You CAN make your own yogurt and cream cheese, and it is NOT hard! You don’t have to have any fancy equipment (and when you see my pictures, you’ll believe it!).
Not only will this save you money, you’ll have yogurt and cream cheese that is VERY good for you!
(Okay, here’s my quick soap box: The yogurt you buy from the store is bragged about as being soooo good for you, but most of it is filled with artificial flavors, food coloring and high fructose corn syrup. And those things are soooo not good for you.)
Try making this yogurt, then add your own fruit, sweetener (I recommend stevia or agave nectar) and a touch of vanilla. YUM!
Here’s what you need to do to make yogurt:
1-2 quarts of whole milk (I use unpasturized milk from a farming friend)
3/4 cup plain yogurt
Pour the yogurt into a quart jar (using a glass container is important). Heat the milk on the stove in a saucepan until it is just under 100 degrees.
Pour the milk over the yogurt in the jar and shake.
Place the jar into a cooler of hot water, cover and leave in the cooler for seven hours.
There, you just made yogurt!
Now, you can eat the yogurt as I mentioned before, or you can take your yogurt and make cream cheese (and impress the socks off of someone!).
So, to make cream cheese, line a strainer with a tea towel. Pour the yogurt into the tea towel.
You need to secure the tea towel full of yogurt and hang it for 7-10 hours (I usually do this overnight) so that the whey can drip off. I’m sure there must be a more impressive way to hang your yogurt, but what we’ve come up with works just fine!
Here are the secrets to my effective cream cheese-hanging-whey-dripping process (I know, you’re on the edge of your chair!):
I fold over the top of the tea towel and hold it closed with a couple of rubber bands. Then, I use several more rubber bands to attach a long wooden spoon to the wadded up tea towel. Then, I use a rope to dangle the tea towel from a cabinet door. And, of course I leave a bowl under the whole contraption so that whey doesn’t drip all over the floor (because then, my process would not be nearly as cute).
Then, after you can tell that the whey has all separated from the cream cheese (you can tell it’s finished if it isn’t dripping any more), then you pull the whole thing down and scrape the cream cheese into a jar. And that’s it. It is so simple.
Sure, you can tell people that it took you hours and hours to make yogurt and cream cheese (because technically it DID take hours to make), but the part you actually played in it took about 10 minutes.
Enjoy!
Go to Biblical Womanhood for more Frugal Friday tips!
Christy says:
you always have the greatest ideas!! I’ve been wanting to try and make yogurt…by following your directions, I may try it! You’ve made it sound so easy!!! If I try it, I’ll let you know how it turns out…if I can make it…anyone can
Have a blessed day!!!!
January 25th, 2008 at 8:28 am
Suezque says:
I may just have to try this! I still have some plain yogurt left over from making pizza crust the other night! Does the cream cheese taste similar to the store-bought stuff???
January 25th, 2008 at 9:31 am
Laura says:
The cream cheese tastes similar, but not exactly like store bought. I personally think it tastes better!
January 25th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Kristy Howard says:
Laura, what wonderful tips… I am always anxious to try my hand at making something at home that I usually buy at the store… I can’t wait to give the yogurt and cream cheese a try!
~Kristy
Homemaker’s Cottage
January 25th, 2008 at 9:57 am
jayme says:
I am totally impressed. Where do you find your glass jars with plastic lids?
January 25th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Laura says:
I order my 1/2 gallon jars through my health food co-op: Azure Standard. I also order my lids from them but I have also found them at Wal-mart.
January 25th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Rebecca says:
That’s awesome! I have never thought of using a cooler filled with hot water, I have always used the oven with the light left on.
We buy Miller’s Northern Light raw honey from our local health food grocery just for the jars. They are glass jars with plastic lids and stay closed so well my hero can even take them in his bag to work.
January 25th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Char says:
You totally make it look easy. So, do you use store bought plain yogurt to start the process? And what’s the best way to add sweetner and/or fruit to the yogurt? How long does it all last? (I know, I’m a dolt, but if I buy something from the store, it has a date on it. What’s the basic rule of thumb for how long yogurt keeps?) Sorry for all the questions - maybe you just need to do a follow-up post just for Char??
January 25th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Suzof7 says:
I have done both - it is easy. I only made cream cheese once though, because I needed the whey for sauerkraut. I really should do it again because the cream cheese made the most outstading spread EVER. I mixed in a variety of fresh herbs from my friend’s organic garden, along with some minced fresh garlic and seasonings. Talk about delish! We had it over baguette slices.
January 25th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Lora says:
Thanks for stopping by my blog. I hope you enjoy the recipes….I had no idea that you could make yogurt so easily! I’ve got to try that. Thanks for the tips!
January 25th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Melissa says:
I used to make yogurt all the time, but the cost really didn’t come out any less expensive for me than buying a big container of plain yogurt at the store. Maybe because I was using organic milk and yogurt, but avoiding all of the additives was the reason I was making yogurt in the first place…
I don’t have a local source of milk like you do, do you really think it’s a cost savings if you have to purchase everything commercially?
January 25th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Laura says:
Melissa - Great question! Overall, it probably doesn’t save tons, but when I make it myself, I know EXACTLY what’s in it and where it came from. And so for me, whether or not it saves lots of money or not, it saves peace of mind.
January 25th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Lyn says:
Laura, do you think it is possible to make this with soy or rice milk due to allergy?
January 27th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Laura says:
I’ve never read anything about rice or soy milk…so I don’t know. I doubt it. Hmmmm
January 27th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Donna says:
Laura,
I see one idea here, but what else can be done with the whey?!?!?!
-Donna-
February 21st, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Laura says:
Whey can be used as a preservative in fermenting vegetables (like sauerkraut), put into soups for added nutrition, or poured onto a garden to nourish the soil.
You can also heat it to 200 degrees and “pull” ricotta cheese out of it.
There are other uses…those are the ones that I know of off hand and have used myself!
February 21st, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Donna says:
Please tell me more about the pulling ricotta…..that would be a great blessing as it is an “extra” on most budgets, but wonderful in lasagna!!!!
This is very exciting…… what fun!
-Donna-
February 22nd, 2008 at 1:09 am
Donna says:
Laura,
Do you make buttermilk? and if you do, can U tell me what’s going on with mine….its getting too thick? Its almost gooey!
June 11th, 2008 at 12:44 am
Kendra says:
I love ricotta! Please explain how you do that. When you make your yogurt, can you save some of the homemade yogurt to make the next batch?
July 11th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Margo says:
Laura,
How thick is your yogurt?? I have tried a couple of different ways to make it, but it always seems SO runny! It does, however, still make great cream cheese and whey. I use the whey to soak all my beans, rice, and oats! Please help me…I’m just wondering what I am doing wrong! Thanks!!
August 22nd, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Becky says:
Have you ever tried adding flavors to your cream cheese? Like strawberry or blueberry? If so, what form of the fruit do you use, and what do you use to mix it?
November 30th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
Fran says:
How is that you made yogurt with milk and yogurt?Did I miss some?
December 14th, 2008 at 7:44 pm