Second try at a soft cheese. Things went more smoothly this time. It does help to read the instructions. The Neufchatel is pretty soft. I could’ve let it drain longer, but I did need to get to bed. Mostly I let the cheese sit at temperature (a little higher than the requested 80F) with the mesophillic starter before adding the rennet. Four drops of the veggie rennet added for 1 gal + 1 cup milk.
Yield was much higher…very little went thru the cheese cloth. My temperature control still needs work, and hanging it from the cupboard does the cupboard no good, I’m sure. Now I just need to figure out something great to make with it, and contemplate hard cheese!
So I needed to update this…for Thanksgiving my Neufchatel cheese made a lovely cheesecake! The recipe called for a mixture of cream cheese and sour cream. This cheese was an ideal choice. I topped with the brandy and vodka soaked dried apricots from the apricot brandy experiment. Yum. Did not take a photo when I should’ve. There’s a little left in the freezer but it’s not so pretty. It was yummy though!
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