Now is the Time to Start Making Kefir Cheese

If you love cheese, then you really need to learn to make kefir cheese. It's crazy easy, filled with probiotics, and you can use it in a million different ways. I make kefir cheese in big and small batches and I want to show you how you can do it too. I use kefir cheese in place of any recipe that calls for cream cheese, sour cream, or yogurt. It's very versatile, and the length of time you strain it will determine how thick it becomes. Making kefir cheese is one of my favorite things to do with kefir—and it’s a great way to sneak kefir into the diets of picky eaters because it tastes much like cream cheese.

Kefir cheese is 99% lactose-free

The curds (or the cheese) portion of kefir contains most of the fat, casein, and vitamin A; but whey also contains a lot of beneficial properties, and they both (curds and whey) contain probiotics. Kefir cheese is loaded with calcium because it is so concentrated. The good lactic acid bacteria in kefir eat the lactose (milk sugars) out of the milk, lower the pH, make it tart, and cause the milk protein to thicken. The digestion of the lactose as these bacteria ferment milk makes kefir easily digestible. Kefir is considered a pre-digested food. The bacteria make probiotics from the sugars and also make it 99% lactose-free.

One of my favorite stories about kefir cheese comes from a friend who had a little boy with a severe lactose allergy. Much to his surprise, his little boy could eat all the kefir cheese his heart desired because it was a lactose-free cheese. One of his favorite meals was tacos topped with kefir cheese since regular cheese seemed to bother him - but kefir cheese didn't. I can concur that kefir cheese is yummy on tacos!

Easy Ways To Make Kefir Cheese

I usually make kefir cheese with a large strainer and a coffee filter and it works great. I also got a cheese maker from a company called Kefirko. They contacted me when they came out with a Kickstarter program to produce containers to make kefir in, and I loved their cheesemaker. I loved it so much I gave them some of my recipes to include in the booklet they sell with the cheese container. It's a pretty cool way to make kefir cheese and it can make hard kefir cheese too. The only drawback is that it makes smaller amounts of cheese. If you would like to check it out, see below.

9 Ways to Use Your Kefir Whey

For every cup of cheese that you make, only half will be cheese and the other half is whey. Your whey, although less appealing to many individuals, is a superfood that contains a lot of healing properties. There is something known as “The Whey Cure” which was used throughout history. In fact, Hippocrates and Galen, two founding fathers of medicine, frequently recommended whey to their patients to heal them. Kefir whey has been called liquid gold and we have an article describing what you can do with extra kefir whey.

Nine ways to use your kefir whey

Making Kefir Cheese

If you want to get healthy, then now's the time to learn to make kefir cheese. All it takes is putting some kefir in a strainer with a filter and then in about 12 to 24 hours you'll have kefir cheese. Check out how to make kefir cheese below, then check out 43 recipes to use your kefir cheese!