Similar to a ricotta or cottage cheese, this soft cheese melts well and is excellent in pasta dishes. Homemade panir cheese is significantly cheaper than store bought ricotta and can be made without salt or salted to taste, which is great for someone on a sodium restricted diet.
To make panir cheese, slowly heat milk in a saucepan to at least 160°F stirring intermittently to avoid burning it. Once it reaches an even temperature of 160°F, add vinegar (approximately 2 tablespoons per quart of milk) and stir. If the milk was hot enough the heat will cause a reaction with the acid in the vinegar, and it will separate. Like little Miss Muffet, you should now have curds and whey. If the whey still looks very opaque, you can continue to add vinegar by the tablespoon until the whey is clearer and all of curds have separated out. Line the inside of a clean colander with a layer of cheese cloth or a clean flour sack dish towel and pour in the desired amount of yogurt. Place the colander on top of a small bowl turned upside down inside a large bowl so that the whey can drain freely into the large bowl. Pour curds and whey mixture into the colander, and allow the whey to drain. Salt can be added at this point to taste, and the cheese can be either used immediately or stored in the refrigerator in a sealed container. Whey may be saved and used in baking.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Yogurt or "Cream" Cheese
Cream cheese and recipes made with cream cheese are rich and delicious. I love a good cheesecake and an occasional bagel with cream cheese, but these are undeniably not necessities when it comes to our diet and grocery budget. Cream cheese is quite expensive here and only available at import stores. This yogurt cream cheese is cheaper and healthier than the original and this allows us to enjoy it much more often. You can even add your own cinnamon and brown sugar or fruit and honey for a fancy spread for bagels.
This simple cheese is very similar to cream cheese and can be used in many recipes that call for cream cheese. It does have a slightly different texture and a little extra tangy taste compared to cream cheese so some recipes may have to be adapted.
To make yogurt cheese simply line the inside of a clean colander with two layers of cheese cloth or a clean flour sack dish towel and pour in the desired amount of yogurt. Place the colander on top of a small bowl turned upside down inside a large bowl so that the whey can drain freely into the large bowl. Allow to drain for several hours or over night squeezing out extra liquid if desired. Scrape yogurt cheese off cloth with a spatula. Sweeteners, flavoring, fruit, and other additions may be added at this time as well. Store refrigerated in sealed container. Whey may be saved and used in baking.
This simple cheese is very similar to cream cheese and can be used in many recipes that call for cream cheese. It does have a slightly different texture and a little extra tangy taste compared to cream cheese so some recipes may have to be adapted.
To make yogurt cheese simply line the inside of a clean colander with two layers of cheese cloth or a clean flour sack dish towel and pour in the desired amount of yogurt. Place the colander on top of a small bowl turned upside down inside a large bowl so that the whey can drain freely into the large bowl. Allow to drain for several hours or over night squeezing out extra liquid if desired. Scrape yogurt cheese off cloth with a spatula. Sweeteners, flavoring, fruit, and other additions may be added at this time as well. Store refrigerated in sealed container. Whey may be saved and used in baking.
Yogurt
Yogurt is so tasty and healthy. It can make your tummy happy two ways. By being a wonderful treat and by aiding good digestion. It is not hard to make, but this is one dairy product that can take a few tries before you perfect your process and end result. Heating the milk without burning it and maintaining a fairly consistent temperature are the only really tricky steps. I personally think that homemade yogurt is tastier, and it can be quite a bit cheaper to make it yourself as well. Although this is not always the case.
Yogurt can be made from reconstituted dry milk, pasteurized milk, or raw milk. It does not necessarily have to be pasteurized before the yogurt starter is added, but the end result (both texture and flavor) is usually better when the desired bacteria does not have to compete with other organisms when it is growing. To kill off competing microorganisms heat milk in a saucepan or double boiler to 160–185°F slowly, so as not to burn it in the process. Pour into clean/sterile glass jars. Allow to cool to approximately 110°F. To do this the jars can be left at room temperature, dipped in cool water bath, or refrigerated for faster cooling.
