Can I freeze HM cream cheese?

[Rosendula]

The other day I managed to get 3 pints of milk for 7p a pint, and some huge tubs of single cream for 23p each. So the milk got turned into soft cheese with some herbs and garlic added, and the cream was turned into cream cheese. I was a bit worried about the cream cheese because it took 3 days, lots and lots of rennet and lemon juice before I could get it to turn, whereas the milk turned within a couple of hours with just a bit of rennet. Anyway, as you can imagine I now have lots of cheese. The soft cheese is in the process of being scoffed, but I can't see me getting through so much cream cheese - there's 500g of it - and am worried it might go off. I've separated it into two tubs, and thought I'd put one in the freezer, but now I'm concerned that it might go funny if it's frozen and thawed. What do you think please?

[Green Aura]

My first thought was like Susie said, it'll separate. Not based on any experience.

Although maybe you could still use it for cooking, it wouldn't have to look so pretty over a few lumps of cauliflower would it

I think you're caught between a rock and a hard place - don't freeze it and it'll probably go off, freeze it and it may spoil. I'd try freezing some of it, cook some and then freeze that and eat what you can of the rest - see which is best.

[Millymollymandy]

Quick, make a cheesecake! Then it won't be very difficult to scoff the lot.

[JillStephens7]

Hello, I have not made cream cheese and have only frozen (shop bought) hard cheese but had a look and found this:

http://www.ehow.com/how_4617072_can-fre ... heese.html

I know it's talking about shop-made stuff but some of the tips might help?

Good luck, hope it works out for you

[StripyPixieSocks]

I would be able to tell you as I did freeze a big pot of HM Cream Cheese except for the fact OH mistook it for mashed potato we also had in there and microwaved it to within an inch of it's life before he realised lol

However, I think it should be OK and if it separates just mix it back together again thoroughly and it should be fine.

[Rosendula]

Thanks everyone. I've decided to do jacket potatoes for tea, so we'll use up quite a bit on that I think. If I still need to freeze some it's nice to know it will all mix back up. It's something I can see myself making quite a lot of in the future because I often see cream available at reduced prices.

[StripyPixieSocks]

The other day I managed to get 3 pints of milk for 7p a pint, and some huge tubs of single cream for 23p each. So the milk got turned into soft cheese with some herbs and garlic added, and the cream was turned into cream cheese. I was a bit worried about the cream cheese because it took 3 days, lots and lots of rennet and lemon juice before I could get it to turn, whereas the milk turned within a couple of hours with just a bit of rennet. Anyway, as you can imagine I now have lots of cheese. The soft cheese is in the process of being scoffed, but I can't see me getting through so much cream cheese - there's 500g of it - and am worried it might go off. I've separated it into two tubs, and thought I'd put one in the freezer, but now I'm concerned that it might go funny if it's frozen and thawed. What do you think please?

Now I read this through properly *ahem*

Cream Cheese is made by simply draining the whey from yoghurt until thick and creamy definitely not with any rennet or lemon juice, perhaps a bit of salt to encourage the whey separation but nothing else except perhaps flavourings like I add Garlic Powder and Chives.

Rennet added to cheese is for making the likes of pressed Cheshire and Cheddar cheeses and the like and lemon juice makes a simple cheese like Paneer which is made by adding lemon juice to boiling milk producing curds almost instantly which are drained and pressed into a block.

Cheese made with rennet is usually made just with full fat milk and also needs a micro-culture bacteria (usually a bio yoghurt type thing) added to it to stabilise the curds (if made into hard cheeses which are pressed in moulds to remove yet more whey)

I might be wrong here and you're talking about something else but cream cheese is really, really easy to make with just yoghurt and some fine muslin.

I'm not being awkward I was just worried that you had perhaps got a tad confused... *hides under desk*

[Rosendula]

Thanks for that Stripy. I do love the way different people have different ways of doing things and different names for things. I was going by what John Seymour said. I can type quick so I don't mind copying it out

SOFT CHEESE
Soft cheese is made by allowing milk to curdle, either just naturally which it does anyway in the summertime, or by adding rennet. Rennet is a chemical which occurs in the stomachs of calves and has the property of curdling milk. Milk curdled with rennet is called junket. Milk which curdles naturally forms curds and whey. If you simply hang up some curds and whey in a muslin bag, the whey will drip out and the curds will turn to soft cheese. This is tasteless without flavouring, but seasoned with salt and herbs, or garlic, or chives, it is delicious. Eat it quickly because it won't keep long and is therefore no good for preserving the summer glut of milk for the winter.
Cream cheese [.....]
Cream cheese is simply soft cheese made with curdled cream instead of curdled milk The result is smoother, richer and more buttery.

I guess I made junket then

Also, John Seymour mentions the natural bacteria that turns milk into yoghurt was a different one to, erm, another one. I might have to type that too because I'm doubting my interpretation.

Yoghurt is milk that has been soured by Bacillus bulgaricum instead of the more usual Bacillus lacticus.

It doesn't state that bacillus lacticus is specifically the cheese-making bacteria, but that's the impression I got. Perhaps someone can correct me if I've misunderstood this passage?

This is what I love about Ish. The different ways people do things. I do drain the whey off yoghurt as it separates naturally in the fridge, but it just gives me something more like a Greek-style set yoghurt. Do you leave it in the warmth longer to make it cheesy?

[StripyPixieSocks]

Very interesting... very interesting indeed!

Yeah I like ish because people have so many different ways of doing things too and so much information is at hand via different people... 'tis why I love this place :D

I'll have to look up about the yoghurt though... I'm not sure about the different strains of bacteria in there... I never really look at the pot lol

What I do is just make my yoghurt normally (milk, milk powder and bio yoghurt) and then leave it for 18 hours in a heated propagator then pour it into a muslin and leave it to drip for 24 hours over the sink then scrape into a container and store in the fridge. It turns out (for me) like rouille cheese especially with the garlic and herbs added.

I think the way you made the cream cheese is how I was told to make cottage cheese which is indeed a cream cheese of sorts if you mush it together.

Ooh I'm going to have to go and do some more reading up now, thanks for typing the passages out as it's really given me food for thought (excuse the bad pun lol)

The only reason I was curious is that I want to learn to make hard cheeses this year with rennet which I have never used before when making cream cheese and Paneer which was why I was wondering :)

[Rosendula]

Problem solved. They've eaten it all
Thanks for your advice and suggestions, everyone. I'm sure I'll be making much, much more whenever I see cream going cheap.