The cheese that I have been making from yogurt is more of a "gateway cheese". I have this sneaky suspicion that this simple cheese will lead me down the slippery slope of rennet and who knows what after that. When that time comes, I will venture forth with culinary boldness into the unknown, but in the meantime this is where it starts....
I use a couple layers of cheesecloth that can easily be washed and reused to separate my yogurt into whey and cheese. My set-up is to lay the cheesecloth in a colander over a pot to passively drain my yogurt. I've used my plain homemade yogurt but any organic yogurt will work.
The whey is the liquid that drains out of the yogurt and is a valuable ingredient in lacto-fermentation. I've used it to make super yummy sauerkraut - stay tuned for my next blog entry on that. Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions has great info and recipes for using whey. Its "whey" cool.
I drain my yogurt in the colander for just a couple of hours at room temperature, resulting in a type of creme fraiche or sour cream that is delicious as a dollop in soup. I have also left it longer and made a yogurt "hammock" by simply tying my cheesecloth to a pair of chopsticks and suspending my little pillow of yogurt in mid air. This works great for a firm cream cheese. Make sure to save the whey, it should last in the fridge for a couple of months.
Basically, how long to drain the milk solids is a matter of taste. It depends on what I want to use it for - a dollop, dip, or spread.
I like to leave my sour cream unflavored and tangy but I've really fallen for a cream cheese mixed with the zest of one lemon and some coarse salt. Its a "real punch" of flavor as my friend exclaimed. Definitely going to experiment with herbs, garlic, and olives. I imagine once I have worked my way through the savory pantry I will move on to sweetly flavored cream cheeses. Is it berry season yet?
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