How to make Kefir Cheese

Good Morning! I'm so glad you stopped by! I hope this Friday is a grand one for you that moves into a long weekend full of fun and family times and adventures. Memorial Day is a time of remembrance and togetherness. A time to be thankful to those who have served our country so faithfully.

Today I am going to share with you how I made kefir cheese. It's easy! All you need is a little time to make it happen.
To begin with, I have some cheesecloth, a bowl to catch whey, a strainer, and my kefir.


I place the strainer in my bowl. 

Then lay the cheesecloth over the strainer. You need this simply because you are still working with a loose solid. It may run all over the place if you don't have something to keep it steady. 

See, my kefir looks a bit like yogurt and is a bit runny in spots.

I tie up my cheesecloth, trying not to squish or smash the kefir, but to make the bag snug so it will force out the whey.

Find yourself a nice place to hang for several hours. You want to drip out all the whey. It takes a while. So put it in a spot that it's not going to be disturbed.

See all the whey above? It kind of astounds me just how much is in there!

Here we are later that evening with the drained kefir, now kefir cheese! You can totally leave it as is or you can give it some more flavor.

I've added 2 tsp chives, 1 tsp garlic powder, salt,  and pepper.

Mix thoroughly, and smash the clumps of garlic powder if you have to... I did.

Scoop out on a sheet of plastic wrap and roll up.
Now the cheese is ready to ripen in the fridge while the flavors marry! You can eat it the next day, or if you can't wait it is perfectly fine to eat immediately. The flavors won't have had time to intensify, but it would still be good! :)

You can eat this on crackers, savory bagels, with veggies or chips, on a sandwich, alongside your meal. On smashed cauliflower or potatoes. Lots of ideas, lots of options!

Now don't forget about your liquid gold here! Keep this! It is a valuable bi-product of milk and cheese. Whey is fantastic! It is super nutritious! Use whey to drink (some do, I don't yet), use it for fermenting, or even feed it to your chickens! Very good for that! They will love it!

So there you go! You are well on your way to becoming a master cheese artisan. :) I hope I'm well on my way too. LOL! I'm going to try my hand at feta today. I'll let you know how that goes soon.
Have a great day, friends!
Blessings!
xoxo