My first veggie cream cheese

[GlennK]

I used the recipe from CF:

1/2 gal 2% Dean's milk
1/4 tab rennet dissolved in 1/4 cup filtered water
1/2 packet mesophilic starter.  (probably a little more, it was hard to be exact)
1 packet Lipton Vegetable Soup mix (peas removed )

1.  Heated milk to 72 degrees.
2.  Added rennet & starter
3.  Ripened for 20 hours on kitchen counter. Room temp around 70 degrees. (It smelled like yogurt at this point.)
4.  Strained in cheese cloth lined colander for 10 minutes.
5.  Drained for 12 more hours in cheese cloth.  Recipe called for 8 hours but it seemed too moist, so I went longer.
6.  Added the soup mix.  It has nice, creamy texture, but it has slightly sour taste which reminds me of sour cream.  I'll see how it tastes after some refrigeration.

[GlennK]

From reading other posts it seems that ripening it for 20 hours contributed to it's slightly sour taste.   Is there a way I can tell when a good time to start draining is instead of just picking an arbitrary time - like 8 hours?

[dthelmers]

Glenn,
When I want a less sour taste in my cream cheese, I put in a little bit of salt after draining, but before hanging. That is, I drain for an hour or so in the cheesecloth lined colander, then add some salt and stir it in, then tie the cloth with a stilton knot and hang it for at least overnight. I salt at this time when I'm going to use this for a dessert. If I'm going to use it for a savory spread, I don't salt until after it's completely drained, and let the flavor develop nice and strong. I use MM100 or Flora Danica.

[DustinBlodgett]

I'm planning to make this cream cheese this afternoon and will follow Glenn's recipe.  It will be my first attempt at cream cheese.  I have a Mesophilic-M culture (this one --> http://www.leeners.com/cheese/store/1416.shtml) that I will be using.  I'm wondering if 1/8 teaspoon will be right for this volume (1/2 gal) of milk?  Any suggestions?

And, Dave, by "some salt" do you mean a teaspoon, a tablespoon, a pinch?? It's probably obvious, but since I'm new to this I'm still trying to get my volumes/measurements down pat.  Thanks for the help.  And Glenn, that last pic of the cheese in the container is what sold me on your recipe. Looks delicious.

[GlennK]

I'm planning to make this cream cheese this afternoon and will follow Glenn's recipe.  It will be my first attempt at cream cheese.  I have a Mesophilic-M culture (this one --> http://www.leeners.com/cheese/store/1416.shtml) that I will be using.  I'm wondering if 1/8 teaspoon will be right for this volume (1/2 gal) of milk?  Any suggestions?

And, Dave, by "some salt" do you mean a teaspoon, a tablespoon, a pinch?? It's probably obvious, but since I'm new to this I'm still trying to get my volumes/measurements down pat.  Thanks for the help.  And Glenn, that last pic of the cheese in the container is what sold me on your recipe. Looks delicious.

Good cheesemaking!  Come back and tell us how it was when finished.  I had mine this morning on a bagel and it was delicious!!

[dthelmers]

I'm planning to make this cream cheese this afternoon and will follow Glenn's recipe.  It will be my first attempt at cream cheese.  I have a Mesophilic-M culture (this one --> http://www.leeners.com/cheese/store/1416.shtml) that I will be using.  I'm wondering if 1/8 teaspoon will be right for this volume (1/2 gal) of milk?  Any suggestions?

And, Dave, by "some salt" do you mean a teaspoon, a tablespoon, a pinch?? It's probably obvious, but since I'm new to this I'm still trying to get my volumes/measurements down pat.  Thanks for the help.  And Glenn, that last pic of the cheese in the container is what sold me on your recipe. Looks delicious.

Salt to taste. I use a scant 1/2 teaspoon for a one gallon batch. 1/8 teaspoon of culture is what I use for a full gallon.

[DustinBlodgett]

Great! Thanks Dave.  I think I will do a gallon make, since they only had gallons of 2% in the brand I wanted to use at the store.  I'm disinfecting my equipment now (steam bath) and will start the make this afternoon.  Thanks for the help fellas.

[DustinBlodgett]

Glenn, does your cream cheese still have the sour cream taste you described in your opening post? Mine is still draining, but I tasted it an hour ago and it has that same taste you described.  I'm wondering if yours went away after some refrigeration and time with the soup mix? I will be salting mine later tonight and storing in the fridge.  I haven't decided what to mix into it, maybe chives or some other herb. 

