cake.

Yogurt, for yogurt and "milk", I can make with store bought whole milk. But not the cream cheese. Why? Ultra Pasteurization. And the ONLY milk available on this peninsula is UP. It makes a very nice looking "cheese" right up until you touch it, or stir it, or add anything to it. Then it becomes a runny product. (See the Cheese Lady's explanation at www.cheesemaking.com Click on FAQ and then on All About Milk.)

Dry milk to the rescue. Turns out with Carnation Dry Milk and some added cream one can make a very nice cream cheese. Substantial enough to even be used as icing.

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