April 26, 2012
Kefir cheese… err… ranch dip?
My wife found the kefir cheese…. It is no longer “cheese”. :p
She put (who knows what) in it and made ranch dip.
I have been sick and didn’t want to eat much, but I did taste it. It was brilliantly delicious. I am impressed!
Going to start another batch of kefir today…. having fun with the kefir!
April 25, 2012
Kefir Cheese!
Well, I did it! I made a larger jar of kefir, and I made cheese with it. I let it “ferment” 48 hours, then when it looked good and “cheesy” yesterday, I decided to get the process started.
First, you should know that I’ve been sick, and I was not thinking real clearly.
My daughter was putting away some items including cloth napkins, placemats, etc. She was moving them from an unreachable location to a more reachable one since we will be needing them very soon. She held up what I recognized to be the cheese cloth, and she asked “What do I do with this?”
I explained that was the cheese cloth, and she could just hand it to me because I would be making cheese with it.
I started by looking around and deciding how to do this. I pulled out a metal strainer from the drawer and a funnel. I was going to set it in a jar and let it drain… then I realized I couldn’t use metal. I put my little “gathering” away and reconsidered.
I put the kefir in the cheese cloth and then set it in a container, spilling some of it (oops). You should totally do that the opposite way. Put the cheese cloth somewhere, THEN put the kefir in it.
I cleaned up my mess and realized that wouldn’t work because if it’s sitting IN it, it’s not separating it.
I pulled out a plastic collander and a large bowl to set the collander in. I trasnferred the cheese cloth with kefir in it to the collander and was surprised to see it actually working. I thought the drainage would be white though – I was surprised to see it is a cloudy-clear yellowish color. Weird.
I wrapped the cheese cloth all around it and let it set so it could drain.
Last night, I checked on it, and it was looking cheesier. My wife came through, asked what I was doing, and I explained it to her. Then she asked…
“Why are you using a tea towel instead of a cheese cloth?”
Errr….. Oops again. I don’t know? I thought it WAS the cheese cloth! Apparently not.
I re-covered everything and let it drain over night. This morning, I went to check on it, and I found… CHEESE!
Lesson learned: Tea towels can make cheese, too. 🙂
April 23, 2012
Kefir update :)
For those who asked what kefir is, here is a link to the wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kefir
It tastes a lot like plain yogurt, but it is not as thick.
My wife poured some over her cereal and said it wasn’t bad. I blended some with a banana and drank it – it was actually really good.
Last night, I set some aside for our daughter who hadn’t yet had the opportunity to try it. At first, she wasn’t impressed. She smelled it and informed me that it didn’t smell good. I told her to try it anyway, and I told her what my wife and I did with it.
This morning when I came in, she was sitting at the table with her nose squinched up. I asked what she was doing, and she said she put the kefir in her cereal. I asked if she liked it, and she said she was too scared to try it.
I made her try it, and what do you know… She liked it!
I am growing more in a larger jar so we don’t have to switch out days but can all enjoy it if we’d like. I want to make some cheese soon, too!
April 21, 2012
Kefir
A co-worker brought me some Kefir the other day. She explained how to go about getting it started – put it in a glass jar on the counter, fill with milk, cover, and leave for 24 hours. Then you have kefir!
Sounded easy enough. I came home, put it in a glass jar, filled it with milk, covered the jar, and left it on the counter for 24 hours. The next evening, I checked it, and TADAA! Kefir!
Now what?
My wife was impressed. Then she asked, “Can you make cheese with it?”
“Yes, you can! I know my friend at work does, and she says it’s great!”
“So make cheese with it.” And she stood there watching me.
Uhhh, I don’t know how to make cheese. I don’t know how to do anything at this point. I just figured out how to grow it… but I hadn’t looked it all up yet. So we put it in the fridge and decided to “table” that for the time being.
This morning, my wife put some on her cereal. She said it was good.
This afternoon, I put the rest in a blender with a banana and drank it. Very yummy.
I put the grains I pulled off the top back into a clean jar and filled it back up with milk. I covered the jar, and tomorrow, we will have another batch.
She has been looking up how to make cheese with it.
Our Journey Towards Self-Sufficiency 