How to Make Cheese from Yogurt

Published on Tuesday, July 21, 2009, by CHOW Video Team / Edit Post

How to Make Cheese from Yogurt

Karen Solomon, author of Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It, starts with 32 ounces of yogurt, which she strings up like an outlaw. Once the liquid has drained you’re left with a tangy, spreadable cheese.

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POST A COMMENT |9 Comments

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  • "I prefer full-fat yogurt". Really?

  • Sorry but this is not yogurt cheese, this is plain old strained yogurt :)

  • If I'm going to eat it with bread I mix about a teaspoon of salt in the yogurt and then put it in the towel/cheese cloth or even a sheet of strong paper towel lining a strainer and back in the fridge (does it's thing overnight!)

  • I love Chow's videos.

    I also truly adore Karen Solomon. I think she'd be a hoot to hang out with.

    Only thing I'd add is that if you use commercial nonfat yogurt with gelatin (that's most of them), you might need much more than 6 - 8 hours. It will work eventually, but I've had it take upwards of 24 hours. In that case, I drain it in the fridge.

  • I find Greek yogurt works better than Balkan style, and I also dampen the cloth first with salted water (I use a quadruple layered cheesecloth). This flavours the cheese a bit, and the dampness prevents sticking, so you get all the yogurt back.

  • If we leave it for longer does it become paneer?

  • I don't know about soy yogurt, but have strained real yogurt (including fat free) with coffee filters for years, and have never had an issue. The yogurt I use has milk and yogurt culture as the only ingredients--no thickeners or binders.

    It's good on toast, as a replacement for butter in certain recipes, and for making frosting.

  • kestral11-

    Soy yogurt usually has some all sort of binders or thickeners that would probably interfere with the liquid separating out. The same can be an issue with lower fat cow's milk yogurt too.

    You could always try with a small batch to see what happens.

  • would this technique work with soy yogurt, to make soy cheese? or does that not work quite the same as dairy?