I am obviously not little miss muffet

For those of you that have been following you already know that I'm on a fermented foods kick. The last batch of Ginger Carrots called for using whey to make pickling fool-proof and I didn't have any. So this week John and I sat out to make whey! It seemed simple. You take dairy of some sort and let it separate into the curds and whey. Use the curds to make cheese and the whey helps preserve foods the old fashioned way.

We went to the store and got two option: whole milk and yogurt. The recipe in Nourishing Traditions called for letting the milk set out until it separates and then straining. We have let the milk set out for about 5 days now and still no separation. When the book says not to use ultra-pasteurized she means it! It scares me that we have this milk thats been open for 5 days that looks and smells just like we bought it. This is even the organic expensive stuff. We need a raw milk connection here. If anyone can refer me to a place where I can get real milk let me know.

Luckily we had the yogurt (from goat milk, another first!) as a backup. We got that straining the other day and were amazed at how much whey dripped out. Not nearly as much as the recipe says but since we had to try yogurt it was already less moist than milk. I put the now-cream-cheese and the whey in the fridge and plan to use the whey to make pickled beets in the next few days. I love beets and so this is something I'm really looking forward to.

In case you are playing along at home, here is the recipe from Nourishing Traditions page 87. I don't know how much longer I will be writing out these recipes (it takes forever with the long ones!) but I have all the books they come from available through my website at http://bit.ly/bV8yf8.

Whey and Cream Cheese

makes 5 cups whey and 2 cups cream cheese

2 quarts piima milk, whole-milk buttermilk, yoghurt, or raw milk.

If you are using piima or buttermilk, let it stand at room temperature for 1-2 days until the milk visibly separates into white curds and yellowish whey. If you are using yoghurt, no advance preparation is needed. For raw milk, place in a clean glass container and allow it to stand at room temp for 1-4 days until it separates.

Line a large strainer over a bowl with a clean dish towel. Pour in the yoghurt or separated milk, cover and let stand at room temperature for several hours (longer for yoghurt). The whey will drip into the bowl and the milk solids will stay in the strainer. Tie up the towel with the milk solids inside, being careful not to squeeze. Tie this little sack to a wooden spoon places across the top of a container so that more whey can drip out. When the bag stops dripping, the cheese is ready. Store whey in a mason jar and cream cheese in a covered glass container. Refrigerated, the cream cheese keeps for about 1 month and the whey for about 6 months.

On a side note - I would like some more people to try this stuff with me and leave comments on their experiences. If you want to start following my blog (at http://cheapandeasyfood.blogspot.com/) and try these things with John and me it would be so awesome!