Next inoculate with bacteria starter. This can be done with commercial starter, acidophillis tablets (available at health food stores), or plain yogurt with active live cultures. The most common are Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus. Probiotic yogurts can be cultured at home also, although in my experience they usually yield a thinner yogurt than their store-bought counterparts. Use approximately ¼ cup yogurt per quart of milk. Fruit flavored yogurt may have other undesirable yeasts or bacteria that make it a less potent starter than plain yogurt. Stir starter thoroughly through the milk and then tightly seal jars.
Now the task is to simply keep the mixture as close to 110°F as possible for 6–8 hours and allow the bacteria to culture, creating thick yogurt. This can be done in a variety of ways. A good thermos, a water bath in a small cooler or large pot, a gas oven with a pilot light, an electric oven with 100 watt or higher light bulb, or a heating pad are all possible heat regulating methods and other methods are certainly possible. The important factor here is not the method but rather little temperature fluctuation. If the temperature rises above 120°F the beneficial bacteria will begin to die off and if dips below 100° F they will begin to go dormant and stop reproducing.
After the yogurt has grown sufficiently thick it may be chilled for several hours before eating. Sweeteners, flavoring, fruit, and other additions may be added before or after chilling as well. Store refrigerated in sealed container.
Some of my favorite yogurt additions are:
Yogurt can be made from reconstituted dry milk, pasteurized milk, or raw milk. It does not necessarily have to be pasteurized before the yogurt starter is added, but the end result (both texture and flavor) is usually better when the desired bacteria does not have to compete with other organisms when it is growing. To kill off competing microorganisms heat milk in a saucepan or double boiler to 160–185°F slowly, so as not to burn it in the process. Pour into clean/sterile glass jars. Allow to cool to approximately 110°F. To do this the jars can be left at room temperature, dipped in cool water bath, or refrigerated for faster cooling.
Next inoculate with bacteria starter. This can be done with commercial starter, acidophillis tablets (available at health food stores), or plain yogurt with active live cultures. The most common are Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus. Probiotic yogurts can be cultured at home also, although in my experience they usually yield a thinner yogurt than their store-bought counterparts. Use approximately ¼ cup yogurt per quart of milk. Fruit flavored yogurt may have other undesirable yeasts or bacteria that make it a less potent starter than plain yogurt. Stir starter thoroughly through the milk and then tightly seal jars.
Now the task is to simply keep the mixture as close to 110°F as possible for 6–8 hours and allow the bacteria to culture, creating thick yogurt. This can be done in a variety of ways. A good thermos, a water bath in a small cooler or large pot, a gas oven with a pilot light, an electric oven with 100 watt or higher light bulb, or a heating pad are all possible heat regulating methods and other methods are certainly possible. The important factor here is not the method but rather little temperature fluctuation. If the temperature rises above 120°F the beneficial bacteria will begin to die off and if dips below 100° F they will begin to go dormant and stop reproducing.
After the yogurt has grown sufficiently thick it may be chilled for several hours before eating. Sweeteners, flavoring, fruit, and other additions may be added before or after chilling as well. Store refrigerated in sealed container.
Some of my favorite yogurt additions are:
- Honey
- Vanilla
- Puréed berries or bananas
- Granola sprinkled on top right before eating
Butter and Buttermilk
Butter is so wonderfully delicious, creamy, smooth, buttery, and the good news is most people think that it is indeed good for you in moderation. When we found ourselves living in a small town in China, well we really missed our butter. I then learned how to make it and we would carefully scrape the fat off of the three cups of milk we got every day and saved them up to make amazing butter, and buttercream frosting for birthday cakes. It still amazes me sometimes that now that we are in a bigger city we can actually buy butter in a store, in China.
Butter can be made from store bought heavy cream or from the cream in non homogenized whole milk. If using whole milk chill for several hours or overnight to allow cream to rise to the top. Scrape cream from the top of whole milk using a large spoon or shallow ladle. Thick cream can be used immediately to make sweet cream butter or saved for days and allowed to sour. Sour cream butter has a more intense taste, but can still be used in bakery items and confections without making them taste at all sour.
