How to Make Fermented Dairy Products Using Kefir

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How to Make Fermented Dairy Products Using Kefir

_http://editor.nourishedmagazine.com.au/articles/how-to-make-fermented-dairy-p

roducts-using-kefir_

(http://editor.nourishedmagazine.com.au/articles/how-to-make-fermented-dairy-pro\

ducts-using-kefir)

By _Abby Eagle_

(http://editor.nourishedmagazine.com.au/articles/author/aeagle/)

 

To make Kefir cream you may use Kefir grains or Kefir as a starter. Kefir

will dilute the cream according to how much you use, while a disadvantage of

Kefir grains is that they tend to get lodged in the cream. Experience will be

your best teacher of how much Kefir or Kefir grains you need to culture sour

cream.

I generally add equal parts of kefir to 60% fat cream. That is one cup of

Kefir and one cup of double weight cream. Once again the incubation period is

dependent on temperature, quantity and quality of the starter and substrate.

 

Cream seems to require a longer fermentation period than milk (about double)

and should be gently mixed two or three times in that period.

Light Cream Cheese

 

A simple cream cheese may be made by straining Kefir through unbleached

linen. (Cheese cloth is not quite fine enough.) Cut a piece about 45cm square,

boil it for about ten minutes to remove pigment and chemicals, and hang to dry.

You may sterilise it with an iron if you wish. Line a large glass bowl with

the linen and pour in the Kefir.

 

Gather the corners of the linen and tie with a length of string, making a

loop at the end. Find a clean, cardboard box that is tall enough to hang the

bag of cheese with space at the bottom for a glass bowl. Make a hole in either

side of the box at the top, just large enough to fit the handle of a wooden

spoon through. Hang the bag of cheese from the wooden spoon from the looped

string.

 

Close the lid of the box and cover with a tea-towel to prevent intrusion

from insects. Hang the cheese for about 24 hours, or longer if you prefer a

stronger cheese. If you need to hang a large quantity of cheese try hanging it

from a stick suspended across the backs of two chairs.

 

Once the cream cheese is dry enough scrape it from the linen bag with a

curved scraper and store in a plastic container in the fridge. Transfer the

Kefir

whey to a glass jar and refrigerate. Kefir whey makes a refreshing drink and

may be used in a number of recipes e.g. Ricotta cheese may be made from

whey). Kefir whey may be used as a starter for sourdough bread and so on.

 

In keeping with the traditional spirit wash the linen with a dilute solution

of lye water (potassium carbonate) available from Asian grocery stores. Pot

ash lye or wood ash lye as it also known may be made by soaking wood ash in a

bucket of water overnight. The resulting caustic liquid is decanted and

filtered before use. The ash may also be used to scrub bench tops.

Richer Cream Cheese

To make a rich cheese use the same procedure as above but add cream to your

initial culture. A good starting ratio is equal parts of milk and cream, as

in kefir cream. You may culture the milk and cream together, or separately and

mix them prior to hanging.

There are three basic methods for cheese making. A cultured cheese as for the

above recipe; a rennet cheese made by adding rennet to hot milk, and a third

method of curdling milk by the addition of an acid. The cheese may then have

a new starter culture added, be mixed with a variety of other ingredients

such as chives and spices, before being pressed into blocks or wrapped in wax,

and then left to mature for up to a year or more.

Kefir Butter

Butter is developed by churning cream which causes the fat to separate from

the protein. To make butter, gently churn Kefir cream with the ‘paddle’

attachment in a food processor at a slow to moderate speed. After a few minutes

the cream should separate into globs of butter and a watery buttermilk. Wash

the butter in cool water to remove traces of buttermilk then press the butter

into a jar or plastic container with the back of a spoon. Store in a

refrigerator.