Learn how to make Homemade Cream Cheese! Go to foodwishes.blog... for the ingredient amounts, extra information, and many, many more video recipes! I hope you enjoy this easy Homemade Cream Cheese!
I use a 30-70 mix of Himalayan pink / French sea salt crushed by Martha Washington's rolling pin stolen from Mount Vernon. And I only use the finest yak wool cheese cloth from Patagonia. So yeah... I'm better than you, Chef!
Thank you for this! I am an Indian and cheese is really really expensive here as opposed to yogurt which is generally made almost all through the summer in our fridge!
Ronnie B Me too. And the "Halloween Hobo costume." I have to report, sometimes I'm so bored with TV, I just stream Food Wishes endlessly to my tv and watch Chef John just so I can get a good laugh.
I work in the deli department of a grocery store and whenever yogurt "expires" we turn it into cream cheese and use it to make cheesecakes. Works wonderfully!
'This is not something you do because it´s cheaper, or because it´s easier or because it´s quicker. It´s actually like the opposite of those things. You do this one because you HAVE to. Because deep down inside you know your life will not be complete if you haven´t experience the magic that is homemade cream cheese!' That´s... so deep... You totally convinced me. I have to try this one.
It's cheaper if you make your own yogurt first though. All you need is that one expensive high brand yogurt, with live bacterial cultures, and you can make an endless amount of yogurt. Then rinse, repeat using starter that you already have. No, it's not quicker... But in the long run, it is less expensive, and more healthy.
I do make my owen yogaut becase l live on an boat. and by making it the night before, i have yogaut fresh in the morning with my cerial. quite nice. Gerard.
A little late, but you can also take regular whole milk and either lemon juice, lime juice, or vinegar to coagulate it. Simmer the milk, stirring it regularly. Then switch to low heat. Stir in your acid until you get a lot of curds. Strain those out and put them in a food processor with a little salt and whatever flavorings you want, then blend. That's it.
I had a Palestinian friend once tell me that at home they do this a lot, except they dont refrigerate it and they may let it sit for two or three days to ferment. It gets quite sharp and cheese like with a flavor similar to wild hickory nuts. ;)
"You know those marks you get on the back of your thighs when you've been sitting on fishnet stockings for a while?" - Chef John This is the only quote that matters.
Love your videos Chef John! This magical cream cheese is called labne in Lebanon. It's very traditional and every household makes it. It's drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and usually eaten with your choice of fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, mint and of course pita bread. Absolutely delicious, healthy, and loaded with live cultures.
I have been putting labneh on my bagels after curiosity struck and I purchased some because it looked interesting. It's delicious, a bit lighter and easier to spread than normal cream cheese. Pro tip to anyone interested: Don't mix with fruit directly, but spread a thin layer of jam or preserves on the other half of the bagel, then sandwich them together for A+ flavour.
I made this! Sorta.. I let it strain for ~20 hours then salted and started to press it, but several hours later I could tell there was still too much whey left in as the exposed cheesecloth was absolutely soaking wet. I decided to lift it out of the press and just let it strain overnight again by suspending it in the cheesecloth(about another 1/3 cup of whey was expelled). I was impatient and did not press it again nor let it "age" for another day, so it only took 2 days instead of 3. Regardless of my reckless abandon it came out absolutely perfect! This is the first recipe I have ever made of of youtube and I can't believe how awesome it came out, no more cream cheese spreads for me, it is all going to be labneh based now!
actually, its hard to find grass-fed cream cheese around here, but there is plenty of grass-fed yogurt. so it is actually cost effective for me! Thank you once again for an awesome recipe!
@@gradybeckett1777 I really do hope you are joking? There are no yogurt farms out there with yogurt sprouting & growing under the sun, before being harvested. Google 'yogurt', silly goose, if you don't know what yogurt is made from before you critique the terminology 'grass fed'.
This tastes very good. I followed the recipe, but also added my own spin by making it more of a sweet cream cheese. I added fresh peaches, honey, and vanilla. It was very good on waffles.
I've been making this for years - however I add the salt to the yoghurt before putting it in the cheese cloth, as it assists drawing they whey out. It cuts out the initial drain so its ready in 48hrs. You can also drain WITHOUT the salt and sweeten it and use in place of whipped cream, or frosting for cakes. A great base recipe to play around with flavours too!
@@Rue747 Sadly I don't think so....It doesn't turn into a true curd like ricotta & salty. Yoghurt also splits when cooked. It would be faster making your own ricotta and its just as easy!
@@francescadulash3511 oh no? It doesn't come out tasting like cheesecake? I have been making this yoghurt tart a lot using homemade 'Greek yoghurt"- ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-OJc8eFWUUEM.html. And I thought the day of aging and pressing that chef John suggests might make it taste a bit more like cheesecake. It has a tang too. Just not quite the richness of cheesecake.ive tried adding cream to it to make it more rich but that reduces the sourness.
