Tag Archives: Feta

Coconut Feta Cheese Update and Gnome Project.

Munchkin.More.EatingLast week, I wrote about making coconut milk cheese – feta style…this is the update. After the three days of dry brining, I took out the cheese and cut it into pieces like so:

Coconut Feta Cheese.
Coconut Feta Cheese.

The cheese had dried to a firm consistency and so it was easy enough to cut without too much crumbling.  I then placed them in 7% brine; one jar with bay leaves and the second flavoured with whole black peppers.

Flavoured Coconut Feta in Brine.
Flavoured Coconut Feta in Brine.

I am going to leave the jars out at room temperature so that they can ferment further for two weeks.  After that, I will I will let them continue to ferment for several months in a cooler area (probably the refrigerator).  Hope they taste good after all the waiting!!

Gnome Update:

Gnome.Doing.Magic

Gnome has started on a project where he is digging out a small pond next to the house:

Pond Digging.
Pond Digging.

He has also started up some lotus seeds in a basin which have germinated and come up nicely:

Growing Lotus in Basin.
Growing Lotus in Basin.

The plan is to have a lotus pond next to the house.  Apart from the beautiful flowers, we also want to grow them for food.  We would eventually like to make our own lotus paste to make Chinese sweets:

Lotus Paste.
Lotus Paste.

This was sent to us as a gift all the way from Singapore; I am saving it to make moon cake this year.  Also, lotus seeds are really tasty in Chinese soups…yes, you can actually buy these in Belize!

Dried Lotus Seeds.
Dried Lotus Seeds.

Lotus root is also quite a treat and I would love to grow some of our own because I haven’t eaten it for over a decade since I came to Belize.  It will probably take over a year before we can harvest any to eat.

Aaaaargh…more waiting!!

Making Coconut Milk Cheese: Feta Style.

Munchkin.Eating.BunHello!! We are back in action with more interesting things to show you because we have procured a camera. I finally bit the bullet and bought a new android phone…one of those blocky looking things with a camera (of course) and many things that do not concern me like the Android and the numerous applications. Gnome is messing around with it in his Gnomish way and actually having a lot of fun with the gadget!

Anyway, we have been making cheese out of coconut milk. Coconut milk, along with the cream, can be hand-squeezed out of grated coconut.

Grated Coconut.
Grated Coconut.

This liquid eventually separates into the thick, white cream at the top and the coconut milk at the bottom. We sell off our coconut cream to the local market as Belizeans like to cook their rice and beans in this.  For the Toledo readers, you can buy this from Green Supaul’s in Punta Gorda.

Coconut Cream For Sale.
Coconut Cream For Sale.

We kept the coconut milk until we had acquired a volume of about 2 gallons (8 litres) which was roughly equivalent to about 100 coconuts in total. The coconut milk is high in protein (similar to milk) and so we decided to try to make “cheese” out of it.

Coconut Milk in Pot.
Coconut Milk in Pot.

First of all, we placed the coconut milk in a stainless steel pot and boiled the milk until it produced curds which floated up to the surface. This takes about 30 minutes and you have to keep on stirring to prevent the curds from sticking to the bottom of the pot.

Coconut Curds on Surface of Boiled Coconut Milk.
Coconut Curds on Surface of Boiled Coconut Milk.

We allowed this to cool down for about two hours and then drained the curds into a cotton towel on a sieve (you can use cheese cloth…we just didn’t have any).

Draining Coconut Curd.
Draining Coconut Curd.

This was left to drain overnight and the liquid part, the whey, was collected in a basin under the dripping curds. At this point, it looks and tastes very similar to ricotta cheese and you can eat it at this point if you prefer. We gave the whey to our animals to drink.

Coconut Ricotta.
Coconut Ricotta.

The next morning, we wrapped the drained curd in a towel and placed it between two clean blocks of wood and applied a weight on it (5 gallon carboy containing wine). After 24 hours, we removed the weight.

Pressing Coconut Cheese.
Pressing Coconut Cheese.

To make this into feta-style cheese, we removed the coconut cheese from the cloth and placed it in a clean glass container. Next, we added about 1 cup of salt to dry salt it.

Dry Salting Coconut Feta.
Dry Salting Coconut Feta.
Coconut Feta, Unsalted.
Coconut Feta, Unsalted.
Coconut Feta Salted.
Coconut Feta, Salted.

This was done this morning and we will leave it to salt for three days. After that, we will cut the cheese into cubes and store them in brine.  We will let you know what it tastes like…so far so good.