“Cows are my passion. What I have ever sighed for has been to retreat to a Swiss farm, and live entirely surrounded by cows – and china.” —Charles Dickens
I absolutely love dairy products! I love the cold milk, freshly made butter when it is still soft that it feels as if it is melting in your mouth, homemade yogurt topped with fresh fruit and honey, and of course you can’t beat aged cheese served with crackers and a glass of homemade wine.
One of my all-time favorite dairy products is cream cheese because it is so versatile. It can be sweeten to add to a desert recipe or made savory to transform into an appetizer. Cream cheese is also easy to make at home.
Make sour cream.
I make 2 to 4 cups of sour cream at a time, depending on how much I need for the next few weeks. I pour my cream into a saucepan to heat the cream to about 80 F. Meanwhile, I put 1 tablespoon cultured buttermilk per cup of cream I use into a clean, sterilized glass jar. I then pour in the warm cream and stir to mix well. I then screw on the lid and set inside of my oven with just the oven light on. The cream sits in the oven for 24 hours. Afterwards, I place the sour cream into the refrigerator to chill.
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After the sour cream has chilled for 1 day, I line a large bowl with butter muslin and dump the sour cream into the butter muslin. I then tie up the four corners of the butter muslin.
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I then hang the bag from a hook or from a cabinet door handle and let it drip over a bowl for 12 hours or overnight until liquid has completely drained. I feed the drained off liquid to my pigs or I make a delicious whey drink for myself.
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Refrigerate and enjoy your homemade cream cheese!
