Holistic Adventures: Yogurt, Whey and Cream Cheese

If you're wondering where I'm getting all these holistic recipes, it's from a book called Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats. And no, I don't know what a diet dictocrat is. But the cookbook also includes lots of information about how traditional foods are in many ways healthier than current, highly processed diets.

So, today's plan is to make yogurt, then strain out the whey and make cream cheese out of it. I like cream cheese on my bagels. Making yogurt is not hard. You need some cultures or already made yogurt, and some milk. Warm it up, keep it warm for 6-12 hours and it turns into yogurt. I have a yogurt maker (a lovely gift) so I set that overnight and it was good to go, but you can do it in a pan of water in your oven, too.

Morning time! Cover a strainer with cheesecloth (so that's where it gets its name!) and pour the yogurt in. Some of the whey strains out quickly.


Some takes a while.

After a few hours, gather the cheesecloth into a little bag and hang it over something to let the last of the whey strain out.

See my knot tying skills? I'm like a mad boy scout with string.

After a couple hours of that, you have a few cups of whey (very nutritive, I'm told, and excellent for making bread) and some yummy, super creamy cream cheese.