Trying to be handy .. cheese/butter

[ukwife]

I followed a few online recipes for very basic butter and home made soft cheese today.

Personally, I think both came out fine. However that said, I have a few questions which I couldn't find the answers for.

1) Regarding home made butter. I did put a bit of salt on it and enjoyed the taste. How long will it last in the fridge?

2) Regarding the soft cheese I made. Well its a bit bland but edible. Just not sure what to eat it with .. maybe on toast or crackers? Its more cottage cheese consistency than anything else, so a bit stumped beyond the above ideas.

3) RE: Leftover whey - from the cheese. Any use for this? I poured it out on the grass hoping it would benefit from it. No compost bin (yet/on order) to use.

4) The weird thing about the butter making was I didn't really have any butter milk .. I kept reading about how its vital to seperate the butter milk from the butter .. yet I had little. I still went ahead and washed the butter as advised but wonder if I did something wrong.

Any thoughts?
Thanks.

[Ellendra]

Don't have experience with cheese or butter making, but whey can be added to shakes or other recipes to add extra protein.

[Clara]

By soft cheese I take it you mean you separated curds and whey and then left it to strain? Once strained you can mix in salt and/or herbs for taste. I also tend to press mine for a little while (1/2 hour say). I put the bundle on a plate in the sink and then a chopping board with all my brass weights and the scales(!) on top. This gives a cheese which is sliceable, and, like halloumi, can be grilled or fried without melting. Great for adding to stirfrys, though I also like to fry it up with some large pieces of red pepper, adding a dash of balsamic vinegar as a tapa. mmmmmmm, think I´ll have to do that tomorrow now I mentioned it

[ukwife]

Clara,

Yes you are correct. It was my first attempt so wasn't sure how to describe it other than soft or like cottage cheese. It was a very simple recipe. Simply cream and some lemon juice to cause it to curdle. Then I seperated the curd using a muslin cloth and discarded the whey. I let the bundle drain further a few hours and then just refrigerated it.

Thank you for the ideas on how to flavour it up/and uses for. I will certainly try that next time.

Most appreciated.
Lyssa

[ina]

Your cheese will be similar to the German Quark - and we mainly eat that on bread, with a topping of jam or honey... Or you can mix it with fruit for a dessert. Otherwise, all the options that Clara mentioned. (I like to mix in some horseradish, too...)

I use whey in baking - for bread, fruit bread and rolls, or pancakes.

[Annpan]

I can vouch for the cheese served on bread with jam, as mentioned by ina... she introduced me to it and it is lovely.

How did you make your butter? I can't remember exactly but I think that 1 pint of double cream gives 1 cup of butter milk... enough for some very tasty pancakes.
I do mine in a big jar and keep shaking till it gives out no more liquid - then drain it and do the washing and salting.

[contadina]

I either roll soft cheese in chopped mixed herbs, or marinade it in olive oil, chilli, lemon juice, garlic, seasoning and parsley - very tasty and definitely not bland.

For the whey, have you thought about making ricotta cheese? It's probably only worth doing if you used 15+ litres of milk, but it's dead simple and tastes divine. Set a cupful of milk aside before making your cheese.

Put the whey on a slow boil, adding the reserved mug of milk and a handful of salt. Stir very slowly and occasionally. This may take some time but it is ready when a tear appears down the middle and it looks like it turns inside out (I think that it looks a parting of waves with a small volcanic eruption). Sorry if this sounds rather strange it’s the best description that I can come up with.

The thick ricotta-like substance can now be scooped into small cheese moulds and left to drain on a plate. Once cooled completely store in the fridge on a plate as they will still leak a little.

[Brij]

I don't know anything about cheese, but I do often make jam-jar butter (with salt) and I find that the amount of buttermilk left in it is the deciding factor on how long it will last.

As I only make butter in small quantities, I usually rinse most of the buttermilk out first, then put the butter in a sandwich bag, trap lots of air in with it (so it's in a big bubble), then squeeze it until I can see the buttermilk being expressed. I rinse it again, and repeat this process several times. This butter lasts for up to a week (though it's usually gone in 48 hours anyway!).

Another good technique for getting the buttermilk out is to add a little water to the jar (after most of the buttermilk has been emptied), then continue to shake the jar with the water as you were when making the butter. This method, repeated several times is quite effective, and also helps to cool your butter if you are making it in a warm environment.

The amount of buttermilk seems to depend on the fat content of your milk. Out in gay Paris the cream is only about 30% fat, so I find that buttermilk takes up up to half of the space filled in the jar. When I make butter with English double cream (45% fat), there is much less buttermilk (maybe a quarter of the filled space in the jar). That said, I have found it important to keep shaking the jar for a few minutes longer than instinct would dictate, to encourage the last of that buttermilk out, and to make a butter with smoother consitency, no matter how much buttermilk you have.

Hope that helps a bit

[Green Aura]

I'm just reading a book called Nourishing Traditions (bit weird but interesting).
She talks about using whey to cause lacto-fermentation for preserving veg - like sauerkraut etc.
Maggie

[ina]

She talks about using whey to cause lacto-fermentation for preserving veg - like sauerkraut etc.

Not normally necessary for Sauerkraut - wonder why she thinks it is!

[Green Aura]

Not sure - I thought you just used salt (and cabbage of course)!

However, it may be a good way of using up the whey rather than chucking it out. (Having discovered paradise and being flat broke all in the same place I'm becoming slightly obsessional about getting something out of every last scrap).
Maggie

[ina]

However, it may be a good way of using up the whey rather than chucking it out.

I could imagine it would make the resulting preserved veg rather sloppy - veg has a lot of water anyway!

I understand wanting to use up the whey - I hate throwing it out, too. I think I mentioned that before, I use it in baking, mainly.