Yogurt Cheese - 'Labanee', in Arabic
- Reviews 5
Ready In: 24 hrs
Yields: 2-4 cups, depending on thickness
Ingredients
- 2 quarts yogurt (Non-fat, low-fat, or full-fat are all OK. Pick a brand with a minimal amount of gelatin, pectin, or)
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt (optional)
- extra virgin olive oil (very optional)
Directions
- Although the original recipe doesnt call for non-fat yogurt, non-fat works fine.
- Some recipes almost demand a little fat to smooth their texture on the tongue.
- This can be provided by beating a little bit of mayonnaise or olive oil into the non-fat yogurt cheese.
- Its still fat, but at least its cholesterol free fat.
- If you are skinny and dont have to worry about dietary fat, you can use low-fat or whole-milk yogurt, and then you wont have to worry about adding oil.
- Bring 2 quarts of yogurt to room temperature, and stir thoroughly to smooth and break up all lumps.
- Optionally, you can add ½ Tsp salt (original recipe, we usually dont, because we use this for so many different things).
- Line a colander with a couple of dampened paper towels or a clean, dampened, loose weave cotton towel.
- Pour yogurt into the colander, cover with another paper towel or plastic wrap.
- Place in the sink, or in a bowl which is small enough to hold the colander away from its bottom.
- Let drain for about 8 hours for sour cream consistency or for 24 hours for cream cheese consistency; the longer it drains, the thicker it gets.
- If you are a real freak, you can refrigerate the yogurt while it drains, but its not really necessary.
- Yogurt is a living organism; it is cultured in warmth, and it thrives on it (within reason).
- Draining will normally reduce the yogurt by about half for sour cream consistency, or by about two-thirds for cream cheese consistency.
- We normally go all the way to cream cheese consistency and mix in a little low-fat milk if we need it thinner.
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