Homemade whey is a great item to have on hand for traditional cooking. It is easy to make, and filled with probiotics! You can use homemade whey in a variety of ways, including:
- to ferment condiments, like mayonnaise and ketchup
- to aid in fermentation of vegetables, like pickles, sauerkraut, and kimchi
- as a probiotic drink
- as a great add-in for smoothies
- to aid in soaking of grains, beans, and legumes to increase their digestibility and nutritional content
- as a spread on crackers with some sliced cucumber on top
- mixed with a little honey and vanilla extract for an easy and delicious dessert
- as a wonderful food for baby
Many people use cheesecloth to make whey, but I prefer to use a dish towel or a couple small cloth napkins. This results in whey that is more pure as the fine-weave of the cloth traps more of the milk solids.
Homemade Whey and Cream CheeseMilk kefir, raw milk, or yogurt
Equipment needed: Strainer or colander, small dish towel or cloth napkins
If you are using raw milk, let it sit out on the counter for 1-7 days until it sours and separates into curds and whey (it will take longer if the milk is very fresh and less time if the milk has been around for a little while). If you are using milk kefir or yogurt, no additional preparation is needed.
Place the strainer or colander over a glass bowl. Line the strainer with a dish towel or cloth napkin. Make sure none of the cloth is hanging outside of the strainer; otherwise, some whey will drip out of the bowl.
Pour the raw milk (which has already separated), milk kefir, or yogurt into the cloth. Allow to sit at room temperature for about 4-8 hours. As it sits, the whey will drip out of the cloth and into the bowl. Then push the cloth closed over the top and move it all to the fridge. Let sit overnight.
In the morning, you'll find cream cheese in the cloth and whey in the bowl. Store the whey and cream cheese in glass containers in the refrigerator. The whey will keep for about 6 months, and the cream cheese will keep for about 1 month.
This post is part of Monday Mania at The Healthy Home Economist, Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade and Real Food Wednesday with Kelly the Kitchen Kop!
Great idea and post, thanks!
ReplyDeleteI have a container of store bought whole milk greek yogurt...think I could use that? I don't want to use my raw milk yogurt (too precious)! Otherwise I will need to try this again with separated raw milk. I tried it once before and there were too many milk solids present.
ReplyDeleteHi Megan,
ReplyDeleteIt won't work with greek yogurt because it has already been strained to remove the whey (that is why greek yogurt is so thick). But "normal" store bought yogurt would work. I really love the yogurt cream cheese the best!
Sarah
Hi, I've been wondering whether whey must come from dairy yogurt, or whether it can come from other cultured products such as coconut milk yogurt or kefir (from coconut milk, goat milk, etc). I see that here you include kefir (though still from cow's milk), so that does answer part of my question - that it doesn't have to come from yogurt only. Any idea whether those other options would work? I'm looking for a non-dairy option to get whey so that I can experiment with fermented veggies and such. Is there something unique to dairy that produces the whey, or is whey simply the probiotic-filled liquid that could come from other sources (such as coconut milk yogurt)?
ReplyDeleteHi Tara - Whey is only from dairy. You may be able to use it even if there is someone who is sensitive to dairy, because the milk solids are removed when you make the whey. There could still be trace amounts, I'm sure, so probably not a good idea if someone is VERY sensitive to dairy.
ReplyDeleteHowever, there are some non-dairy alternatives you could try. http://www.culturesforhealth.com/caldwell-starter-culture-for-fresh-vegetables.html
But, even though it wouldn't be whey, I would think you could use liquid from coconut milk or yogurt. As you pointed out, those would still be probiotic-rich, so it seems like they would work. I've even heard of some people using a probiotic capsule.
Hi, my son and I have thrush. Do you think that the cream cheese would still have the good bacteria in it? Loving your blog!!
ReplyDeleteHi spiralmama - Yes, I think the cream cheese would still have good bacteria too. I'm sorry about your thrush. My daughter and I both struggled with it after she was born. She had white patches in her mouth, and my thrush made nursing very painful. My daughter's cleared up after a month or two, but I had thrush for over 8 months! By the end, I was cutting carbs and applying cotton balls dipped in diluted apple cider vinegar after each feeding. I wish I knew then as much as I do now about probiotics! If you can afford it, take some therapeutic-strength probiotic like Bio-Kult and also try drinking kefir (it has more strains of probiotic than yogurt and is much more aggressive at eating the bad bacteria). Let me know if you have any questions!
ReplyDeleteHi! I have been clabbering my raw milk for ages and making whey and cream cheese, all i know what to do with the cream cheese is to blend it with strawberries and maple syrup to make a "yoghurt" but i have a tonne of whey, and all the recipes i have only call for small amounts of whey. how do i make it into an drink that doesnt taste so sour? or should i make a smoothie with it with other things? i want to use it for probiotics because i want to start GAPS soon but dont know how to make it yummy!
ReplyDeleteThanks! Alyssa
Hi Lissi - we don't typically drink the whey; rather we use it for making fermented condiments and veggies. Natasha Campbell McBride does have a recipe for veggies and drink that uses quite a bit of whey. Look under "Vegetable Medley" here: http://gaps.me/preview/?page_id=30
ReplyDeleteHelp...I'm trying to find out if the raw milk needs to be covered or uncovered when it is left out to sour and separate? I have "Nourishing Traditions" but the book doesn't specify either.