The cream can be chilled or as warm as a moderate room temperature (around 70°F), if it is too warm however the nuggets of butter will not clot out properly, producing buttermilk with soft/melted butter in it that cannot be easily extracted without changing the temperature of the mixture.This is quite a frustrating problem as it seems like your cream will never turn into butter.
The next step is to agitate the cream. This can be done in a variety of ways requiring a range of time, effort and electricity. The fastest and easiest is to use a blender or stand mixer on a fairly low setting so as not to heat up the cream too much while agitating it (if the mixture does heat up too much during this process, it can be chilled and then agitated again).
I discovered this problem when I tried making butter with an American blender for the first time and the butter would never clot out. I was rather stumped at first because I knew that this blender was better than the very cheap Chinese blender I had been using. Then one day when I was too frustrated with the mess to clean it up right away, I just put the blender in the fridge for later. Much to my surprise I found butter floating on the top when I returned later to start lunch and on low agitation the rest easily clotted out. The higher powered blender was actually performing "too well" ironically enough.
This great blender method requires electricity but virtually no manpower. However if electricity is not available the are plenty of other ways to agitate cream. There is a variety of churns that are specifically designed to churn butter manually, but perhaps the simplest of set ups is filling a jar half full with cream and shaking it until the creams seizes and the butter clots out. Time required for agitation will vary by method and amount of cream from as little as 5 minutes to over a half hour.
The cream will go through a variety of stages during this process. It will slowly thicken and expand, like when making whipped cream, and then suddenly the mixture will seem thinner again as the butter separates out. When the mixture has turned to buttermilk with grains of butter floating in it you then carefully scrape as much butter as possible into a bowl and with a spoon or spatula press the grains together into a ball against the side of the bowl, squeezing out as much buttermilk as possible. This can be poured back into the other buttermilk and saved for use in cooking or baking.
Once you have squeezed as much buttermilk out as possible it is time to wash the ball of butter in very cold water to prevent the butter from quickly turning rancid. If the water is too warm it will cause the butter to melt and be washed away. Simply pour cold water into the bowl and knead the ball of butter in the water with a spoon or spatula and then discard the water. Repeat until the water is almost clear, usually about three times is sufficient. Press against the side of the bowl removing excess water, add salt to taste if desired, store in sealed container. The butter will obviously keep longer the colder the temperature it is stored at and freezes well for months. Although if you are freezing the butter you may wish to avoid adding salt until you want to use it because freezing it may intensify the saltiness.
Another interesting thing that I have learned along the way is that the yield of butter is proportional to the amount of cream used is related to how high the fat content of the cream is. This makes sense, but I didn't realize that different breads of cows yield different amounts of cream per gallon of milk. Also the cream itself may also have differing fat content. The higher the fat content the more butter produced. Very rich cream may yield butter up to half the volume of cream used, whereas lighter cream may yield less than one quarter of the volume.
Butter can be made from store bought heavy cream or from the cream in non homogenized whole milk. If using whole milk chill for several hours or overnight to allow cream to rise to the top. Scrape cream from the top of whole milk using a large spoon or shallow ladle. Thick cream can be used immediately to make sweet cream butter or saved for days and allowed to sour. Sour cream butter has a more intense taste, but can still be used in bakery items and confections without making them taste at all sour.
The cream can be chilled or as warm as a moderate room temperature (around 70°F), if it is too warm however the nuggets of butter will not clot out properly, producing buttermilk with soft/melted butter in it that cannot be easily extracted without changing the temperature of the mixture.This is quite a frustrating problem as it seems like your cream will never turn into butter.
The next step is to agitate the cream. This can be done in a variety of ways requiring a range of time, effort and electricity. The fastest and easiest is to use a blender or stand mixer on a fairly low setting so as not to heat up the cream too much while agitating it (if the mixture does heat up too much during this process, it can be chilled and then agitated again).
