Cream Cheese Recipe and "Y" "I" "M" "A" Bad Teecher.

I have come to realize that I have issues as a teacher.

Violet does some of her school

in the kitchen.

But this is not what is bad,

I don't think.

We do several subjects at the kitchen table,

mostly because it is convenient for me to start my part of teaching

while Violet is finishing up her lunch

(No, dear family and friends,

this is NOT when we start school.

She does seat-work that I can explain in between

semi-volcanic-sized-toddler-invoked eruptions before this time.)

But after her lunch,

the baby goes down for her nap

and I can think...

 with some cohesiveness.

History and science are the kitchen table subjects.

Science often involves an experiment anyhow
and these are best conducted in here:

my really and truly science lab.

After this has been squared away

and the house has been deemed somewhat safe again,

I begin my own dangers while Violet does her reading aloud.

 Recently,
I began the process of making cream cheese by pouring a gallon 

of raw milk into a heavy pot.

This gets heated on medium-low just barely,

so it's to 85 degrees F, which doesn't take long!

1/8 tsp. of cream cheese culture is added

(I will have to see if there is a specific name for this and come back and edit.

I borrowed some from my Sister-in-law, who gave me this recipe)

2 - 4 drops of rennet are mixed into 1 Tablespoon of warm water.

(Rennet?  What in the world is rennet?

"I'll have to look that up on the internet later,"

says the mad cooking-scientist.)

After adding the rennet water to the warm milk,

it gets stirred for one minute,

and then set aside somewhere very safe

where little creatures that climb and pillage will never find it

so that it can sit for 8 - 16 hours

(interpretation for me: tomorrow).

Well, now, that was easy!

What's the big deal about making cream cheese?

In this household, the citizens think cream cheese is 

one of the main food groups, so this is great!

And making it this way is so much healthier

because it is made "by the beneficial action of wonderful lactic-acid producing bacteria."

(as I found out in my Nourishing Traditions Cookbook),

rather than buying the store-bought,

which is produced by the use of high pressure.

Meanwhile, the little Chickadee is reading along in her book.

This is the book.

Funny, because her curriculum suggested that she read "Farmer Boy" in this same series,

but I couldn't find it.

It turned up later, but we'd already started this,

and

it being the very first book in the series,

I figured, "Why not?

We'll just read them all."

Herein lies the problem.

I don't remember reading this book.

We may have, but I was very young;

things like this didn't really click in my little pea-brained head back then.

Things really impress me now.

For example:

Violet was reading along 

when I raced over to the table and said,

"What was that?

They're doing WHAT with the pig bladder?

A ball?

Their playing with a pig-bladder ball?!"

Violet, intent upon getting her reading done,

suddenly sensed the deep interest in me

shown by my sudden snatching of her book

and demanded,

"What is a bladder?"

Suffice it to say,

she was not too impressed with their play equipment.

The snatching does not end there.

"Oh, isn't that great!  I should write that down somewhere."

Another time...

"What did they do with the babies

when they all got together for a party at Grandma's?

Put them where?

Let me see.

Let me see.

Aw, look at all the babies in rows!

They didn't have baby-sitters,

so they laid them on the bed in rows.

Isn't that funny!"

Violet has become pretty defensive of her reading book.

It's getting too many dish-water finger stains on it.

I never realized how many great things are in these books.

And then it happened.

I was peacefully working away over on my side of the kitchen

when I heard her read,

  "When the grass was tall and thick in the woods and the cows were giving plenty of milk, that was the time to make cheese.  

  Somebody must kill a calf, for cheese could not be made without rennet, and rennet is the lining of a young calf's stomach.  The calf must be very young, so that it had never eaten anything but milk."

The book was attacked again.

Then I noticed the label on my rennet.

"Ahhh, is that why it says 'Veal Rennet'

That is really amazing!  I wonder how they ever figured that out."

As Violet continued reading,

I felt as if I had just done the same things as Ma,

although in a much easier way.

We didn't have to get together with Uncle Henry and Grandpa

to see who wanted to spare a young calf so that we might all 

have some rennet for our cheese.

After the allotted time, my cream cheese had certainly separated into a

"smooth quivery mass."

I also scooped out my cheese

and let it drain in my cloth,

a jelly stand/bag.

The whey drips out through the bag into a bowl...

and I keep adding more into the bag,

letting it settle down into it,

until it all fit,

just right.

This sat draining for about 12 hours

to make sure it was good and dry.

I tasted the whey.

Yuck!

I took a drink of water rather quickly.

When Violet later read,

"The first day Ma made cheese,

Laura tasted the whey.  She tasted it without saying anything to Ma,

and when Ma turned around and saw her face, Ma laughed."

I understand, Laura.

 I saved the whey, nontheless, because it is very healthy.

Nourishing Traditions Cookbook says that 1 Tbs. of it in water is good 

for digestion and keeps muscles young.   

It also quotes:

"Old Par, (an English peasant) who lived to the age of 152 years and 9 months, existed and even thrived on a diet of 'subrancid cheese and milk in every form, coarse and hard bread and small drink, generally sour whey,' as William Harvey wrote... 'On this sorry fare, but living in his home, free from care, did this poor man attain such length of days.' Terence McLaughlin A Diet of Tripe."

So I used some of it in our dessert

and froze the rest,

to be inserted in other unsuspecting recipes.

Long live my wee folk!

After the 12 hours of draining was past,

the cream cheese got put in the mixer and whipped up

with a little bit of mineral salt.

(This amount is supposed to make about 5 8oz. containers.

It looked about right.)

And the taste...

...was incredible!

Violet might not be so pleased with my

snatching at her school books

or making her repeat what she just read so I can hear it again,

but I have to say that she was impressed with the cream cheese.

Our next chapter looks like this:

she'll not have to worry about my trying to do any of that!

(Thank you sincerely to all the great advice in the previous post.  It was very helpful.
Also, today is the last day to sign up for the giveaway <HERE>.)

Linked to:  Many little blessings: Helpful-homeschool-hints
Funky Junk Interiors: sns 
Home is where my story begins: Happy-Friday
Simply Sweet Home: Friday-favorites
Bella Vita: Fresh-clean-and-pure-Friday
Stuff-and-Nonsense: Fridays-unfolded
 Common Ground: Vintage-inspiration-Friday
Diary of a Stay At Home Mom: Cooking-Thursday
Raising Homemakers: Homemaking-link-up

Saved by Love Creations: Thrifty-Thursday-blog-hop
And to:

Below are 

two of the items mentioned in this blog

that I find immensely helpful: