Who can resist cream cheese icing, creamy chip dip or cheese cake. They are always popular at gatherings and seem to be the first to go from any potluck dinner.
That is what makes this recipe so valuable. It uses any extra kefir you have on hand and turns it into a creamy ingredient which can be used as a spread, mixed with spices and made into a dip or sweetened to make a tangy icing or cheese cake.
Kefir itself has a long list of vitamins which remain in the curds once the whey is filtered out. This means that not only is kefir cream cheese a great substitute for regular cream cheese but it also has a wide variety of bacterial cultures which make the cream cheese long lasting and great for your health.
Once you have a batch of kefir cream cheese in the fridge you will find it indispensable for making thickened sauces, dips and toppings.
Equipment:
- Cotton cloth
- One piece of string about a foot long
- Bowl to catch the whey
Ingredients:
- One liter of kefir
- Salt to taste
Instructions:
- Place the cloth in the bowl with the edges of the cloth hanging over the bowl
- Pour the kefir into the cloth lined bowl
- Gather the edges of the cloth and tie the string around it to form a bag
- Tie the end of the cloth onto something high enough to suspend it above the bowl
- Wait 24 hours or so
- Take the kefir down and put it in a bowl and add the salt to taste and stir it in until it is a consistent thickness
- Put the kefir cheese into a container and store it in the fridge
Kefir cream cheese is a great way to use up over fermented kefir as well as using any extra kefir you may end up with as your grains continue to multiply.
For kefir which most resembles cream cheese make a batch of kefir using a high fat content milk like whipping cream or 10% table cream. Then once the grains have fermented the cream hang the kefir for 24 hours or so.
If you like a thicker cream cheese you can press it using a cheese basket and a weight. This will remove more of the whey making the cheese thicker. Once you have achieved the thickness you desire put the cream cheese into a container and store it in the fridge.
Kefir cream cheese is a great base ingredient for a variety of recipes. To start you out here is a recipe for creamy fermented salsa dip or you could make a sandwich using it in place of mayo or normal cream cheese.
Note:
Keep the whey which drips out of the kefir when you hang it as it is also full of vitamins and minerals. Not to mention the probiotics which are great health boosters.
The whey can be used for a variety of purposes such as a starter for this fermented orange juice, added to cold soups or frozen into ice cubes and used in smoothies.