There are a few foods that I now make instead of purchasing from the grocery store. This is one of those foods.
My guiding principal on when I choose to brave a new process of preparing a food is twofold -
first, is the food that I'm purchasing from the store, clean (translation - are there any fillers or additives)?
Second, how complicated (translation - how easy) is the process for preparing the food?
I discovered that there are fillers/additives in cream cheese!
Once I discovered this tidbit of news and I did my research on it (and even went so far as to call the more popular dairy in my area to ask what they use as a stabilizer). And...
After conducting my research and discovering how difficult it is to find a store-bought version that is clean, I started making my own.
Annoying! And they don't even have to put it on the ingredient list because it's listed as industry standard.....really annoying.
I have to admit, I was nervous about learning how to culture dairy.
I guess the kefir explosion from years ago - the one that sprayed all over my youngest when she was a mere toddler - still had me wondering about this whole process of culturing dairy.
But what I discovered is that it's really super easy!
Honestly.
It just takes a tiny a bit of patience.
Making cream cheese is pretty simple with most of the work being done passively on your kitchen counter and in the refrigerator.
I did do my normal deep dive on How To Make Cream Cheese!
My first step was to hit up my Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions book. It's always my first Go-To. Then I scoured the web to see what others were recommending!
My requirements -
It had to be made with raw milk and raw cream, which meant no heating.
It had to be a simple process without any fancy equipment or fancy steps! What this meant to me was that my existing mason jars could be utilized.
In my search, I came upon Jill Winger's site. In fact, it was this recipe that introduced me to her recipes.
Honestly, the steps are pretty similar to Sally's Nourishing Traditions recipe, but I guess Jill's way of talking about it seemed more accessible to me or maybe I was just ready. Either way, I adapted her approach.
If you enjoy cream cheese in all sorts of food - like we do!
And you're concerned about the food additives that are permitted in our food, like we are, then adding this to your 'Getting Started" routine will help to eliminate exposure to these toxins, while also getting a 'two thumbs up' praise from your kids.
I hope you'll give it a try.
Comments