Homemade cream cheese?
#10
  Re: (...)
One thing I would like to make for sale to the café is Cheesecake - especially Passionfruit Cheesecake. Cream cheese (or queso filadelfia, as they call it here), however, is not cheap, and in order to make my price to them low enough that they would still be able to make a profit from selling to the public at an affordable price, I would not be able to have much of a profit margin of my own. If I could get cream cheese for a better price, I would be more inclined to make cheesecake, and other similar treats.

Through some googling, I have found a few recipes for making homemade cream cheese, and they sound promising. From what I could see, there were three types, based upon the coagulant: buttermilk, vinegar (sometimes with lemon juice), or rennet.

Rennet is definitely not easily available here, and neither is buttermilk. In fact, if I had to use buttermilk for a recipe, I would have to use the milk-plus-vinegar/lemon-juice substitution anyway.

That leaves me with using vinegar and/or lemon juice, so that is the only recipe I will post:

INGREDIENTS:
  • 1 quart fresh milk
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 2 tablespoons white vinegar
INSTRUCTIONS:
  1. Bring milk and salt very slowly to the boil.
  2. Remove from heat and stir in white vinegar.
  3. Leave to cool.
  4. When cool pour mixture into a muslin bag and allow to drip.
(Source: RecipeZaar)

Now my question: have any of you ever actually TRIED something like this? If so, what were your experiences? Were the results any good? Was it good enough to use for cheesecake? Do you have any other suggestions (other than ricotta, which is not quite the same, or mascarpone, which costs more than the cream cheese)?

Thanks!
If blueberry muffins have blueberries in them, what do vegan muffins have?
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#11
  Re: Homemade cream cheese? by labradors (One thing I would li...)
This reminds me of the 8 years I spent among Venezuela, Panama and Ecuador in the 80's. If you can befriend someone from the embassy or with access to the commisarry (sp?) you might get access. We knew a fellow who would buy items brought in by flight crews, but I never made any cream cheese myself.
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#12
  Re: Re: Homemade cream cheese? by lxxf (This reminds me of t...)
Labs, can't reach my recipes but have several for homemade cream cheese to compare with yours...will get back with you later to compare them.....
Vive Bene! Spesso L'Amore! Di Risata Molto!

Buon Appetito!

Linda
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#13
  Re: Re: Homemade cream cheese? by lxxf (This reminds me of t...)
Quote:

If you can befriend someone from the embassy or with access to the commisarry (sp?) you might get access.



The embassy is an 8.5-hour bus ride away. Even the nearest, bigger city is 2.5 hours. The point, here, is to make it easier and less expensive! LOL!

It's not that cream cheese is not available in the stores - only that the price is so high that the finished cheesecake would be too expensive to sell at an accessible price AND still make a profit. Homemade cream cheese, if it would work, would make the prices work out okay.
If blueberry muffins have blueberries in them, what do vegan muffins have?
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#14
  Re: Re: Homemade cream cheese? by labradors ([blockquote]Quote:[h...)
I've not tried making it, but sounds like something to play with - hmmmm, I'll have to check out a couple of my cookbooks that might have an idea about this.

Anxious to see what Linda comes up with also.
Retired and having fun writing cookbooks, tasting wine and sharing recipes with all my friends.
www.achefsjourney.com
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#15
  Re: Homemade cream cheese? by labradors (One thing I would li...)
OK, Labradors, got all the info out on the cheese making and here's what I have made in the past and just some general info.

The recipes I have, one is almost verbatim as the one you posted, but with a "strict" cautionary warning to only use WHITE vinegar...no other type and NO lemon juice as it is not "strong" enough (not acidic enough) to give you the tight, dense curd you want with cream cheese. You stated, however, that you found recipes with lemon juice. I don't know about those...with all the cheesemaking I've done, for cream cheese, I would steer away from that one. I've made enough cheese to know that with lemon juice you will end up with an extremely soft curd, actually, pretty darn close to ricotta, and that is NOT what you are looking for, if I understand you correctly. I'd stick with the vinegar alone right now, Labs, until you can get your hands on some rennet. That would be your best bet for now.

Light bulb: Since you know some farmers around there, and what you said about throwing in the rennet, etc., perhaps they would have some there for you, even if for now it is the liquid. At least it would get you started, and started on an inexpensive course. And hopefully that would be enough to last you until you have a US visitor who can bring you the dry. For you, in your situation, I would stick with the dry. Especially as a new-comer to cheesemaking. You don't have to worry about spills, spoilage, etc. And you don't need much of it. The most I've ever seen in a cheese recipe is 1/4 teaspoon. Not much. Have also seen 1 DROP, from one of those medicine droppers. Again, not much!

