I have made my first batch of cream cheese as the first stage of Gavin's "Boursin" herb and garlic cream cheese recipe and wondered what yield I should expect after draining since it looked less to the eye than Gavin obtained.
I used 2L or 3.5 pints of pasteurised, unhomogenised, non-standardised whole milk and 1 cup of creme fraiche I had just made with unthickened cream with Meso Aroma B.
After heating the milk and creme fraiche to 45C and adding 1/3 cup of lemon juice and 1/4 tsp rennet in 1/4 cup non-chlorinated water I let it stand for 40 minutes. The temperature did drop to around 35C during this time.
The curd was extremely fragile as Gavin warned but it did have a small grainy structure. I ladled it carefully into butter muslin but it was very loose.
After 2h30 of draining my final yield of cream cheese was 440g or one pound. The whey which I collected had visible fat on the top, looked pretty milky but did not have any visible solids settled on the bottom so I guess the muslin did catch all solids.
Since it looked like about two thirds of what Gavin obtained I cut back the whipped cream to 2/3, initially reduced the salt to 2tsp then upped it to the full 1tbsp but cut the herbs back to 2/3 and left it there.
What would you expect my cream cheese yield to be at the point where it had drained given that recipe?
For reference his video that I followed is here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Awi6NExCBE (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Awi6NExCBE)
Is the yield mentioned in the Wiki still considered accurate?
Wiki : https://cheeseforum.org/articles/wiki-milk-cheese-yield/ (https://cheeseforum.org/articles/wiki-milk-cheese-yield/)
It suggests that for 3L of milk, 620g is normally expected in which case my 2L + 1 cup of cream giving 440g does seem about right.
It just gave the appearance of a lower yield than Gavin demonstrated. Perhaps the curds were more dense after draining?
Yield is extremely variable, dependant on the specific animal (protein and butterfat %, kappa casein type, stage of lactation, etc), type of pasteurization, age of milk...
That recipe is not a traditional cream cheese style (which I would expect to be cultured) so I'm not surprised your yield was lower (an acidified cream cheese would produce a more delicate curd that is going to leak hrough the cheesecloth).
Using farm-fresh low-temp pasteurized milk from high component cows will produce a substantially higher yield. I'm getting about 2.5-3#/gallon for soft cheeses from Jerseys.
Thank you for the confirmation. Given the recipe I think our yield for a well-drained acidified cream cheese was about expected then.
I have just un-moulded the two cheeses and the final weights were 280g each so 560g total. They are very firm and much less saggy than Gavin showed. I am actually glad I cut the herbs and garlic back because the flavour is more delicate. I will post victory pictures tomorrow in daylight as it is dark and rainy here at the moment.
We are lucky to have a small local farm that sells their own low pasteurised milk from some very high welfare pedigree Ayrshire cows. I have asked for guidance on the fat content of their "Gold" milk which is from their small 100% grass fed and calf at foot herd as well as the more typical Whole and Semi from nearby small organic farms they are supporting and sharing bottling equipment with.
Daniel, not about the yield, but I tried Gavin's boursin recipe and found the raw garlic much too assertive as well (and I like garlic). Next time I'll poach the cloves in a little milk and cream first.
Apart from the three cloves in the milk, I ended up using one medium clove minced so fortunately I dodged that one.