I discovered this problem when I tried making butter with an American blender for the first time and the butter would never clot out. I was rather stumped at first because I knew that this blender was better than the very cheap Chinese blender I had been using. Then one day when I was too frustrated with the mess to clean it up right away, I just put the blender in the fridge for later. Much to my surprise I found butter floating on the top when I returned later to start lunch and on low agitation the rest easily clotted out. The higher powered blender was actually performing "too well" ironically enough.
This great blender method requires electricity but virtually no manpower. However if electricity is not available the are plenty of other ways to agitate cream. There is a variety of churns that are specifically designed to churn butter manually, but perhaps the simplest of set ups is filling a jar half full with cream and shaking it until the creams seizes and the butter clots out. Time required for agitation will vary by method and amount of cream from as little as 5 minutes to over a half hour.
The cream will go through a variety of stages during this process. It will slowly thicken and expand, like when making whipped cream, and then suddenly the mixture will seem thinner again as the butter separates out. When the mixture has turned to buttermilk with grains of butter floating in it you then carefully scrape as much butter as possible into a bowl and with a spoon or spatula press the grains together into a ball against the side of the bowl, squeezing out as much buttermilk as possible. This can be poured back into the other buttermilk and saved for use in cooking or baking.
Once you have squeezed as much buttermilk out as possible it is time to wash the ball of butter in very cold water to prevent the butter from quickly turning rancid. If the water is too warm it will cause the butter to melt and be washed away. Simply pour cold water into the bowl and knead the ball of butter in the water with a spoon or spatula and then discard the water. Repeat until the water is almost clear, usually about three times is sufficient. Press against the side of the bowl removing excess water, add salt to taste if desired, store in sealed container. The butter will obviously keep longer the colder the temperature it is stored at and freezes well for months. Although if you are freezing the butter you may wish to avoid adding salt until you want to use it because freezing it may intensify the saltiness.
Another interesting thing that I have learned along the way is that the yield of butter is proportional to the amount of cream used is related to how high the fat content of the cream is. This makes sense, but I didn't realize that different breads of cows yield different amounts of cream per gallon of milk. Also the cream itself may also have differing fat content. The higher the fat content the more butter produced. Very rich cream may yield butter up to half the volume of cream used, whereas lighter cream may yield less than one quarter of the volume.
Sour Cream
Sour cream can be made from store bought heavy cream and a culture or from the cream in raw, non-homogenized, whole milk.
If using raw milk chill for several hours or overnight to allow cream to rise to the top. Scrape cream from the top of raw whole milk using a large spoon or shallow ladle. Place in a sterilized or extremely clean jar and cover. Unpasteurized thick cream will naturally sour and thicken on its own. Length of time to develop into good sour cream will depend on the environment in which it is stored. When refrigerated cream make take a week or more to slowly culture into rich sour cream. But the taste and texture of real naturally soured cream is worth the wait. It is amazingly good. I have found that if the milk does not have a high enough fat content the cream may not sour right. It simply turns into rich spoiled milk which is rather disappointing when you are expecting wonderful sour cream. You may wish to do a small test batch first.
Pasteurized heavy cream from the supermarket can be inoculated with bacteria by mixing in a small amount of store bought sour cream. Storing this mixture at room temperature (around 70°F) for 24 hours should produce sour cream.
If using raw milk chill for several hours or overnight to allow cream to rise to the top. Scrape cream from the top of raw whole milk using a large spoon or shallow ladle. Place in a sterilized or extremely clean jar and cover. Unpasteurized thick cream will naturally sour and thicken on its own. Length of time to develop into good sour cream will depend on the environment in which it is stored. When refrigerated cream make take a week or more to slowly culture into rich sour cream. But the taste and texture of real naturally soured cream is worth the wait. It is amazingly good. I have found that if the milk does not have a high enough fat content the cream may not sour right. It simply turns into rich spoiled milk which is rather disappointing when you are expecting wonderful sour cream. You may wish to do a small test batch first.
