Easiest Cheese Recipe EVER

I discovered this idea online maybe a year ago, but I don't remember what website it was from. It's really easy to make a spreadable yogurt cheese which you can eat with pita and a little olive oil (like Lebne, the Middle Eastern dish) or use as a substitute for cream cheese.

All you have to do is take your desired amount of yogurt (store bought or homemade) and strain it through a cheesecloth overnight in the refrigerator. Keep in mind you will end up with half or a little less cheese than the yogurt you put in.

If you want a Lebne-type cheese I recommend using yogurt that has a strong tangy flavor (your homemade yogurt gets tangier the longer you let it sit).


Or you can use a less strongly flavored yogurt and experiment with flavoring for a sweet spread.

It Does A Body Good

For those of you who don't know, I grew up in a county with twice as many cows as people, where the nearest town to my home boasts a 12 FOOT COW STATUE. My senior thesis in college was 112 pages of fascinating dairy farming trivia. Therefore, my new obsession with creating dairy products at home should come as a logical progression in my life.

I started with yogurt and have moved on to ice cream as well. My goal is to also make a little butter each week and eventually mozzarella cheese using the recipe from Animal Vegetable Miracle.

My partner and I get a gallon of milk a week from a herd share program. This is a legal loophole where we have technically bought a share in a cow and are therefore NOT illegally purchasing unpasteurized milk in the state of Ohio.

I do however pasteurize our milk at home. It took me a while to find a reliable source for pasteurization info because when you type "milk pasteurization" into Google you will mostly pull up message boards with comments about how pasteurization is an unnecessary gimmick and Louis Pasteur was Satan incarnate. Having spent nearly 24 hours in an emergency room as a result of drinking raw milk, I figure if The Man doesn't want me to get stomach viruses, that is fine with me. In all fairness, the milk I drank was not intended to be distributed raw, and the farm we now get our milk at appears very clean and sanitary. I just feel it's necessary to point out that while the risk with raw milk from a trusted producer may be minimal, it is a serious risk.

Stay tuned for more fascinating details of dairy production...