Before talking about kefir cheese . . someone asked in a comment if freezing or freeze drying destroy the probiotics of kefir. I can’t say for sure but in my mind, the answer is no. I added some links to yesterday’s comments. My thoughts are that freezing is probably better than freeze drying but I don’t think freeze drying destroys all the good probiotics. At this point when I have too much kefir, I either freeze dry it or give it to the chickens and some days . . both. Worst case scenario is that freeze drying destroys all the good but I can still use the freeze dried kefir in salad dressings and to thicken smoothies. I has to be better than some of the products I could use. Also, I can take the freeze dried kefir and culture fresh milk to make more kefir so that tells me that it has some live cultures so . . I’m going to believe it has some good qualities.
A blog reader was telling me a while back that she makes kefir cheese, which would be very similar to a soft cream cheese. I had never made it so tried that yesterday. I poured the kefir into two coffee filters (stacked double) and let it straight through a small colander over a jar to catch the whey.
Kefir Cheese
Cheese on the left, strained out whey on the right.
Breakfast
This morning’s breakfast: Egg yolks for me . . Vince had whole eggs and he had toast, which I didn’t have, sausage and kefir cheese.
Kefir Cheese
Another batch is straining. Tomorrow I’m smoking a chicken. I’m going to chop fresh rosemary and add that and black pepper to the cheese and serve that with the smoked chicken.
Obviously, I love doing this kind of “creating”.
Donna Minter says
I saw a study about freeze drying kefir. “In summary, addition of 10% galactose or 10% sucrose
as lyoprotectants significantly improved the viabilities of
lactic acid bacteria and yeasts (p<0.05) for freeze-dried
kefir. Blending freeze dried kefir with water at 4°C
increased viability for yeasts."
Ruth says
Yes, you made the kefir cheese and showed it on your plate but how did it Taste??
Judy Laquidara says
Oh, it’s delicious. I like it better than cream cheese for eating with crackers or mixing in with grated cheese to make a cheese ball or dip.. I don’t think it would hold up for cooking.
Nelle Coursey says
Sounds great to me! I love kefir but I will buy mine. I don’t have the stamina like you do!
dezertsuz says
Interesting process to get your cheese. So were you having it with crackers, or you ate it straight with the egg and sausage?
Wander says
I work in a microbiology lab. We order quality control bacteria to make sure our processes are correct and for compliance. The bacteria we order is lyophilized, which is a fancy way to say freeze dried. So your freeze dried kefir should still have some active cultures.
Judy Laquidara says
Thanks! Glad to have expert information!