Pasteurized heavy cream from the supermarket can be inoculated with bacteria by mixing in a small amount of store bought sour cream. Storing this mixture at room temperature (around 70°F) for 24 hours should produce sour cream.
Pasteurized Milk
There is a big debate going on now over raw versus pasteurized and homogenized milk. While I think that a good clean source or raw milk is probably healthier in most cases, there may be times if you are purchasing raw milk you may wish to pasteurize it. Especially if the cleanliness of the source is in question or you are serving someone with a compromised immune system, the very young, or the elderly. Pasteurization can also improve the quality and lifespan when making some other dairy products.
Pasteurization can be done easily right on your stove top by heating the milk in a clean thick bottomed saucepan or double boiler to 160°F and keeping it that temperature for at least 15–20 seconds. Stirring frequently will help prevent the milk from scalding. The milk can then be cooled and used as normal. Milk does not have to be boiled to be pasteurized and doing so and then cooling it may alter the taste and texture of the milk.
Pasteurization can be done easily right on your stove top by heating the milk in a clean thick bottomed saucepan or double boiler to 160°F and keeping it that temperature for at least 15–20 seconds. Stirring frequently will help prevent the milk from scalding. The milk can then be cooled and used as normal. Milk does not have to be boiled to be pasteurized and doing so and then cooling it may alter the taste and texture of the milk.
Do It Yourself Dairy
We (like most Americans) love dairy products; however the Chinese people do not often share this love and some even disdain our beloved cows' milk and milk products. We were told by one Chinese high school girl that we should really just get soy milk because, "The taste of cows milk is very miserable." Well I kind of think their soy milk is rather miserable myself. But anyway this is one food arena that the availability and quality of certain products we love has fluctuated wildly over the course our married lives. So I did a lot of research and came up with several wonderful dairy products right in my kitchen. I'd like to try more complex cheese making sometime in the future, but milk prices are high here and we don't have room in our backyard for a cow, so it is cheaper to buy hard cheese than to make it.
It is quite easy to make many dairy products yourself with little else than a some scientific knowledge and a few basic pieces of kitchen equipment. However, most of these dairy products are produced using bacteria cultured at a specific temperature or using heat and acid reactions so a good food thermometer is very important if not necessary to their production. Described is not so much as recipe for each product as a process. None of these products are particularly difficult to make, but it may a few tries to develop a system that works best for you. However, once you find out how to make a certain item exactly how you like it, you may have a hard time settling for the commercial version again.
It is quite easy to make many dairy products yourself with little else than a some scientific knowledge and a few basic pieces of kitchen equipment. However, most of these dairy products are produced using bacteria cultured at a specific temperature or using heat and acid reactions so a good food thermometer is very important if not necessary to their production. Described is not so much as recipe for each product as a process. None of these products are particularly difficult to make, but it may a few tries to develop a system that works best for you. However, once you find out how to make a certain item exactly how you like it, you may have a hard time settling for the commercial version again.
- Butter and Buttermilk
- Frozen Yogurt
- 1-2-3 Ingredient "Vegan Ice Cream"
- Banana Frozen Yogurt
- Berry Frozen Yogurt
- Caramelized Pear Frozen Yogurt
- Dreamsicle Frozen Yogurt
- Grape Frozen Yogurt
- Kiwi frozen Yogurt
- Lemon Ice
- Mango Frozen Yogurt
- Milk Chocolate Frozen Yogurt
- Peach Frozen Yogurt
- Plum Frozen Yogurt
- Vanilla Frozen Yogurt
- Ice Cream
- Dark Chocolate Ice Cream
- Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
- Moose-tracks Ice Cream
- Vanilla Ice Cream: Making Ice Cream Without a Machine
- Panir or "Riccotta" Cheese
- Pasteurized Milk
- Sour Cream
- Uses for Buttermilk
- Uses for Whey
- Yogurt
- Yogurt or "Cream" Cheese
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