Kefir cheese

I have been making my own Kefir for a while now. I am up to 3 quarts a day. We use one for smoothies so I had to figure out what to do with the rest. I decided to make cheese. First let me say, cheese is a term I use loosely because its really more like a sour cream. The cool thing is you can use the "cheese" many ways. I use it plain as a sour cream. I puree fruit and mix it in the cheese for a yogurt. I have put honey and fruit in it for a breakfast. I have also heard you can use herbs and spices and use it as a cream cheese. The last one I havent tried yet. Ok so let me show you how I make it.

First you need Kefir.
 Click here for my "How to make Kefir" blog. 

Here is my unstrained kefir.

You need a strainer and something to catch the whey. This is what I use,  my strainer just happens to fit nicely into this large measuring cup. 

This is a nut bag. I used to use cheese cloth before I found this. I make this too often to keep buying cheese cloth. I found this nut bag on Amazon for under $10. 

So I take my plastic strainer I bought at Walmart for $1.00, I wrap the bag around it and hold the handle tightly. Then I strain my kefir right into the bag just like I would in the blender for smoothies. Once I am left with just the grains, I start the kefir making process all over. 

I put this in the fridge overnight, or sometimes a couple nights to drain. 

The whey drains out and you are left with a soft cream cheese consistency.

It looks like this. I put it in a container and use it however I want.

The other cool thing about making this, is the whey thats left. Its full of nutrients and good stuff for you.  There are also many things to do with this but I choose to put it in my garden and dilute and water my houseplants. One of these days I will venture out and use it for other things but for now its helping me grow food :).