Smarticle

Cheese making is something that I do at least once a week or more now. Cream cheese, ricotta, farmers cheese, goat cheeses, and feta are my latest creations. I even had my husband build me a “cheese house” to age them. Which gives us great fresh made cow and goat’s milk cheese to munch on in salads, in savory tartes and spread fresh on baguettes with jam or honey. But it leaves my refrigerator clogged with a myriad of repurposed glass bottles of whey—the natural juicy by products that are squeezed out to make cheese. Whey is full of protein, essential amino acids, and minerals thus it is very nutritious, and you know how I hate to waste. So what do you do when you have “Way too much whey?”

Mayonnaise with Whey

1 whole egg, at room temperature
1 egg yolk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon Dijon-type mustard
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon Homemade whey
Sea salt and and freshly ground black pepper to taste
¾ cup olive oil or a light seed oil, or a mix of the two or three (coconut oil is great too)

Place egg, egg yolk, mustard, salt and lemon juice and whey in your food processor. Process until well blended, about 30 seconds. With the motor running, add the oil blend drop by drop (some food processors have a hole at the bottom of the cylindrical part that does this automatically). Taste and check seasoning. You may want to add more salt and lemon juice. If you have added whey, let the mayonnaise sit at room temperature, well covered, for 7 hours before refrigerating. With whey added, mayonnaise will keep several months and will become firmer over time. Without whey, mayonnaise will keep, refrigerated, for about 2 weeks.

Buttermilk
Add ¼ cup of whey to a liter (quart) of milk and leave on the counter for 24 hours.

Sweet potato drink—a fermented drink made from grated sweet potatoes, sugar, nutmeg, whey and egg white. The recipe is in Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz (a great book that I read and reread all the time)

Feta brine- add 10 percent salt to whey and make a brine for your feta, add thyme, rosemary, herbs of your choice and black peppercorns.

Starting next batch of cheese: great for breaking the curds and whey apart, just pour in enough to your hot milk until they separate. It will be more whey than if you use white vinegar or lemon juice because of their acid concentration. Strain through cheese cloth and you will have even more whey!

Whey Bread—substitute 1 cup of whey for water or milk in your favorite bread, roll, pita, etc recipe

Protein shakes—add to smoothies

Kvass (stale bread) fermented drink which you can add whey to start it or soak the bread or seeds. You can make kvass with caraway seeds, honey, barley, raisins, mint just about anything.

Beet Kvass—a fabulous drink and I use the leftover beets to make borscht where I add a dash of the purple beet whey at the serving table. Its gorgeous.

Whey pie crust
2 teaspoons white vinegar into
1/4 cup water chilled (or chilled whey without vinegar), put in the freezer for a bit

a stick of butter, cold and cut into pieces
3 Tbsp of leaf lard, cold

(about) 2 cups of flour, pinch of salt, baking powder, 3 Tbsp sugar (omit sugar for a savory crust), mix and put in freezer for 20 minutes

cut lard and butter into flour mix with a pastry cutter, then add water mix and form into a ball, add more water or flour if necessary. roll into a ball, press down into hockey puck form and put in fridge for an hour.

Chinese stir fry—when I need a bit of juice to keep the stir fry from sticking, I add whey

In place of wine in most cookery recipes. Like spaghetti sauces!

Chili—to thin out chili, I add a cup of whey and let it cook into the mix

Soak grains, rice and beans overnight or for a few days to increase their nutritional power, then cook as usual or make Dosas or Idlis, Indian flat breads. I like to grind up yellow beans that have been soaked in whey to make a thin pancake batter.

Soak thick rolled or steel cut oatmeal overnight

Irish Oatmeal
a recipe from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon

1 cup whole oats

2 cups warm filtered water

4 Tablespoons whey, yogurt, kefir or buttermilk

(or if severe milk allergies substitute lemon juice or vinegar)

1 teaspoon sea salt

2 cups filtered water

Place oats on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees until they turn light brown. Process roasted oats to a medium grind in a home grinder. (The resultant meal should be part flour, part small bits.) Soak from 7-24 hours in a warm place in 2 cups warm water with the fermenting agent (whey, yogurt, kefir, buttermilk, vinegar or lemon juice.) The fine flour particles will rise to the top and may be lifted off carefully with a spoon. Bring additional 2 cups water and sea salt to a boil, add soaked oatmeal and cook over very low heat stirring frequently for about 10 minutes.

Muesli Recipe
From Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon

1 cup rolled oats

¼ cup crispy almond slivers (see recipe below)

¼ cup dried sweetened coconut meat or commercial dried unsweetened coconut

½ tsp cinnamon

1 ½ cups warm filtered water plus 2 Tbsp whey, yogurt, kefir or buttermilk

½ tsp salt

1 cup filtered water

¼ cup raisins

1 tbsp flax seeds optional

Mix oats with almonds, cinnamon and coconut. Combine oat mixture with warm water mixture, cover and soak at room temperature for 7-14 hours. Bring an additional 1 cup of water to boil with sea salt. Add soaked oats and raisins, reduce heat, cover and simmer several minutes. Meanwhile, grind optional flax seeds in a mini grinder. Remove cereal from heat and stir in flax meal. Serve with butter or cream and natural sweetener like Rapadura, date sugar, maple syrup, maple sugar or raw honey.

Tags: baking powder, coconut, cup olive oil, cup water, honey, India, leaf lard, milk, oats, pie crust, pinch of salt, potatoes, protein, rolled oats, stick of butter, train, white vinegar