@@jennythomasmathew Thanks for sending that I will have a look. I've only ever done the savory version! I know there's a way to stabilize yoghurt for cooking, but I've yet to find the Hare Krishna cookbook its in!!!!
@@jennythomasmathew Wow just watched it! If it sets that well I wouldn't worry. It will add 24 to 48 hrs draining time! Do try the salted version - Its divine with fresh herbs & garlic folded through! I use it on toast instead of butter
I have absolutely no interest in doing this, but Chef John, I enjoy your videos so much. This one was very fun to watch. You are a treasure. Keep em coming.
This is labaneh . It's a stable in Levantine countries, we drizzle it with olive oil and mix it sometimes with mint fresh or dry . As for honey , no way! And instead of pistachios some walnuts may be added . Some mix in a little of garlic and cayenne pepper , it makes a nice dip this way,
I just made this a second time using greek yogurt and a reusable nut milk bag instead of cheese cloth. Also you don't need to hang it with string, rather just put it in a strainer or large sieve and place the strainer over a deeper bowl tp catch the drippings. It takes up less room this way. You can squeeze the yogurt in the bag with your hands to get the dripping started. After it is done, make your own Boursin with garlic, chives and Italian herbs! You might also luck out like I did and find nearly expired expensive Greek yogurt, namely "Fage Total" in a discount store for 50 cents a large container as opposed to several dollars per container.So you can also make it much more cheaply than store bought. : )
I will be SO making Boursin with this. Yumm! Thanks for the tips. Organic dairy products go at half price or less about 1 or 2 days before expiry at my super. I check every day and snap them up before anyone else spots them.
...Oh Lord are these videos addictive or what?!!...03.20 hrs and here I am again! "enjoying" them instead of sleeping! No wonder I'm too tierd to cook!! Live long and prosper from Nottingham in good 'ol England! xxx
You said at the beginning that you were going to make the cheese with yogurt, salt and thyme, but I didn't see you actually use any thyme. Have I missed something?
I kind of have to thank you for these videos. Nowadays things in Venezuela are going really bad and it's pretty difficult to find butter and cream cheese. Also it is expensive. Then I watched this and it helped me out 'cause, at least yogurt is still cheap. I'm gonna try out.
I enjoy all your commentaries.....but this is the BEST descriptions of all you have done. To me. You put a huge smile on my face with your humor. Going to do this Wednesday, the day I shop. Thank you SO MUCH for the inspiration.
I do this with my homemade yogurt, but I drain it for two days, so it gets even thicker. Has the consistency of Boursin cheese and makes a great spread
My mother called me a clochard when dressed up like you said and told me that is french for an 'artist of life', now when i look at the translation it is translated to hobbo ... damn another dream crushed.
I used to work in a dairy and it was my job to make the cream cheese. I was a yogurt maker before that job and expected to be making yogurt but no, in their infinite wisdom the dairy gave me the job of making cream cheese. The milk and cream mixture was left overnight in a very large heated vat with a culture added to it just like you when you make yogurt but the culture was slightly different from the ones we used to make regular yogurt. The next day it would go through a machine that had lots of membranes in thin tubes that separated the casein (curds) from the whey. This basically did the same job as Chef John did when he hung the yogurt in cheesecloth and drained the whey off but it only takes a few hours to process a very large amount. Once the whey was removed salt was added and then it was packaged up. It was delicious. It made the best New York cheesecake ever.
I’ve been eating this my whole life. My mom makes it with Kurdish yogurt. Warm milk to the point where it’s steaming but not boiling then cover at that heat for about an hour to an hour and a half. Then let cool on stove. Once it’s at about 85-90 degrees fahrenheit add your left over yogurt from other batch (if it your first time making it just use Greek yogurt from the store) about 1.5 cups of it. Then wrap pot in towel and leave it in a warm place for about two days. Then its ready to eat but i usually get rid of the whey until i get the consistency i like or i do this process.
Hello! I watched your video multiple times and set about turning my old Greek yogurt into cream cheese. I don't think I mixed my salt in so well, but I think it tastes well enough on a toasted bagel. I also tried honey on my cream cheese on my bagel, and it was much better. Then I went to the store, bought pistachios and tried a toasted bagel with cream cheese, honey, and the pistachios. It was so good, I didn't crave any other food the rest of the night. Thanks for all the good ideas and your very pleasant, informative, and entertaining videos.
Thank you for showing that you don't have to do this with cow's milk. I am lactose intolerant and can't have any cow dairy but I can have everything else like sheep and goat's milk. I can't wait to try this.
Ohhhh yes Chef, I was dressed up like a hobo for halloween, but I never put it together that they just didnt want to buy me a costume!!! Now I'm PO'd!!! Thanks for the awesome cream cheese recipe!!! Will have to give that a try one day...I love cream cheese! Happy Spring Chef John and family! 🍃🤗🍃
kristin kasseh I had the pleasure of visiting the middle east in the late 70's with my parents and while the entire visit was profound for me as a young man, the food was perhaps the most exhilarating which changed my eating life forever. One of the things that I remember was other people with us were not fond of the food, one of the exceptions being the cheese (Farmers Cheese they thought of...). Thank you for the comment, but I'm sure that you can check any source and find that Labneh is soft cheese made from yogurt. This cheese is great, but is not technically a "cream" cheese.
