MILK KIFER CHEESE SPREAD WITH COCONUT AND HONEY

Milk kifer cheese spread with coconut, honey and parsley.  It's all good.

Yesterday I had about 4 cups of nonfat milk in kifer grains which had curdled a bit too much.  It was  a lot more tart than what I had set out for.  Considering my intentions were to make a soft sweet cheese, similar to soft goat cheese with honey.  After straining the curds and whey. I seasoned the curds and I set it in my oven to get most of the moisture out with the light on.  It's perfect there where the light just warms it slowly, not harming the probiotic cultures.  If you have a dehydrator, by all means use it.  I plan on making a simple one just not today.  You do not need any fancy equipment to make this simple recipe.  Anyway, I had put my cheese spread out on parchmont paper and on a screen.   After 24 hours I flipped the cheese spread over to the other side and on a new sheet of parchmont paper, and continued for another 12 hours, until it was drying around the edges.

I decided to mask some of the sourness of the kifer cheese (curds) by mixing together...

Milk kifer grains, curds and whey
automatic separation makes it easy
to rid most whey from the curds.

Milk kifer spread out on parchmont paper
and put on an anti-splatter screen. to dry.
Whatever works right?

• one tablespoon milk
• one tablespoon powdered coconut milk
• one tablespoon honey granules (or any sweetener)
• one teaspoon parsley

Mix all the ingredients well.  By this time the kifer cheese spread is quite pliable, like  play-dough.  This makes enough probiotic kifer cheese spread to fit in a 4 oz  jar or container with a tight lid.

This will keep in the refrigerator, where it will continue to slowly ferment. It's great on crackers, toast, or bagels. Try it for yourself,  It's all good, it's all probiotic.  Besides being healthy, it's tasty, homemade, and quite affordable. Note:  For best result use within 5 days.  It's just another way to get your probiotics. lol  Don't forget, "Food is Medicine", and that is not a lol matter.  And it only takes just a spread a couple times a day to get a lot of probiotic cultures in you. 

I know it is a very time consuming recipe. However, you don't have to kifer-sit this recipe like you do milk in kifer grains.  It just takes time, time you could spend doing other things, right? But so worth the little effort put forth.

Enjoy, and many blessings,
Mary Helen

MILK KIFER FETA CHEESE

Milk Kifer can be dried as still keep it's probiotic nutrients as long as it is not heated in high temperatures. Milk Kifer Cheese has more active healthy bacteria than milk kifer, because of the longer time spent to ferment it.  REAL KIFER CONTINUES TO FERMENT UNLESS THE BACTERIA HAS BEEN KILLED BY HEAT OR CHEMICALS.  Folks drink kifer, yogurt, and kombucha for the healthy probiotics it has.  However, why is the shelved store bought product still sweet and holds the same flavor?  Why?  Because most of the bacteria has been pasteurized or heated to maintain its color, and flavor.  Sad because those people think they are doing their body good. I too can heat mine to stop the fermentation and not let it continue to sour.  However, probiotics does a body good. I choose to work with the tart flavor, hence feta cheese.  lol.  See, homemade is always, better, and a lot cheaper too.

I let my kifer milk ferment till the curds and whey separate. I have strained the milk kifer, and have separated the curds, whey and milk kifer grains. I left the curds out to lose it's whey for a few hours in a strainer.   Make sure you have something to catch the whey.(Ha ha, it lost it's whey:))  Very little milk solids is left in the strainer.  This will be your cheese. Salt lightly,  put this in a tofu press, (another strainer will work fine) and put this in the refrigerator for 24 hours to continue to expel its whey.

Curds

After a total of 48 hours. it is now like tart cheese, similar to Feta.  At this point the kifer cheese is still soft, but I was able to cube it so it could air dry better. It had grown  a slight fungus on the outside, which I was able to cut off before I cubed it.  The inside showed a nice white clean cheese.

curds, whey, and milk kifer grain

Curds in tofu press.  I see a few grains of Kifer.

Curds after straining in refrigerator for 24 hours.

I put the cheese  wrapped in parchmont paper with clean paper towels over a heating mat  for 12 hours more or less, while I was sleeping. I am still changing towels to keep the cheese dry at least twice.  Now my cheese is crumbly, and pretty hard.  Had I not cut it for it to dry faster, I probably could have grated it. I rolled my cheese in crushed herbs for flavor.  

Herbed Milk Kifer Feta Cheese

See how easy it was?  Yes, it took a few days, but it's not like you were standing over a hot stove.  Home made kifer is loaded with probiotics, and you have total control as too what you want to put in it.  Yes I love to choose what I want to put in my body.  Don't you?  It's probiotic and cheap.  Looks like cheese.  Tastes like cheese, but unlike dead cheese.  This one is still very much alive.

Enjoy and many blessings.
Mary Helen