Homemade Cream Cheese

Step 1

Begin by pouring the milk in a saucepan. Heat the milk and bring it to boil over medium-high heat.

Step 2

As soon as it boils, add the lemon juice and then turn off the heat.

Step 3

Set aside for a few minutes while the milk curdles. You'll notice curds forming and a yellow-ish liquid being left behind.

Step 4

Within a few minutes, all of your curds should have formed. Pour the curdled milk through a cheesecloth and a sieve to strain all the liquid whey. Alternatively, you can use a slotted spoon to scoop out all the curdles, while leaving the liquid whey* in the pot.

Step 5

Rinse the curds with cold water. This will help to get rid of any extra whey, clinging to the curds.

Step 6

Squeeze the curdled milk as much as possible to drain any last drop of the liquid whey.

Step 7

Put the strained milk into a food processor/blender and add the salt. Within 1-2 minutes ( this may vary depending on how powerful your machine is) you'll have a light and fluffy cream cheese.

Step 8

If you want to add any additional herbs/flavourings then do that now too. Be warned though as certain additional ingredients will affect the shelf-life of the cheese. I like dried herbs and garlic powder as natural flavourings that don't affect the shelf life too much. Store the cream cheese in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 7 days. You can freeze cream cheese, but the texture upon thawing is more crumbly and is best used where you're cooking it into something like a dip or sauce.