Woman’s Weekly New Zealand – July 29, 2019

WHAT A

spread!

HEALTHY HOMEMADE

CREAM CHEESE FOR ALL

YOU DAIRY QUEENS

Wendyl Nissen

OUR GREEN GODDESS

Only the good stuff!

How to make your own

additive-free cream

cheese, mix up a blend

of essential oils for

your loved one in

hospital and make an easy

pine cleaner for your home.

greenGODDESS

CREAM CHEESE

Commercial cream cheese has

additives including emulsifiers,

thickeners, acidity regulators

and flavours. I wanted to see

if I could make a cream cheese

at home without going to the

bother of sourcing rennet,

which can be hard to find these

days. After a few trials, I have

come up with a recipe which

uses cream, yoghurt and milk −

to give a lovely flavour − and

citric acid which is readily

available in the baking aisle

of your supermarket.

500ml blue top or organic milk

(I used blue top with no

permeate added)

300ml cream

200ml good-quality

live culture yoghurt

½ tsp citric acid

1/4 cup lukewarm water

1 Mix the milk, cream and

yoghurt together in a heavy-

bottomed saucepan, gently

heating until it reaches 38ºC.

Meanwhile, dissolve the

citric acid in lukewarm water

(which has been boiled

and then cooled).

2 Take the milk mixture off

the heat and slowly pour

in the citric acid one, stirring

constantly − it will start to

curdle immediately. Stir gently

with a wooden spoon, then

leave to sit for 20 minutes.

3 Gently ladle the curds and

whey (the liquid leftover) into

a tea towel or clean muslin

cloth and tie the ends together.

Suspend over a bowl and

leave to drain for 8 hours.

4 Take the cheese out of the

cloth and whip well with a

beater. Stir in salt to taste – this

will help preserve the cream

cheese as well as flavour it.

5 Your cream cheese will keep in

the fridge for two weeks and is

amazing with smoked salmon.

Nana’s

RETRO

RECIPES