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I’m not good at staying “inside the box”. I wanted a spreadable cheese with a live culture, and wanted the maximum yield, so I set out to invent. Paneer is probably the highest yield of any cheese, but like ricotta it’s bland… and it’s “dead”. Any bacteria in it are unwelcome spoilage bacteria. I began this project making a batch of paneer, which I pressed and drained well. I then forced the chunks of paneer along with some home made through my Omega 900 as I would if I were making nut butter or noodles. It was not the right machine for the job, and was a mess, but it did exactly what I intended, producing a delicious creamy spreadable and tangy cheese that seems to improve in flavor each day it sits in the fridge.
I don’t know what this would be called, nor would I recommend the tool I used. It was just another of the mad experiments I’m known for, and the product is satisfying. I will approach this differently next time.Have you tried Labneh? It’s strained yogurt and depending on how much you strain you can adjust spreadability. If too dry just add back some of the whey. If your yogurt has a slight tang then that will increase as it stays in the fridge. Mine doesn’t last beyond a week so I’ve no idea of shelf life.
The attraction of paneer is the very large yield compared to other cheeses. I just did another batch, which is crumbly like Feta. I used a different process. I ladled the curd into a colander with a cheese muslin, and allowed it to cool to around 100F. I then transfered it into another container and added kefir, mixing it up well and crumbling it at the same time. It was already firm curds. At that point it went into a sealed container in my dehydrator (LEM Brand), which is temp controllable, and gave it 24 hours at 100F to culture it. It then went into a cheese cloth, as it was wet with the kefir for awhile, and was transferred into a round form with a follower and a very heavy weight to compress it. I pressed it for about 24 hours… still in a warm place. The resulting block had no real integrity, and easily crumbled. The product has good flavor, and the yield was very good. It fills a 32 ounce yogurt container virtually completely. I don’t know the weight. The flavor is somewhat similar to feta, but not as sharp.
Unlike yogurt, kefir has multiple organisms as in MANY, and is kind of a “wild” culture. The culture is so dynamic it simply does not spoil EVER unlike yogurt. It is essentially self preserving. You don’t get that pink mold like yogurt does if it goes off… it just doesn’t spoil at all. Unlike yogurt, you can add the culture to raw milk, and there is no reason to scald or sterilize the milk. Kefir will not gel up like yogurt you buy in the store, but it does thicken to about a thick buttermilk consistency, and a very similar flavor. I’ve had my culture for many years now. Kefir even contains some yeasts and you can make sourdough from it, but every culture is different as it is a culture passed down from person to person much like sourdough starter. It will go to curds if you leave it in a warm place too long, and you can of course make cheese as you describe from it. David Ascher; author of The Art of Natual Cheesemaking uses kefir extensively as the culture for many of his cheeses in preference to commercial cultures.
Find someone with kefir grains and try it!