I agree Tim. This is technically not cream cheese, rather it is called Labneh. Our middle eatern chef taugh us how to make this recipe. Some recipes require acid though, such as lemon juice, to help it coagulate more
Alexandra Rodriguez Thank you for the comment. I have made what I was taught was "Farmer's Cheese" by bringing milk to a boil and adding acid such as vinegar or lemon juice which I think is more traditional in Latino culture and I enjoy very much, however; I've never though of using the same process with already cultured yogurt. A friend just brought me some very thin yogurt that I may just try that with. Thanks for the idea, I'll give it a try and let you know if it turns out well!
Tim Brown As you said the milk heated and coagulated with vinegar is the farmer's cheese or paneer in India. In Italy the whey resulting of processing the cheeses like the provolone with rennet is matured (or vinegar is added) then boiled to get the ricotta. You can do a similar process like the farmer's cheese with cream (no more than 82 degrees celsius heating in "bain marie") and you get mascarpone. The labneh can be fermented to get a creamy cheese a bit similar to some French cheeses like the Meaux. When I make labneh (composed mainly of casein) I cook the whey after maturing it for 3 days to extract the other proteins and I get a kind of ricotta. The Turks dry totally the fresh labneh and made a powder for making soups.
I used this cream cheese "lebana" in the ordinary no bake cheese cake and it turned out to be great.. exactly like when you use kiri or Philadelphia cream cheese 😊😋
"that's right, i made my own cream cheese. And therefore, I am better than you" give chef john the entirety of the food network let him show us the good way
this is actually labneh in syria, lebanon, etc. we make them balls after 24 hours then we put them in a jar full of olive oil and you can eat them till up to 6 months :) it is very famous, and you can buy the labneh in whole US and Europe as well . ex. from turkish or lebanese supermarkets. This is not creamy cheese anyhow haha.
Richa Gupta Jonathan Chen Chef John himself has stated in the comments section on his website that "Yes, this is great for cheesecake and frosting! :)". So yeah, since the Chef thinks it can work, then it probably can. Try it. At least, I will!!!
Stella Deli oops didn't visit this recipe on the blog! Thanks for pointing that out - saves me a toooooon of money because Philly is super expensive in India!
Richa Gupta I dislike Philadelphia cheese too (I live in Greece and as far as I know that's the only cream cheese around here), mainly because of the ingredients (yikes!). That's why I so happy for this UBER-HEALTHY alternative! :D
+shair00 I remember asking another cheese making youtuber and he said that home made cream cheese is too tangy for cheesecake, and that a home made whole milk ricotta would be much better suited.
+Torei M Yes, you're right this is Labneh an Arabic cheese which you can add olive oil. Makes a great dip and great with pita bread and olives. My family is from the middle east and we used to eat this every so often as a snack.
Richard root So apparently, this is called yogurt cheese and not real cream cheese. It's the same thing as traditional greek yogurt. If you take store bought greek yogurt and strain it more, you get this. If you want real cream cheese this website has instructions on how to make it www. nourishedkitchen. com/how-to-make-cream-cheese/ - without the spaces.
I thought this reminded me of labneh. I just popped onto your blog post to see if I was right on that, and there it was, a nod to labneh. Every now and then I get a hankering for it and make it myself instead of bothering to look for it. It's just easier IMO to get some whole milk yogurt and drain it out into labneh than hunt it down in an area I'm not sure even has a shop that would carry it.
I really enjoyed this video not only because the recipe looks delicious but also because of the way you talk and especially the jokes you make. Chef John, you are awesome.
I made this!! It worked! I had homemade yogurt that had been draining in the fridge for 2 days when I saw this video. I did 3 days of “aging” because I forgot about it. But, it was still WOW! Then because life got in the way, I knew I wouldn’t be able to use it for about a week so I put it in the freezer just to see how it would fare. It fared fine, not grainy as I expected. I made a no-bake cheesecake with it. I am, after all, the bees knees of what I do with my cream cheese! I have to say I am impressed with myself
Ok, just watched this vid for the 1st time & have to add my 2 cents. I've been making my own yogurt w/an Instant pot for the last couple yrs now & one of the great discoveries has been when 'straining' the finished product for a thicker, more greek style yogurt is that when left for 24 hrs, the result is a virtually indistinguishable cream cheese style product. No salt needed, let alone 3 days waiting. You'd NEVER know the difference.
I live in Vietnam... And this would be cheaper than buying the imported cream cheese. I can get 500g of yogurt for less than $2, and 200g of cream cheese for nearly $4. Can't wait to try this!