Featured on New England Cheesemaking Supply Company's blog!

Here's a cool thing -- my older post on making homemade cream cheese has been featured on the blog for the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company (which, not incidentally, is where I get all my cheesemaking supplies).

They included links to my other cheesemaking posts and even kindly linked to my available ebooks as well.

Thanks, New England Cheesemaking Supply Company!

Homesteading Question #5 - Making Cream Cheese

Here's my final posting on making cheese, in this case cream cheese. Of the three cheese I know how to make (mozzarella, cheddar, and cream) this is by far the easiest.

Start with two quarts of light cream and heat to 86F.


Add 4 ounces of mesophilic starter (I freeze mine in cubes) and stir until the cubes melt.


Cream cheese requires rennet, but in a very, very diluted form. Take three DROPS of rennet and add to 1/3 cup cool water.


Add one teaspoon of the diluted rennet and mix thoroughly.


I poured the cream into a bowl and covered it with a lid to keep out anything that might be floating around (wisps of dog hair, dust, whatever). Now it has to ripen for twelve hours at 72F, which can be a challenge.


I tucked the bowl of cream into our gas oven, which has a pilot light and therefore stays warm. But if the door was closed, it was too warm, so I taped a little note to the oven door asking that it stay open. This kept the cream at a consistent 72F. If your day is warm, you might be able to just keep the cream on the kitchen counter for that time. If it's a hot day, perhaps you can find a cool spot (basement? washroom?) to keep it.


I finished this step a little after 6:30 in the morning. Then I just went about my day until evening.


After twelve hours, I poured the contents into the largest bowl I have. Believe me, use your largest bowl. The next step is to take a separate pot of water and heat it to 170F. Heat at least two quarts of water, probably three to be on the safe side.


Once the water has reached 170F, start adding it to your bowl of cheese. You'll need to add enough hot water to raise the temp of the cheese to 125F. This is why you'll need the largestbowl you have. By the time I was done and the temp was correct, this white bowl was full to the brim. It looks like nothing more than a watery mess at this stage, but don't worry.


Line a colander in the sink with a clean old pillowcase (I like the "thinner" fabric pillowcases because they drain better).


Pour the whole watery slop from the bowl into the pillowcase. Have someone hold up the edges if need be. Honestly, you'll think you're pouring the whole bowl down the sink because it drains so quickly, but don't worry. What remains in the pillowcase are the cheese solids which will need to drip dry.


Next you'll have to hang the pillowcase to drain for about twelve hours (overnight in my case). This is how I hook the pillowcase around my cabinet center. Obviously you'll have to come up with whatever method works in your kitchen.


A full pillowcase, just hung to drip overnight:


The next morning: finished dripping.


Yield is 8 ounces, half a pound.

Busy day

This was what my Monday was like. While I won't say every day is like this, it's by no means unusual.

Up at 4:30 am. We have a shipment going out via FedEx this morning, and I still had a batch of tankards to test (for leaks). Then I tagged all 45 pieces and packed the box. Done by 7 am.

7 am - 8:30: Drink my tea, read the news (online), read my emails.

7:30: Don leaves on errands, etc. that will keep him from home all day.

8:30 am: go find Matilda (as usual, in the farthest corner of the property) and bring her in for milking. Done by 9:15.

9:15: Take the dogs for their usual 1.25 mile walk.

10 am: Peel tankard bodies out of the hoses and duct tape used to clamp them together (the girls helped with this). Mark bottoms. (It's hard to see, but the boards are marked with six-sided shapes, one for each tankard, all numbered.)


Start what will be the first of three loads of laundry.


11:45 am: Finish out the batch of cream cheese I started last night (it ripened overnight). The bag hangs to drip dry for about twelve hours.


Yield: about 1 3/4 lbs.


12 pm: schoolwork with the girls. Today it's math, science, history, geography.

2 pm: Cut tankard bottoms (100 in all).



3 pm: Sand bottoms of tankards.


(The ones in the crates have their bottoms sanded; the ones on the floor are next.)


4 pm: Dishes. Before:


After:


4:30 pm: Haul the tankards upstairs (we do a lot of piece work upstairs in the great room). Oldest daughter visits the neighbors. Youngest daughter (who has a cold) sorts and stacks the tankard bottoms.

5 pm: Start gluing on bottoms.


6 pm: Break for an hour workout (20 minutes on elliptical trainer, 20 minutes stretches/crunches/strength, 20 more minutes on elliptical trainer, pant wheeze).


7 pm: Time to get Matilda (as usual, in the farthest corner of the property) and bring her in for milking. Done by 7:30. Kids feed and water chickens and refill livestock tanks.

7:30: Strain and chill the milk. Take the dogs on their (shorter) evening walk - about 3/4 mile. Back upstairs to continue gluing.

9:30: Don gets home. Put the kids to bed. He comes upstairs to help me finish gluing on bottoms. Done by 11 pm


11:15 pm: Finally take a desperately-needed shower.

11:30 pm: Hair soaking wet, stay up and read emails until hair is dry enough to braid for bed.

Midnight: Bed

What I didn't get done yesterday: Make butter, make English muffins, work on cleaning the barn. Another day.

Oh...and the obligatory Cute Puppy Pic:

Answering a few comments....

Here are some answers to a few of the comments over various and sundry things:

Regarding cream cheese - I used the recipe found in the book "Home Cheese Making" my brother gave me for Christmas, specifically the recipe found on pg 85 (the cooked-curd method). Here it is:

- 2 qts light cream or half-and-half - heat to 86 degrees F
- Add 4 oz mesophilic starter (I have lots of this on hand for cheddar cheese)
- 3 drops liquid rennet diluted in 1/3 cup cool water - use ONE TEASPOON of this already very diluted rennet (which answers the question about whether cream cheese requires rennet)
- Set the cream in a warm spot (72 degrees or more) for 12 hours - a solid curd will form
- Heat two quarts of water to 170 degrees. Add enough of the hot water to the curd to raise its temp to 125 degrees. Pour the watery curd into a colander lined with (in my circumstances) a pillowcase (the book says cheesecloth, but I hate using cheesecloth - I keep two clean old pillowcases just for cheesemaking). Hang the bag/pillowcase over a bowl until it stops dripping (this takes a few hours).
- I added a mere 1/4 teaspoon of salt and it turned out just fine. Made only half a pound, though, and I need 1 1/2 lbs for a triple recipe of peanut butter pie, so I'll be making another double batch today for Tuesday's pie baking.

To the reader who expressed interest in whether there's a house for sale nearby because she likes the idea of our weekly neighborhood get-togethers (LOL) - well, not a house, but we have 20 acres of gorgeous land with a pond for sale! Email me if you're interested (patrice@patricelewis.com).

Easy Cheesy

We're supposed to bring dessert this Tuesday to our weekly neighborhood get-together. I thought I'd bring peanut butter pie. Trouble is, the recipe calls for cream cheese and I didn't have any.

With a cow producing three gallons of milk a day, it just goes against my goat to actually have to buy a dairy product. So I decided to try making cream cheese.

Piece o' cake. Why didn't I do this sooner?

Peanut butter pie, here we come! I think I'll make a triple recipe.