Not to be confused with cheesy potatoes, Potato Cheese is a fermented food that is probably unlike any potato dish you’ve ever had!
Potato Cheese is found on page 102 of Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats
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Ingredients
- 4 cups cooked potatoes peeled
- 2 cups piima milk or kefir (learn how to make kefir)
- 1 tablespoon sea salt
Instructions
The recipe says to “mix ingredients in a food processor,” but I didn’t have one yet, so I just mashed the potatoes by hand, and mixed in my kefir.
Then, cover and let sit at room temp for two days.
Now, it’s time to drain the whey out, so you’re left with potato “cheese.” You know how you can make cream cheese out of yogurt or kefir by tying it up in a little bundle and letting the whey drip out? That’s what you’re doing here. There’s just potatoes inside.
Sally says the best way to do this is to bundle up your potato cheese in a linen towel and tie to a wooden spoon over a bowl. I had neither a linen towel nor a big enough wooden spoon, so I had to make do with paper towels and random kitchen utensils!
Let it drain for several hours, or until whey stops dripping out. Refrigerate in an airtight container.
How’d it go?
The hardest part by far was rigging up the little whey-dripping cheese bundle station. But once I got it to hang there without falling into my pot, it stayed there okay, and the cheese was ready to go in a few hours.
How we liked it
Weeeell… this was… interesting! I thought it smelled good and actually tasted kinda like cheese when I just ate a little fingerful, but when I had it as a side dish with dinner, it was a little… much. Very salty. I think that since it already uses the kefir to lactoferment the potatoes, maybe this recipe doesn’t need quite as much salt. The kefir is already such a strong flavor that it was just all kind of overkill to me. PH agreed that this was just a little too “weird.” 🙂
But, I would make this again. Maybe a smaller batch, with much less salt, and preferably kefir made from fresh milk rather than store-bought. I like trying otu some of the “weirder” recipes in NT, and even though this wasn’t my fave, I still enjoyed the process!
Be sure to check out the other installments of 25 Days of Nourishing Traditions:
- Onion-Cranberry Compote
- Sweet Potato Puree
- Ginger Carrots
- Stuffed Peppers
- Turkey Stock
- Coconut Turkey Soup
- Carrots Vichy
- Breaded Whitefish
- Moussaka Eggplant Casserole
- Breaded Chicken Breasts
- Baked Custard
- Basic Dressing
- Crispy Walnuts
- Zucchini Cakes
- Roman Egg Soup
- Pineapple Vinegar
- Raisin Nut Cookies
- Roast Chicken
- Fruit Custard Cake
- Beurre Blanc
- Fermented Fish Sauce
- Fruit Spice Muffins
- Ginger Tea
You think this would make a good ravioli filling? Perhaps if it was tempered somewhat with tomato sauce it would upgrade from “interesting.”
That’s a GREAT idea! Yes! I think that’s what it needs. Just to be turned into some sort of a sauce or stuffing of some sort. Plain and on its own, this recipe was not my fave, but it definitely has potential.
This is one of the recipes I am very curious to sample at some point. You may be the first person I’ve seen say they have made this. Well done!
I also made this recipe and agree that it is too salty to eat plain as a side dish. I would try and make it into ravioli but the whole point to me is that it is full of probiotics which would die if cooked, so I would rather not do that. But I’m definitely committed to trying out some options. So I’m open to any ideas and if I try anything good myself I’ll post it.
Thanks.
I have made this as well, but I have not had any whey drip out. I used a food processor and with the kefir it became quite a sticky paste (I used new potatoes). I had it hang for a day, but not whey dripped out – maybe I should use older potatoes? The taste is very good – I actually love it……now if I could just get it to be not so pasty.