What is Yogurt Cheese?
You can make your own yogurt and yogurt cheese easily. In our video Tricia makes yogurt in her kitchen using her Excalibur dehydrator as the heat source. Just take three more steps and you can have yogurt cheese as well!
Choose any kind of milk (cow, goat, sheep) for your yogurt and yogurt cheese. Decide if you want to use non-fat or whole milk, or something in between. Customize the yogurt to a recipe or the group you're cooking for. It's all in your hands. Yogurt cheese is a versatile ingredient -- substituting seamlessly for sour cream or cream cheese. The flavor is like sour cream, with the cream cheese texture. If you make it with non-fat yogurt you have something like non-fat sour cream.
Use yogurt cheese as a topping for baked potatoes, or serve with berries. Try it as a spread (with or without flavorings), as the base of a dip, or as a filling for blintzes.
Three Steps to Making Yogurt Cheese
It takes two cups of yogurt to make one cup of yogurt cheese.
1. DRAIN IT
Choose a large strainer or colander and line it with two layers of cheesecloth. If you don't have cheesecloth you can use several white paper towels, or a coffee filter. Put the strainer on top of a bowl and pour the yogurt into the strainer. Note: This will not work if you have bought yogurt made with gelatin. The gelatin is there to keep the yogurt from separating -- which is just what you want the yogurt to do. Use plastic wrap to cover the strainer and the top inch of the bowl. Let the yogurt drain overnight (or 8 hours) in the refrigerator. Lift the strainer and pour the whey out of the bowl.
2. PRESS IT
Cover again with plastic wrap. To make a weight to press the cheese, fill a sturdy plastic storage bag with water and seal it. Put it on top of the cheese as a weight. Let the cheese drain another 8 hours in the refrigerator.
3. STORE IT
Wrap the finished cheese in clean plastic wrap and store it in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
Enjoy your homemade yogurt cheese!