diy dairy

[happyhats]

I'm interested in making my own butter, cottage cheese, cheese, etc. I might take a cheese making class this fall, because I know that's a bit labor intensive, but I was hoping for some tips on other recipes. I typically use organic cow milk for cooking/baking, soy milk for drinking, and I do have access to goats milk and raw milk but haven't tried either yet. Thanks!

[dogmom327]

Butter is easy if you have access to non-homogenized milk. Yogurt and kefir are easy too. Were you looking for specific 'how to's'?

[happyhats]

Yes, if not how tos, then at least pointed in the directions of how tos, lol. I know yogurt is fairly easy, but we don't eat much yogurt in its original state. I have heard that it can be substituted for sour cream in recipes, and I'm wondering if there are other good uses. I found a good and simple recipe for feta cheese, which dh eats quite a bit of, now i just have to compare goat milk prices. I'm wondering if it will be more expensive to make it myself, which does hold me back since I'm low income. I think it will probably pay itself over time though.

I had a recipe for cottage cheese but lost it, it was more or less milk and buttermilk simmered in a crock pot, but there was more to it that I cannot remember. It was in a recent Mother Earth News and I returned it to the library, so I''m waiting on it getting back.

[katmann]

If you use raw milk, you can sour the cream itself just by leaving it on your counter for a few days. You can use fresh or soured cream to make butter just by putting it in the food processor or stand mixer for ten to 15 minutes. Then you'll see the yellow chunks and buttermilk separate. You want to strain the buttermilk off (save it - it's not the same as the cultured bm from the store, but it's great for baking or soaking grains). Press the butter with a wooden spoon until all the milk is out, and rinse it once or twice with water while continuing to press it. It's best to refrigerate it so it won't go rancid.

As for yogurt, I mix it with granola, put it in smoothies, stir it into oatmeal with maple syrup, use it in place of sour cream in burritos, and serve it with Indian food.

[happyhats]

Thanks so much for the tips! do you know if the butter and sour cream can be made this way with goats milk as well, or only with cow? I have access to goat more easily but can get ahold of cow as well.

[AJP]

You need a centrifuge cream separator to get the cream out of goat's milk for making butter or sour cream, it doesn't separate like cow's milk by just sitting undisturbed for a while.

We make cottage cheese with raw cow's milk by adding a cheese starter (called Fresh Start, from www.cheesemaking.com), allowing it to culture for 24 hours, then cutting the curd, gently heating (below 100F) and stirring to let the whey out, then straining and adding a little salt. It's so much better than any storebought cottage cheese.

[Delicateflower]

I got some great hints on this thread
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...1074416&page=2

post #31 and onwards

I just made some yogurt, and I'm going to try ricotta next.

Instructions by Leta

To make Greek style yogurt, put a colander in a bowl, line the colander with cheesecloth (Wal Mart craft department) and plop the yogurt in there. Let it drain in the fridge overnight. (You may want to cover it with a clean cloth to keep out odors.)

The stuff that drains out is whey. It is a clear golden color. It is very nutritious, but I don't like it. I feed it to my dog.

To make a sour cream substitute, let it drain two nights and add a little salt.

To make a cream cheese substitute, let it drain two nights, then wrap in another length of cheesecloth and squeeze out as much whey as you can, and add salt to taste- more than you would with the sour cream.

To make creme fraiche, use heavy cream instead of milk and follow yogurt making protocols.

To make kefir, use kefir cultures and follow yogurt making protocols.

To make ricotta, I again turn to Hillbilly Housewife's recipe. This recipe is sooo fast and easy, I was AMAZED the first time I tried it. As a newbie, I would start here for positive, confidence building results.
You don't have to use powdered milk, regular milk works fine. Use a slotted spoon, not a whisk, because the curds will stick to the whisk and never want to come off. This recipe works beautifully in cooking. For eating, I take her suggestion of creaming the curds with a little yogurt. It's good- somewhere between ricotta and small curd cottage cheese.

Butter is very easy to make, and you can use any cream from the supermarket, but it's not very cost-effective like other forms of DIY dairy are.