"CURDS AND WHEY"

Many people are familiar with this childhood nursery rhyme, “Little Miss Muffet, sat on a tuffet, eating her curds and whey”. Curds is actually cottage cheese. In this recipe we are going to turn our homemade yogurt into spreadable yogurt cheese and whey. You can also use commercial organic yogurt with live active cultures for this recipe. Separating whey from yogurt is a good skill to have as we will be using whey to make lacto-fermented vegetables and as a soaking agent for beans and grains. Whey aids in digestion, contains many minerals and keeps muscles, joints and ligaments young and pliable.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup of yogurt (You can use more if you would like, however this is a good amount to start with for your first time)
• You will also need a very clean kitchen cloth, Quart Mason jar and a rubber band

DIRECTIONS
Push the center of the towel into the Mason jar and secure the towel to the jar with the rubber band. Spoon your yogurt into the jar, making sure that there are two inches or more of free room at the bottom of the jar. You should be able to see the whey begin to drip into the bottom of the jar almost immediately. Let it sit for about seven hours. The amount of whey that is at the bottom of this picture is after the yogurt sat for about three hours. Keep the whey in a small Mason jar and store in the refrigerator for up to six months.

After the whey has dripped out, remove the towel from the jar and invert it over a container so that the cheese easily falls into it. The cheese should be solid, yet soft, and can be mixed with herbs and spices and spread onto crackers, tortillas, bagels, etc.

Here I mixed the cheese with a teaspoon of chives, a teaspoon of parsley and a teaspoon of dill and some freshly ground pepper. I then spread it over a delicious gluten free bagel from Mariposa Bakery in Oakland. The cheese can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a month.