Just Another Meatless Monday--Kefir Cheese

Kefir cheese, if you LOVE Kefir, you'll love the super tangy cream cheese made with it. Now I like Kefir so my reaction was "WHOA that is....TANGY whooo!" Basically you make Kefir and then drain all the whey off of it. Keep draining, draining, draining and then after about 24 hours ¡voila! Kefir Cheese! I can see this being served as a super ramped up probiotic spread for bagels, or tucked into celery sticks or even served with crackers. It is good, but very strongly flavored, you've been warned.

To make kefir cheese you will need about 4 cups of kefir, a jelly bag or cheese cloth, a strainer and a bowl. Wet the jelly bag or the cheese cloth and pour the kefir into the jelly bag and hang to drain the whey off over a bowl and strainer.  Later when it's hung for a while lay it in the strainer over the bowl and put it in the fridge over night. If using cheese cloth, simply line the strainer with the cheese cloth and pour the kefir over it, tie in a knot with some string and hang to drain. Drain over the strainer and bowl combo just in case it slips and drops, the strainer will catch it and not the bowl full of whey. Finishing draining the cheese cloth wrapped kefir in the fridge, same as the jelly bag. Once all the whey is drained off scoop the cheese into a bowl and mix in a bit of salt, add herbs if you like and get to munching your probiotic cheese!

Here's a great list of what to do with the whey after you've drained it off the cheese. Proceed with caution, I've only tried a few of these but the list is interesting!

Peace and Love--