Home Made Probiotic Cheese: Waste Not, Want Not

Home constructed cheese press

Profile of kefir curd pressed overnight in a pillow case

the curd itself after being rubbed with sea salt

In day three of a ferment of one gallon Publix organic cow's milk to which I'd added Lifeway Kefir (as source of the ten bacteria species SO useful to broad spectrum human health that GERDS and Acid Reflux so often respond to with full remission) plus Old Orchard brand fruit juice as additional food source for those bacteria, I discovered firm cheese curds vs a new gallon of kefir as I'd come to expect. So I re-Googled home cheese making *(I made a pound of homemade limburger about a year ago) and strained the kefir in a newly laundered pillow case hung above my stove to drip the whey liquids into a bowl overnight before I crashed. It was an unexpected joy to find myself choosing cheese making recipes at 9 Pm.

I am really enjoying the experience....today I unwrapped the cheese curd "block" from the pillowcase it drained in, rubbed Dollar Tree sea salt into that firm block of probiotic cow cheese curd, then wrapped it in the other half of that same pillowcase, then tucked it into a loose, used plastic grocery bag then put it to age for 3-5 months in my fridge. The idea I gather it to allow SOME air flow to the microbes and fungi transforming the kefir curd into cheese while keeping evaporative losses low.

Pics to come of a process that MAY result in a firm, dry, Romano-Parmesan type home made probiotic cheese in 6-9 months. This is so much fun! John