Tom's Cheese #2 - Cream Cheese #1

[Tom Turophile]

Tom's Cheese #2 Cream Cheese #1

This is my second cheese -- cream cheese with the uncooked curd method, per Ricki's recipe.

2 quarts of half and half, pasteurized, Whole Foods
1 pkg direct-set mesophilic starter

I let that sit at room temp (71) for 14 hours -- 2 more than in the recipe, because I wasn't getting a clean break (wasn't sure if I was supposed to, anyway).  As I poured it into the muslin, I saw that I had a very solid curd, so I wasn't concerned.

It hung for 24 hours, and the consistency is great.  However, it has a slight sour taste to it, almost of yogurt.  I'm not sure if I can pass it off as cream cheese, honestly.  Maybe as Greek yogurt.

Yield: 1 lb 11 oz

[Cheese Head]

Tom

Sounds great, you could give it more time to get stronger flavour. Also, when hanging, I spoon off filter cake off of walls of draining bag to help get middle moister curds to drain better to result in dryer Cream Cheese.

You would get faster lactic acid growth from your package if you were at warmer temperature than 71F which is a little cool, maybe you could find a warmer place to hang it? The trick is to get the lactic acid to multiply and dominate quickly rather than any bad microorganisms.

Also, I bought Half and Half (Amercan name, half milk/half cream) from local stores and could only find Ultra-Pasteurized Half & Half. UP means basically half dead, so it will take longer than if using Pasteurized or raw milk to multiply the bacteria.

[Tom Turophile]

The half and half was from Whole Foods -- so it was just pasteurized (the same source for my successful mozzarella).

It was a success -- my wife, pickier about sourness, thought it tasted just right, and it was incredibly creamy.  I did happen to replace the muslin once (removed, cleaned, reused).

The only problem is that I added too much salt.  I'll be adding some flavors this week, which will help.

[MrsKK]

It is nice when you start out thinking that something isn't turning out right, then have someone give you the feedback that it really turned out quite good.

I have raw milk and cream available to me and have discovered that when they get older (about a week to ten days old), they'll start tasting a bit off.  When I culture them, though, the flavor improves and it turns into good sour cream or Neufchatel, dependent upon what I'm making.

I've been disappointed when I've oversalted cheeses, too.  Salty cream cheese works well for cooking.  I now use a lighter hand.

[Tom Turophile]

Yes, it's great to have a second opinion, because if I cook something, I'll eat it, even if it isn't right   Secondly, I'm serving this to others later this week.  I think I'm going to make another batch (it's easy enough).  I'll be serving it along with my house-cured salmon.  Now there, salt is my friend...

I've got to go back and check the salt I used; I suspect it was with iodine.  I know this is a no-no, as it kills cultures, but it was the salt flavor that was not only a bit too strong, but a...wrong.  Just too salt-forward (yeah, tough to describe!).  I'll have to use my cheese salt this time (and slowly).

[MrsKK]

I've been using kosher salt for almost everything, so when I go out to eat and end up using iodized salt on my food, I can taste the iodine.  I know what you mean.