ReplyDeleteAh! I just finished making home made cream cheese and was so frusterated I couldn't find any recipies about using unpasturized goat milk. All the recipies said to almost boil it, so that's what I did and I added lemon juice. Now I see here that I can just let the raw milk sour naturally. I would really like to know how different this cheese would taste. IS THE CHEESE SOUR? I also would like to know if I should leave the milk jug open or closed. Thanks! I'll check back on this page :)
ReplyDeleteI don't think it matters whether or not the milk is covered to get it to sour. I have always left the lid on, to keep fruit flies from going in!
ReplyDeleteThe cheese made with soured milk is indeed sour as well. Depending on what you use to make it, the taste is different. For instance, we much prefer the taste of cream cheese made with yogurt to that made with kefir or soured milk.
Thank you for the response! Have any ideas for flavoring the sour cheese into something more appetizing?
ReplyDeleteYou say the cream cheese is sour when made from raw milk. Is there any way to improve the flavor of this cream cheese? Sweeten it or add something else?
ReplyDeleteAlso, can whole fat buttermilk be found anywhere or is it always 1 1/2% fat? Have you tried making cheese/whey from buttermilk?
Depends on what you are going to do with the cream cheese. I really like the yogurt cheese as-is. It is very tangy, but delicious on red crackers with cucumber slices. Sometimes I will throw the kefir cheese into smoothies. It is also delicious with a little honey and vanilla mixed in.
ReplyDeleteI've never tried using buttermilk; and I've never seen anyone sell whole-milk buttermilk.
Hi, love your blog!
ReplyDeleteI just did this for the first time but my cream cheese came out tasting kind of rancid. I'm used to tart, fermented foods, but this was really sour. Is that what it's supposed to taste like? Or did mine go bad?
Thanks!
Thank you for your previous answers! I have successfully soured & separated raw milk into curds & whey. (it took 7 days!) The curds are a little smelly! I've added some some salt and whipped it with a spoon. Its a beautiful pale yellow creamy color. What should I do with it...let it sit in the fridge for a few weeks, months? It's a bit too stinky to eat...yet...will it age and get better? Is this "Farmer's Cheese"? What will it turn into if I allow it to ripen for 6 months?
ReplyDeleteDel - It can definitely be rather sour, especially is you use sour milk or kefir. I prefer the cream cheese made form yogurt, as the flavor is better.
ReplyDeleteBonnie - I've never let it sit in the fridge longer than a few weeks, so I've no idea what it will do over several months (I would guess the flavor will get stronger).
I just bought raw milk from a farm I PA yesterday. I separated the milk into five glass mason jars. Today I don't see a cream layer on top. The farmer said he didn't skim the cream off. Its only been still and in my frig for 12 hours. Where's my creamy top?
ReplyDeleteIs it goat milk, or cow milk? Goat milk is naturally homogenized so it doesn't have a cream top. If it is cow milk, perhaps the cream is the same color as the rest of the milk (that sometimes happens depending on what the cows are eating). Have you tried scooping a spoonful off the top to taste?
ReplyDeleteApparently I didn't wait long enough for the cream to rise. 24 hours later I had 2" cream at the top of my mason jars. Weeeeee! I'm a spanking new raw milk and kifer drinker and am so excited to be sharing the "liquid gold" with my family including my 9 week old. Hopefully she benefits through the breast milk! :-)
ReplyDeleteIs it OK if there are some milk solids in the whey. I am using it to make sauerkraut and to ferment grains. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHi Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteYes, it is fine if there are some milk solids in the whey.
I don't have access to raw dairy and the only whole milk yogurt available at the store is Greek yogurt (the rest is all non or low fat stuff). I saw above where you said Greek yogurt won't work for this, but after mine has been sitting in the fridge a few days I have to stir it because a thin watery substance has separated from the thick stuff and sits on top of it - is that not whey? Will a low-fat yogurt work at all?
ReplyDeleteHi Betsy,
DeleteMaybe your greek yogurt is different from the stuff I have bought (which was VERY thick). It does sound like whey is separating out from it. Even the stuff I buy probably still has a small amount of whey in it, so you could try it but just may not get much at all out of it.
Lowfat yogurt should also work fine for making whey, as I don't think the fat content affects the whey at all.
I've had my first batch of raw milk (bootlegged in from out of state!) sitting out for 7 days now and have only been able to skim off about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch of cream cheese from the top. It hasn't separated. Should I let it sit out longer?
ReplyDeleteYes, let it keep sitting! Depending on how fresh the milk is, it can take quite a while!
DeleteHi there, I just found this blog today. I am attempting my first raw milk whey project but how do I know when it is ready to strain? Will the cream be at the top with a "clear" whey at the bottom; or will the liquid under the cream be "milky"? Any help would be appreciated.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Nicole
With raw milk, it will start to form curds. It may still look a bit milky, but the whey will definitely start to separate form the milk solids. It can take quite a long time with raw milk (even more than a week), especially if the milk was very fresh.
DeleteIf I can not see through my whey, should I let it sit longer? The picture at top seems almost see through. Mine is not like that. Thank you for your posting. I appreciate it!!
DeleteKelli
Northern NJ
http://kelliyanez.mybeyondorganic.com/Web/us/en/requestinfo.dhtml
It sounds like you just used a straining cloth that is not as finely woven as what I use. The whey is still fine, even if it is cloudy. That just means there is a bit more of the milk solids left in it, but it should still work fine.
Delete