A Different Kind of Cheese...From Yogurt

I don't remember where I initially heard about this, but I looked it up on the Internet to verify that you can do this and I did indeed find corroborating information. You can make a "cheese" from yogurt using nothing more than a strainer and a bowl.

I found two quick tidbits of information on it here on the Hillbilly Housewife website and here on a Food Network recipe site with Alton Brown (have I mentioned I like watching Good Eats?).

So I decided to try it. I picked up a container of plain fat-free yogurt at Wegman's last night and a bit of cheese cloth, stuck it into a strainer over a plastic bowl and left it in the fridge overnight. Quite a bit of Whey dripped out by morning. I dumped it into a plastic container and took a small sample out (a spoonful) and because I had found information that said you could mix it with other things to have it "take on" the flavor of other foods, I put in a little peanut butter and mixed the samples.

It turned into something like a peanut butter cream cheese.

So basically it's a nice way to get calcium and some protein, some decent flavor, and at a low cost (since I'm using a generic Wegman's brand yogurt and peanut butter from the ginormous quantities of multi-pound packages from Sam's Club). I'm toying with the idea of using it in one of my wraps as a substitute for plain American 2% cheese.

There is still a distinct yogurt flavor, in my opinion. I didn't find it unpleasant but it did make me think of using it as a dessert-type food more than an entree, but when you're eating less than 8 ounces of food a meal your dessert will become your entree. So maybe I'll try making a "dessert wrap" for a meal sometime!

Anyway it was a novel thing to try and dead simple to do. Go grab a tub of yogurt and try your hand at making yogurt cheese...you can spread on crackers, bagels, mix it up with some herbs to flavor it as a complement to an entree, or as a base for dips or substitute for sour cream in some recipes. And it's probably healthier than some actual cream cheeses. Give it a spin and see what you think. I'd love to hear from people who try it out and feel like firing some feedback in the comments section!