Jben - Moroccan Fresh Cheese

Submitted by Annacia

"Found on Cooking With Alia, a site that has authentic Moroccan recipes. Alia says; "Today, we are making Moroccan Jben, which is a white cheese that is very popular in the North of Morocco, but you can find it everywhere! We eat it in breakfast or afternoon with Moroccan mint tea! this cheese is soft, can be made with cow milk or goat milk, and many people make it at home! I am going to show you how to make it in your own home. You can serve it with bread, with msemmen, or you can make as a filling for briwat! " I've posted the recipe exactly as written on her site. Here prep time is the heating time as that is all there is to it; heat and then drain! The 12 hrs of cook time is only standing and draining time (no work!)"

 

• Ready In: 12hrs 15mins
• Ingredients: 4
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 1 liter milk
• 1 liter buttermilk (Jben)
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄4 teaspoon dried thyme (or other herbs)

directions

1. Step 1: Making the Milk Mixture.
2. In a saucepan, on medium-high heat, heat up the milk with the salt, until it reaches a point right below a boiling point.
3. When the milk is hot, you can see it starts bubbling a bit, add it to the cold buttermilk (Jben).
4. You can flavor the jben if you want, I am using dried thyme. Mix well.
5. Let the milk and buttermilk mixture sit on your counter for around 1-2 hours. You will notice that the mixture will start separating, there is a liquid on the top.
6. Step 2: Straining the Mixture.
7. To strain the mixture, I am using a cheese cloth (that you can buy in the supermarket) over a strainer, placed on top of a bowl (to get all the liquid that is strained).
8. Pour the mixture on the strainer and cover it with the excess cheese cloth.
9. Let the cheese mixture sit in the strainer (over the bowl) for 10-12 hours (or overnight).
10. The cheese is ready after 10 hours, all the water is captured in the bowl, and you end up with the beautiful creamy cheese in the strainer.
11. serve on a toasted bread, you can add some honey or jam to it!

Reviews

[pammyowl]

We loved this! I had a small amount of buttermilk, a small amount of heavy cream and a small amount of 1 % milk, so they all went into the mix. It worked perfectly! I chose chives as my flavor, yum!

 

[Chef Dudo]

Just like I remember from childhood. This was easy to make and I made a ball of the cheesecloth and let it hang to drain overnight. When I opened the ball the cheese seemed a little blubbery and I thought I would drain it some more when it had chilled. But-when chilled it had turned to a spreadable creamy white cheese, just perfect, no need to drain at all. I divided the cheese and added different flavours to the parts. Chives, jam, red pepper where my choices this time. Thanks for posting.