I made my own cheese the other day. That sounds 10 times more impressive than it actually was as I have discovered the easiest way to make cheese. Ok to be fair, it isn’t so much a cheese as a strained yoghurt. But, it is amazing and rivals any of the expensive goats cheeses you see in the shops.
Labneh is a Middle Eastern yoghurt cheese and is often rolled into balls and soaked in olive oil and/or covered in beautiful spices. As it is essentially made from yoghurt, it therefore has all the health and pro-biotic benefits of yoghurt, making it not only taste amazing, but great for your digestive system as well.
Making cheese yourself not only gives you a lovely feeling of accomplishment but also allows you to understand what is exactly in this product that you may consume on a regular basis (or if you are anything like me consume on a daily/hourly basis). Use as an impressive dip, in salads, as topping on a savoury tart or mixed into an omelette.
Homemade labneh
(Preparation time: 5 minutes, leaving time: 36 hours)
Ingredients
500ml sheeps yoghurt
1 tsp salt
3 tbs olive oil
5 sprigs of lemon thyme
Method
Place the yoghurt and salt into a bowl and stir well. Line a sieve with a muslin cloth (or if you don’t have a muslin cloth, any clean piece of fabric will do) and put the yoghurt into the cloth, folding it up over the yoghurt. Set the sieve on a bowl for the excess liquid to drip through and place in a fridge for 36 hours. To help the draining of the yoghurt process, squeeze the cloth around the yoghurt every 2 hours or so to remove the excess liquid. Once you have achieved a firmer cheese like substance you can proudly say you have made labneh. To serve, use two spoons and scoop out ball like pieces. Place in a flat dish and cover with olive oil and thyme. Should last one and half weeks in the fridge. Enjoy!
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Katinka, nice to meet you!
Would love to try it out myself!!!
Wow, homemade cheese? Interesting
Hi there – great website and recipes. Could this work with cows milk yoghurt as sheeps yoghurt is rare around here (though I live in NZ where there are millions of sheep!)
Thanks Selena!! It should work with cows milk, try a greek style yoghurt – the taste will just be a bit different. Sheeps yoghurt is a bit hard to come by, however you should be able to find it at health food shops and more boutique fruit and veg shops. Good luck!!
This labneh is as delicious as any of those you buy for a lot of money in glass jars, what’s more you could add chili or garlic or any other addictive flavours, I recommend it to anyone!