Whey and cream cheese from raw milk

[Amberoxy]

Hi, I'm just starting out with trying to switch to a traditional diet and I wanted to have some whey on hand. I followed the recipe in Nourishing Traditions to make whey and cream cheese from raw milk. The cream cheese smells pretty sour. I've added some sea salt and basil to it and stuck it in the fridge to see if it does any good. Does the fact that the cream cheese smells sour mean that the whey is no good? Or, can I still use it for soaking grains? What should the whey smell like? It's kind of the color of that nasty Mellow Yellow soda... Thanks!

[mlwlovell]

I'm doing my first batch, too, and was having the same questions! I'm looking forward to some guidance :-)

[Amberoxy]

I can let you know one issue I had - I had thought that you just needed to wait for the cream to rise to the top. I put it through the towel / strainer way too early and it all strained through. I put it back to sit again and a day later it was obviously way more separate - yellowy and watery on the bottom and a custardy bubbly consistency on top. I did see somewhere else that if you use a warmer spot, it may separate sooner and be less sour. I don't know if I want to waste another half gallon of raw milk though to try again. I'm using the whey but will never be able to eat the cheese...:Puke

I think next time I'll try it with yogurt - I'll make yogurt with my raw milk and then make the whey and cream cheese with that...fun stuff! I feel like I'm back in science class

[chaoticzenmom]

I made some awhile back and posted it on my blog with pictures. I'm guessing it's a little yellowish...not sure.

It's under the yogurt cream cheese and whey link...there's not much on the site, so it's really easy to find.

[Amberoxy]

Thanks! It looks like you have some great recipes on your blog....I want to try the blueberry soda

[talldarkeyes]

Does the fact that the cream cheese smells sour mean that the whey is no good?

In my experience, no, it just means that the raw milk has clabbered and the bacteria has done its job. If you can't eat it raw you could always use it in a recipe that requires cream cheese. My whey is a light yellow color.

[AJP]

IME, much better results are obtained if you inoculate the raw milk with a live culture of some kind first. Just letting it clabber on its own has never resulted in anything I'd want to eat. You can try using some store-bought buttermilk or creme fraiche as a starter, if it's unflavored and live culture, it will give the raw milk a jump start and likely result in a more palatable "cream cheese" than relying on whatever organisms are native to the milk. You can also buy a room-temp culture like fil mjolk. If you have a way to keep it warmed to about 110F for 8-12 hours, you can make raw yogurt and then strain it the same way, just add some plain live-culture storebought yogurt to the milk and shake well.

The whey should be yellowish and mostly clear, and it will smell like whatever product it came from.