I also have recipes which call for buttermilk.

And then there are the ones with rennet. If you can get your hands on that, those recipes are good ones. The purpose of rennet in a recipe is that it gives you that "tang" that cream cheese is known for, as well as a few others. You will not get that with the cheese made with the vinegar, but, since you would be making a cheesecake with it, that probably wouldn't matter much anyway, having tossed in the eggs, sugar, etc. One question I would have is about the cheesecake recipe you would be using. Does it contain any sour cream at all? If so, you would recoup some of that tang from the sour cream. Some people, however, don't even know about the tang, hence, don't miss it.

I looked at the cheesecake recipes I use with the homemade cream cheese and they are no different from those recipes made with the commercially produced cr. cheese.

I do have a recipe, which I have made, for a "NO COOK" cream cheese, and that takes about 12 hours to make with 3 minutes active time and the 12 hours to "set". Can't get any easier than that! It also has a greater yield, 16 ounces vs. the 8 that most other recipes call for. This recipe, however, requires a "starter", as you would do with making yogurt. Once you have the starter, however, as like the yogurt, you can continue to carry it over. It's the most cost efficient in several ways...the overall cost and the yield are the two greatest . If you are interested in that one, let me know and will post it and give you the source for obtaining the starter. You may have to bite the bullet on the starter for the first time but then again, if you can order it and have it shipped to whomever it is that will be visiting you, they can bring it to you. You'll just have to wait for them. That recipe is our favorite. It has the best taste. And when my boys were younger, it was something they could make because there is no heat, no stove involved anywhere.

Then there is another that IS cooked, has the rennet, but also gives you the larger yield. That is another 12 hour cheese.

Also have recipes for a French style cream cheese, which is creamier and sweeter. The other is for that Neufchatel (?sp).

If you are interested in any of these recipes, let me know and will post them. Other than that, that is all I have to offer.

Hummm...another light bulb...just wondering about those refrigerator cakes and what they call for! Don't know if you read that thread, but I found a book that is entirely "refrigerator cakes". There were any number of recipes for cheesecakes but I never did read thru the recipes. I do know that there was a passion fruit (LOVE, love, love passion fruit!!!) something or another. I'll pull that out and take a look and see what thosoe call for. Might be worth a try, eh?

Will get back with you on that.

Hope this helps, Labradors!
Vive Bene! Spesso L'Amore! Di Risata Molto!

Buon Appetito!

Linda
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#16
  Re: Re: Homemade cream cheese? by MUSICMAKER (OK, Labradors, got a...)
Labradors, checked out the cheesecake recipes in the icebox cakes recipe book and they all have the same "base", that being 1-1/2 cups of heavy cream, 1 envelope of unflavored gelatin, 8 ounces of cream cheese, and sugar, and then those ingredients which make the particular cake unique. The only "bonus" of these would be the no baking concept to these cakes. If you are interested in any recipes let me know!
Vive Bene! Spesso L'Amore! Di Risata Molto!

Buon Appetito!

Linda
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#17
  Re: Re: Homemade cream cheese? by MUSICMAKER (OK, Labradors, got a...)
Quote:

The recipes I have, one is almost verbatim as the one you posted, but with a "strict" cautionary warning to only use WHITE vinegar...no other type and NO lemon juice as it is not "strong" enough (not acidic enough) to give you the tight, dense curd you want with cream cheese. You stated, however, that you found recipes with lemon juice.



Actually, I did not find any recipes that called for ONLY lemon juice. Instead, if you follow the link I posted for the source of the recipe in my message, and read the comments, some of the people said they had ADDED lemon juice to make the cheese tangier.
Quote:

I don't know about those...with all the cheesemaking I've done, for cream cheese, I would steer away from that one. I've made enough cheese to know that with lemon juice you will end up with an extremely soft curd, actually, pretty darn close to ricotta, and that is NOT what you are looking for, if I understand you correctly. I'd stick with the vinegar alone right now, Labs, until you can get your hands on some rennet. That would be your best bet for now.



Well, too late. For some reason, your detailed message didn't show up as a new message when I checked the forum - probably due to the number of times the power or Internet went out here, yesterday, so I just went ahead with the recipe I posted but added two tablespoons of lemon juice, based upon some of those comments. The results ARE pretty much like ricotta - a dry ricotta. It doesn't taste bad - actually, it's quite good, though still not tangy, despite what some of those comments said.

Of course, the lemon juice could have been one factor, but I wonder if I may have wrung it out too much, as well. I'll try again with JUST the vinegar called for by the recipe, and see what happens.

