# WAAAAY too much Whey



## [email protected]

Wondering what everyone does with the whey when you make cheese?

Also, have been making this cheese: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wildernesssgal/sets/72157615418266472/detail/

Was wondering if I can use the whey (still pretty cloudy) from this to make vinegar cheese found here: http://dairygoatinfo.com/index.php/topic,9833.0.html

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Vinegar Cheese
Bring FRESH milk to about 185 degrees over medium heat in stainless steel pot, stirring constantly. Stir while slowly pouring 1/4 or up to 1/2 cup white vinegar per gallon of milk. Remove from heat. The milk will begin to separate into fine curds and whey. 
I usually put my pot onto a rack and cover the pot with a splatter screen. Allow to cool until it's safe to pour. Pour into a fine cheesecloth (cotton handkerchief or muslin) lined stainless steel colander. Tie the ends and hang to allow to drain for 30 minutes to two hours. The longer you allow to strain the drier and more crumbly the cheese. Once done draining turn cheese into a mixing bowl. Add 1 tsp Mrs. Dash Italian Medley or Mrs. Dash Garlic seasoning, 1 tsp minced garlic and 1 tsp salt per gallon of milk used. We LOVE this cheese on crackers or salads, etc. Keeps one week refrigerated, or can be frozen in smaller portions for later. We also make this cheese and just season with salt to use as ricotta. Use the whey to make pancakes or biscuits or french bread!

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The part I'm wondering about is it says to use FRESH milk. It takes 36 to 48 hrs for the cheese to separate from they whey and another day or so to drain in the first recipe. So it's not *fresh*, but was started with fresh milk.


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## hsmomof4

Not sure I understand...are you thinking about using the whey left from your first recipe in place of the milk in the second??? If so, I don't think that would work, but probably someone else will have a better idea than me.


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## NubianSoaps.com

All whey has milk solids left in it, otherwise it would be yellow water colored. 

Just boil your whey, add an acid like vinegar, let cool. Drain through cheese cloth, put the small amount of ricotta this makes in the freezer, each time you make cheese, use your whey in this fashion and soon you have nearly free ricotta to sell or use. It freezes fine and when you defrost it you can not tell it is frozen in layers.

IF you have tons of milk, don't toss it if you don't have time to make cheese....just make full fat ricotta which is what that first recipe is, makes alot more than just whey ricotta.

Use the water which is just riboflavin rich liquid, from draining your whey to water your hens or other animals. Vicki


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## Linda Carney

I generally use whey instead of water for bread making, it makes the texture lighter and the taste richer. --Linda


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## dvm-mommy

Hey..why haven't I wandered onto this forum yet?? 

Whey...we use in bread baking (and we bake A LOT of bread) and also to jumpstart fermented veggies (think pickled "anything"). We just made a huge batch of sauerkraut and pickled beets/turnips. My family thinks it is the best sauerjraut they have ever tasted and so much better for you to as it is jam packed with macrobiotics unlike the traditional pickeld stuff from store which yes ,has the sour taste but is essentially "dead". 

Course we just use the clear yellowish whey we get from straining yogurt through cheesecloth to make homemade cream cheese...I liek Vicki's idea of making the ricotta and freezing in layers- COOL! I gave up on ricotta cause the yield was so teeny...but now I am inspired again :biggrin


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## Sondra

I also will feed whey to my baby goats.


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## homeacremom

Our chickens- layers and broilers- get whey soaked grains along with free ranging the pasture. 
When I get too much to use that way it goes on the tomatoes after it cools. 

The layers get clabbered skim milk as available. We started separating and making butter leading to lots of skim milk a couple weeks after the intense heat hit,and the clabbered milk increased production! 

If your whey is white and cloudy keep fiddling with your cheese recipe. Most recipes should yield cheese and yellow translucent whey. If it's milky white somewhere in the process the acidity, times, or rennet timing or amount are off and not binding the fats and solids properly.


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## Ashley

You just need to get some chickens!


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## prairie nights

Pigs love the whey too and grow great on it. I had to cut back giving it to my dogs since they got FAT quickly ! My friend makes the ricotta recipe that calls for whole milk with half milk half whey and it turns out very creamy.


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## racyford

We also use whey to boil pasta for spaghetti. We like it especially well with the whole wheat noodles.


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## [email protected]

Ashley said:


> You just need to get some chickens!


LOL  Right now I also have WAAAAY too many chickens. That's what I've been doing with it, putting it in their water.

Sondra-do you warm the whey for the baby goats and put it in their lambar or just add it to their water bucket?

Will have to give some to the Anatolian pup and see if he likes it. hehe Don't know why he wouldn't-he likes EVERYTHING! Have read about using it for pickling in a preserving book I have (French book-can't remember the name), but not doing any pickling this year.  And will have to try the pasta--sounds YUMMY!

Thanks for all the ideas.


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## eliya

Whey.... Alwheys too much of it around here. I mean 'always'... We use it to boil noodles or rice. Our favorite way to use whey is in muffins (see recipe below).

When we still have too much left over (which is almost always), we will feed some to the dog, some to the cat, some to the chickens and then the goats absolutely LOVE it. I try not to let them drink too much at a time, but they usually demand to have it all. I once had my two MiniNubian bucks drink about 4 gallons of whey at once. I could not get the bucket away from them! I don't think it caused any harm. I don't even remember them getting diarrhea like they would have if that had been milk. 

dvm-mommy, do you have the recipe for the sauerkraut with whey? I'd love to try that!

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Here's the recipe for elderberry whey muffins:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 t baking soda
1 t ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp cloves (opt)
1/4 c dried elderberries (this is approximate - do what looks 'right') - can use 1/2 c raisins instead
1 egg, beaten
1 cup to 1 1/4 cup whey or yogurt (goat of course!)
3 T oil or melted butter
1/4 cup honey

Mix all dry ingredients thoroughly, including elderberries. Make a well in the center and add egg, whey, oil and honey. Mix only until dry ingredients are moist. Fill greased muffin pans and bake at 375 for about 15 minutes. Good hot or cold. Excellent with a glass of cold goats milk. Makes about 10 muffins.


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## eliya

Oh, and we use whole milk for ricotta. Can get plenty to make two large pans of lasagna from 1 1/2 - 2 gallons of milk. I sometimes will make ricotta with the whey from mozzarella and it's so much more discouraging - only about a 1/4 CUP from the 1 1/2 gallons of whey! Sometimes it's just not worth the effort. The homemade goats milk ricotta does make the BEST manicotti, lasagna, baked spaghetti, etc EVER. Made some of the latter for a family that was swamped with an upcoming wedding, and they just LOVED it. I just prefer to use whole milk to get the ricotta. A lot less work.


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