Re: Making cream cheese? How to

[Guest guest]

Hi ,  I have been making cream cheese for years, and lately, I make it every other day.  No failures.I use one gallon of milk, in a gallon jar.....best if raw and just milked, but I do take  the older milk out of the refrigerator and put it in a gallon jar  sometimes when there is too much milk in the fridge.2.  If warm (just from the goat), I add a little bit of mesophillic culture (from any cheese making supply) and mix it with a plastic or wooden spoon.  (I  don't let metal touch my raw milk.)  cover with a clean cloth.meso means cool.....thermophillic likes heat.    I make a living, raw cream cheese, keeping it just warm to the touch, not hot.You can also use a yogurt tablespoon of what you have.....but some yogurts work and some don't.  A dry powdered culture from a cheesemaking supply is a sure thing.3.  If the milk is cold, I go ahead and add the mesophillic culture, and I warm the milk as fast as I can, putting it in the oven on warm (if your oven is cool).   This is the only time I might lose my batch, if I forget it and leave it in the oven on the lowest setting.   It still is too hot for raw milk and will cook (pasteurize) the milk and never set.3.  Now, very important.   Keep it warm 80 degrees to 98 degrees, somewhere overnight.  I don't have a place so I just leave it in the oven, warm when I go to bed, and I warm it up in the morning.   Again:  if the milk with culture gets hot, you've lost it.4.  The next morning , the milk should be somewhat thick.....if you lean the gallon jar, it should be thick.  But it will need most of the day (2nd day) to keep thickening.  If you can keep it nice and warm, no warmer than body temperature, it will thicken fast.5.  In the afternoon, or evening.....depending on thickness (warm weather shortens the time) of this same day, 2nd day,when it is thick, it is set.  Sometimes it is thicker than other times.....but it doesn't seem to matter much.Prepare another gallon glass jar,  by putting a big 100% cotton cloth (cut up sheets are good for this).  The cloth should be the size that when you put your fist into the cloth to push it into the gallon jar, there is plenty left over to drape down the sides of the jar.6.  Pour the thick milk into the cloth.   It will reach the top, but the whey will start to drip through the cloth, and you can get all of the thick milk into the new cloth covered jar.   When all the batch is emptied,  hold up the cloth and twist it, leaving it in the jar, with the whey rapidly draining into the jar.  (Your cream cheese is in the cloth).   With the cloth twisted, you can get a long spoon and tip the jar and drain off the whey, making room for more dripping.7.  Put into the refrigerator!   The raw cream cheese will continue to morph (change culture).....so keeping it cool keeps it fresh.  Keep draining off the whey.   2 days in the refrigerator just about removes all the whey, and you can open the cloth and see a huge amount of the freshest, delicious, creamy, easily digested cream cheese.8.  I keep it in a cloth wet with whey for freshness.   If you pack it in plastic it molds pretty fast.it's really easy, once you've done it a few times.   I don't buy cheese anymore.....fresh raw cream cheese is like eating cheesecake , and with no repercussions.Trivia andra  I tried making cream cheese like the directions in NourishingTraditions, but it didn't work! It said to let the raw milk sit for 2-3 days until it was separatedand then strain the whey out through a dish cloth set in a strainerover a jar. We tried that, but almost all the cream strained through,leaving maybe 1/4 cup. We started with 1/2 gallon of raw milk, and NTsays there should be about 2 cups of solids.Did we do something wrong?Thanks!