Side note about local lemons: With all the things we DON'T have here, we certainly have a lot of good produce. Since the temperature here doesn't get low enough for long enough, the lemons are rarely yellow, but usually green, even though they are NOT limes. They are also very large, and it only takes THREE lemons to get a full cup of lemon juice! Needless to say, I make lots of incredible lemonade.

Quote:

Light bulb: Since you know some farmers around there, and what you said about throwing in the rennet, etc., perhaps they would have some there for you, even if for now it is the liquid.



I dont actually KNOW these people, but was only repeating what I had HEARD they do. They are not immediately local, though there are a couple of cheese shops (shacks, actually) where I may be able to ask. Also, the reference to "throwing in the rennet" had nothing to do with the liquid. Specifically, it was "throwing in a PIECE of rennet." In other words, they are using a piece of the dried intestines directly, not anything they have purchased from a "cheesemaking website." In particular, one article said:
Quote:

A piece of cuajo is added to the milk. This separates it into curds and whey, similar to cottage cheese. The whey is pressed out. The curds are mixed with salt to make the soft cuajada cheese which is used in cooking or spread on breads, rosquillas and tortillas.

To turn cuajada into cheese, it is placed in a mold with weights to press out even more of the whey. More salt is added. This salty kind of cheese is a popular side dish for breakfast.


(Source: Honduras this Week - about 1/4 of the way down the page.)

The "ricotta"-like result that I got was actually very similar to the "cuajada cheese" mentioned in the article.

Important note: The recipe I used calls for "fresh milk." The only milk I have available here, without going out of town, is pasteurised milk, ultra-pasteurised milk, or powdered milk. Powdered and ultra-pasteurised milks are not supposed to be good for this, so all I could use was pasteurised milk. If "fresh milk" is supposed to mean UNpasteurised milk, and that is all that can be used for any of the recipes, then I may as well give up now, since the process and cost of GETTING unpasteurised milk will outweigh any benefit of making homemade cheese, anyway.

Quote:

One question I would have is about the cheesecake recipe you would be using. Does it contain any sour cream at all?


No. I use the "Lindy's Famous Cheesecake" recipe. Apart from a few special recipes in a couple of magazines (e.g. for pumpkin cheesecake, etc.), that is the ONLY cheesecake recipe that we have found consistently to give the best texture AND flavour. Many of the other "cheesecake" recipes are what I would call "cheese pies," not cakes - and don't even get me started on "no-bake" cheesecakes.

Until just the last couple of months, sour cream was almost completely unheard of here. Now, it IS available, but only as an expensive import. The locals don't use it, but use a kind of cream, instead, but a discussion of that would be enough for another full message thread. On a different note, interestingly enough, one store even has imported mascarpone, but it is very expensive, of course.

Quote:

I do have a recipe, which I have made, for a "NO COOK" cream cheese, and that takes about 12 hours to make with 3 minutes active time and the 12 hours to "set".
...
Then there is another that IS cooked, has the rennet, but also gives you the larger yield.
...
If you are interested in any of these recipes, let me know and will post them.



Yes, please. It would be good for me to know all my options. I greatly appreciate all your time and assistance.

Quote:

This recipe, however, requires a "starter", as you would do with making yogurt.



Often, "starters" are just pieces of the product one wishes to make. Would it be possible to use some packaged cream cheese as a "starter"? It may be difficult to have someone bring the starter down, since soft cheeses are usually not allowed unless coming in through actual importers who go through all kinds of special procedures. In addition, it could be something that has to be refrigerated - I don't know.
Quote:

Hummm...another light bulb...just wondering about those refrigerator cakes and what they call for! Don't know if you read that thread, but I found a book that is entirely "refrigerator cakes".



Just not the same. Whenever I have (or someone else has) made "refrigerator" or "no-bake" cheesecakes, people have generally responded, "gee, that was tasty," but when I make the Lindy's cheesecake, people have raved over it, asked for the recipe, etc. - often commenting on how much better they thought it was over "those other, gooey things." No. The Lindy's recipe is here to stay, and the only modification I make to it is when I make it with passionfruit. Then, I purée the passionfruit (pulp AND seeds - the seeds give it a little crunch, but it's good), and use one cup of the purée in place of the quarter cup of heavy cream. Otherwise, the recipe is identical.

Thanks again and again and again!
If blueberry muffins have blueberries in them, what do vegan muffins have?
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#18
  Re: Re: Homemade cream cheese? by labradors ([blockquote]Quote:[h...)

My oh my, Lab, I'm dizzy reading your last post. How do you keep it all straight??

Do you have kids? I swear I lost part of my brain raising my kids

PJ

Very good information, all around!
PJ
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