My make went well. I slightly overheated the milk by accident so I had to wait for it to come back down to temp. Also I placed the vat in a water bath in a beverage cooler over night since our house gets down to 58 or 60 at night, and it didn't retain the heat like I wanted.  I woke up to a curd at 68*F.  Oh well.  Otherwise, everything has gone well so far.  I may post a separate thread about it with the pics I took.  Keep an eye out for it.  Thanks to you and Dave for the help. 

[GlennK]

Glenn, does your cream cheese still have the sour cream taste you described in your opening post? Mine is still draining, but I tasted it an hour ago and it has that same taste you described.  I'm wondering if yours went away after some refrigeration and time with the soup mix? I will be salting mine later tonight and storing in the fridge.  I haven't decided what to mix into it, maybe chives or some other herb. 

My make went well. I slightly overheated the milk by accident so I had to wait for it to come back down to temp. Also I placed the vat in a water bath in a beverage cooler over night since our house gets down to 58 or 60 at night, and it didn't retain the heat like I wanted.  I woke up to a curd at 68*F.  Oh well.  Otherwise, everything has gone well so far.  I may post a separate thread about it with the pics I took.  Keep an eye out for it.  Thanks to you and Dave for the help.

The sour taste went away after a day or so.  I've been eating it all week and it's been good.  I did the same thing by overheating it, but I stuck it outside in a snow bank until the temp came down.

[Tomer1]

From reading other posts it seems that ripening it for 20 hours contributed to it's slightly sour taste.   Is there a way I can tell when a good time to start draining is instead of just picking an arbitrary time - like 8 hours?

I really havent noticed any significat decrease in PH, at the point of draining (4.6-4.7) most of the time the bacteria have maxed out its acidification.

[DustinBlodgett]

Glenn,

You're right! The sourness went away. It is day 2 of the cream cheese being in the fridge and it tastes great!  Still a little stronger than your typical Philly cream cheese, but very good.  I had it on a bagel this morning with a little lingonberry preserves on top and it was fantastic.  It made quite a bit so I gave some to my mother-in-law and will bring some into work to share this weekend.  Thanks for all the help from everyone. 

[GlennK]

Glenn,

You're right! The sourness went away. It is day 2 of the cream cheese being in the fridge and it tastes great!  Still a little stronger than your typical Philly cream cheese, but very good.  I had it on a bagel this morning with a little lingonberry preserves on top and it was fantastic.  It made quite a bit so I gave some to my mother-in-law and will bring some into work to share this weekend.  Thanks for all the help from everyone.

So you kept it plain?  How much did you end up making?  I started off with a 1/2 gallon of milk and had about 1/2 lb of cheese.

[Crystal]

LOL, i had been wondering if anyone else accidently overheats their milk and how they cool it down! I wish we had snow cos that sounds like a brilliant idea!

[DustinBlodgett]

Glenn,

yeah I kept the cheese all plain, but gave several small containers of it away (the in-laws, coworkers, etc.), so I only ended up with a small 8oz container for myself and decided to keep it plain.  Unfortunately, I forgot to weigh how much cheese it produced, but I would guess around a pound or so.  I will need to keep better records next time. I'm pretty happy that everything came out well and actually tasted, smelled and looked like cream cheese.  I will probably make another batch once this first batch is gone, but will likely just do a half gallon batch and experiment with some "flavorings".

Yeah, I'm ashamed to say I did overheat my milk.  I did need to heat it somewhat since our room temp is only about 65 this time of year, but since I'm used to making beer and heating water for quite a while before it's at the right temp, I turned the heat on and walked away and shouldn't have.  Oh well, lesson learned.

[GlennK]

I just finished my second cream cheese.  This time I used Ricki Carroll's fromage blanc starter and one gallon of 2% milk.  Her instructions call for heating the milk to 86(F), adding the packet of culture/rennet, and letting it sit over night.  By this morning it was firm but it never pulled away from the sides of the pot like the last batch I made.  I let it drain for 4 hours.  It turned out creamier than the last batch I made.  I used about 3/4 to make a veggie cream cheese (Lipton vegetable soup mix that I crushed with a rolling pin to make finer) and the rest I'll leave plain.

Question; So in the two batches I've made there is a distinct "tangy" odor while ripening.  DW says it smells like spoiled milk.  Has this happened to you is something wrong?  It sure doesn't taste like something is wrong.