We’re in the midst of a two week lesson on kefir in the Cultured Dairy and Basic Cheese eCourse. I shared troubleshooting and tips, how to make kefir cream, how to make kefir ice cream (yeah — probiotic ice cream!), how to make kefir cheese, and how to make kefir cheese balls. The weekly free video is an excerpt from this lesson — you get to see how I make kefir (or yogurt) cheese balls.
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Traditional Cheese Preservation
What I show you in the video above, and the recipe below, is a traditional Middle Eastern method of preserving yogurt cheese that requires no refrigeration. My family still follows it to this day. My grandmother and namesake, Tata Wardee, who has passed away, always had jars full of yogurt cheese balls available to add to our plates at breakfast, lunch and dinner!
The cheese is salted and soured, both of which are means of preservation — but then when fashioned into balls, the balls are submerged into extra virgin olive oil, a protective brine of sorts.
The kefir cheese for this method needs to hang and drip for over 2 days, so it will be quite dry. Otherwise, the balls won’t hold together in the brine. Because of this additional hanging time, it may be quite sour. If you are leery of the tang, try it with yogurt instead, which will always be more mild.
Or, if you have cold storage with room for a hanging bag of cheese, you can drip out the whey while fermentation is suspended — meaning sourness won’t develop during the hanging time.
Kefir/Yogurt Cheese Balls
- very dry kefir cheese, made from hanging* from 1/2 gallon of kefir
- 1/4 teaspoon+ sea salt (if not already salted)
- 1-1/2 cups+ of extra virgin olive oil
- quart size jar with tight-fitting lid
*Hanging Instructions: Put a colander inside a big pot or bowl. Line it with two layers of 90-count cheesecloth. Carefully pour the kefir into the cheesecloth-lined colander. Tie up the ends of the cheesecloth and tuck them inside the colander. Hang the bag of cheese up, over the pot (you can remove the colander) for more than 2 days, until the whey no longer drips out and until the cheese is quite dry.
If you have not already salted the kefir cheese, do so. Starting with 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt, salt to taste.
Put the olive oil into the jar. With your hands, create individual balls of kefir cheese, about a tablespoon each. Plunge the balls into the olive oil one at a time. When all balls are in the jar, top off with additional olive oil, as needed. Cover tightly. Store in a pantry cupboard. Burp as needed. Keeps for a few weeks, at least, under normal pantry conditions, but more likely longer.
Serve at breakfast with any kind of eggs or breakfast meat, as a fermented side dish with lunch sandwiches or salads, and even at dinner next to grilled meats and rice. Not to mention for a snack with veggies or fruit! The sky’s the limit how you can enjoy kefir cheese balls. I hope you do!
What About You?
Have you made yogurt/kefir cheese balls before? If not, are you willing to try them? When you do, come back and let me know what you think!
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Thanks for the recipe – I have never tried making these cheese balls…yet!
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M.E. — You’re welcome! I hope you like them!
This is totally brilliant! I have made yogurt cheese a couple times, but I only strained it long enough to simulate cream cheese. My kids love it. I have been adding garlic and herbs since my kids love it. Can I use cheese balls in this recipe that have had garlic and fresh thyme added? I just like the taste, but I am concerned that something in the herbs might provoke spoilage….What do you think?
I think herbs and garlic would be fine. It is worth a try. Sound yummy!
No, I haven’t made them before, but have made the yogurt cheese. Cannot wait to try this and am especially happy that I can store them somewhere besides the fridge!
I will need to make less than you, however, as I get a much smaller quantity of milk for yogurt/kefir making. (I guess I could just buy the best organic yogurt I can find, though?)
If I do make a smaller batch, couldn’t I add to the total as I am able to make more?
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Clee — Yes, you can add to the total as you go.
We tend to eat ours up.
However, I LOVE this idea to use up extra milk and store it without refrigeration! I hope tp try it this week.
Thanks so much for sharing your grandmother’s tricks with us again. (Those are the best kinds!!! May our children and grandchildren always say its so!)
Pamela
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Pamela — May our offspring say it’s so, too!
I read something similar on Dom’s kefir making site and I have kefir cheese balls in extra-virgin olive oil that I intend to leave there for 10 years. He said they would taste like blue cheese!
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Wow — That’s awesome! It would be hard to wait for 10 years. You’re really going to do that?
If I live that long!
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Once you eat these, what do you do with the oilve oil?
Heather — Do what you’d normally do, saute, dressings, etc. It is almost like the olive oil didn’t get used at all previously because it is almost entirely still available, with the exception of the small amount drizzled on the balls. Or, in my case, I use it a little as I go. If I scoop out a few balls of cheese to have with eggs, I drizzle some of the olive oil on my eggs, too.
Do you think you could reuse the olive oil for one more batch?
Rhonda — Yes! But I’d strain it so it is pure again. That way you won’t have any little floaters near the top in the presence of oxygen spoiling.
I just made these this morning — finger licking good! I used a combination of powdered kelp and sea salt for seasoning. They are screaming to me marinara sauce!
Kelly
I’m in the process of making your recipe for raw goat milk hard cheese. It has just one more day to go. Could I store this cheese in olive oil or haven’t you ever tried it?
Yes! I do it all the time.
Wardee, you’re awesome in every way!
can I do this withcream cheese?I have many many poundsin t freezer but am moving. I have kefir going too as well as yogurt but my concern is the cream cheese and how long it will store this way?
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