Home cooking with buttermilk adds a delicious buttermilk tang to otherwise bland dishes, making ordinary food mouth-watering. Some foods like homemade cream cheese are especially delicious when made from scratch in your own kitchen with fresh buttermilk. For the best homemade cream cheese ever, try this recipe made with our live, active buttermilk starter culture (available here.)
Warning! Once you've tried this buttermilk cream cheese recipe because it’s so good, commercial cream cheese may never hold appeal again!
Buttermilk Cream Cheese
To make this recipe, you'll need the following:
Equipment:
2-quart (1920 ml) saucepan
Cooking thermometer
Yogurt strainer or muslin cloth and colander for straining
Electric mixer or wire whisk.
Ingredients:
2 cups (480 ml) of water
1 quart (960 ml) of whole pasteurized milk
1 cup (240 ml) of heavy whipping cream
¼ cup (60 ml) of buttermilk starter
1/8 tsp (0,65 ml) of liquid rennet
¼ tsp (1,25 ml) of sea salt, or less
Instructions:
1. Bring buttermilk starter to room temperature.
2. Heat milk to 80F (26,5 C.) in 2-quart saucepan.
3. Add buttermilk starter and stir well.
4. Dilute 1/8 tsp (0,65 ml) of rennet in ¼ cup (60 ml) of water and add 1 tsp (5 ml) of solution to buttermilk, stir well for several minutes.
5. Cover saucepan and leave at 70-79F (21-26 C.) until set in about 5-6 hours.
6. Gently cut custard curd into 1-inch (2,5 cm) cubes with sharp knife.
7. Heat water to 170 F (76 C.) and slowly stir into saucepan then slowly heat this to 125 F. (51 C.) stirring gently until thoroughly heated.
8. Pour curd into muslin lined colander. Lift four corners and hang over sink for several hours until most whey is drained, or use a yogurt strainer.
9. When well drained, put curd into mixing bowl, add sea salt, sparingly and beat (200 strokes with wire whisk) until smooth and creamy.
10. Press into small container and cover. Chill before serving.
Our next recipe is for delicious homemade sour cream made with Fermented Treasures’ buttermilk starter culture. No need to buy expensive store bought sour cream when, with our buttermilk starter, it’s so easy to make sour cream at home. Our buttermilk starter makes sour cream that is rich and creamy with a very pleasant sour taste that you’re sure to relish!
Buttermilk Sour Cream:
In a pint (480 ml) Mason jar add two tablespoons (30 ml) of fresh buttermilk starter culture to one cup (240 ml) of half and half light cream. Stir well. Cover and let rest on kitchen counter out of direct sunlight until set in about 12-18 hours at approximately 75 degrees F (24 C.). Refrigerate when set. Served chilled.
For a really easy cottage cheese recipe make buttermilk cottage cheese in a jar! Not only is the cottage cheese easy to make, it tastes great too! You’ll need the following to make one cup of homemade cottage cheese:
Buttermilk Cottage Cheese:
Equipment:
4 pint sized (480 ml) Mason jars
1 large saucepan with cover
Ingredients:
One quart (960 ml) of freshly made buttermilk made with Fermented Treasures’ buttermilk starter and pasteurized whole milk.
Instructions:
Pour buttermilk equally into Mason jars and seal tightly. Place into saucepan and fill with water, bring to a simmer or gentle boil. Simmer 30 minutes. Do not allow curds to compact. Remove jars from water and gently swirl from time to time during the 30-minute simmer being careful not to turn the curds to mush. Remove from heat, cover saucepan with lid and set aside to cure for 18 hours. Pour curds into colander and drain off whey. Place curds in bowl and stir in just enough cream or buttermilk to moisten. Salt to taste. Store in covered container and chill. Yields one cup. Also see Crème Fraiche.
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