Let's talk whey

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So what do you all do with your whey?

I made my first batch of mozzarella last night, and I really want to do something with all of that left over whey.

I'm thinking about a base for a ham/potato/leek soup?

What do you all do?
 
I haven't made my own mozzarella yet (the kit from AHS is a Christmas gift for the bride), but I am very interested in the responses here. Subscribed!
 
I will sometimes make ricotta cheese with the leftover whey from my cheese. It's really easy to do, but it does take about a day or so. Simply save the leftover whey and throw it in a pot overnight. You can leave the whey out at room temperature. Then, bring the whey almost to a boil. It'll get really foamy as it is ready to come off the heat. Once you get to about 180F, take it off the stove and allow it to cool back down to room temp. Then, simply strain the curds of out of the whey and allow the curds to drain. You've just made ricotta cheese!
 
I will sometimes make ricotta cheese with the leftover whey from my cheese.

I make ricotta, too, but that's about it. I did see a recipe for whey bread but I've never tried it.

Yep, I did make ricotta already (but didn't get much yield after heating to ~195*F).

But I'm still left with a ton of whey!

p.s. the mozzarella tasted awesome in a basil, tomato, mozzarella, and red onion salad with a splash of olive oil and red wine vinegar.
 
I may try a pizza dough tonight using whey instead of water...

I'm assuming the high protein whey would be good for the dough?

2 cups flour
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp yeast
1 Tbsp olive oil
3/4 cup whey heated to ~105

If I do it, I'll let you know how it compares to my base pizza dough.
 
I will sometimes make ricotta cheese with the leftover whey from my cheese. It's really easy to do, but it does take about a day or so. Simply save the leftover whey and throw it in a pot overnight. You can leave the whey out at room temperature. Then, bring the whey almost to a boil. It'll get really foamy as it is ready to come off the heat. Once you get to about 180F, take it off the stove and allow it to cool back down to room temp. Then, simply strain the curds of out of the whey and allow the curds to drain. You've just made ricotta cheese!
Man, I wish I had read this last week.

I poured the whey out after 2 hours since nothing was happening...

I recently read another ricotta recipe that said ricotta is made using 1 gal of whole milk and either 1 qt or 1/2 gal buttermilk then adding 1/4 C vinegar, letting it curd then drain for a couple (3-4) of hours before rinsing.

Your post doesn't mention buttermilk. Do you use it or not? :confused:
 
There is a guy in Astoria, Oregon who makes cranberry whey wine. I have no idea how he does it.

Also, the Norwegians make a cheese out of whey that is called gjetost. It is usually in any cheese making cook book. Basically, you spend 14 hours caramelizing it, and it is ready to eat. Here in the States, Ski Queen sells it as a little 2x2x2 cube in a red wrapper. http://www.norwegiancheeses.co.uk/ski_queen.htm
 
Man, I've had gjetost, it's a unique cheese, that's for sure! The color is absolutely amazing - kinda like a cube of melted yellow and brown crayons. Now while that may not sound appetizing, the cheese itself is quite delicious. Thanks for the information on it being made from whey! I hope the recipe is in the "200 Easy Homemade Cheese Recipes" book by Debra Amrein-Boyes, which is currently speeding towards my house from Amazon.com.
 
bit of a late response, but i use whey for just about everything. when i have it, that is. I made a killer spaghetti sauce, really good bread, works great as a soup stock, cooked pasta with it. it all turned out fantastic. basically, anywhere you would use water or chicken stock, whey fits right in.
 
There is a guy in Astoria, Oregon who makes cranberry whey wine. I have no idea how he does it.

Follow up on this: if you goggle "whey wine", the first hit is a PDF of research by OSU in 1977 to turn whey into wine. There was an energy crisis at the time (wow, have times changed), and dehydrating whey into powder wasn't very economical...

The second hit is to the cranberry whey wine I was talking about (shows up as chocolate wine).

Between the two, I actually started a batch two weeks ago. I didn't really do a good job because I kind of expected a failure on my hands, so I didn't add sugar or anything beyond cranberry juice, sulfites, and yeast. The buttermilk/rennet whey started bubbling in days, but the citric acid whey took a little longer. Kind of surprised me when they did. Both are half gallon batches. I have no idea if it has spoiled yet or not.
 
Whey is so great to use in lacto fermented veggies (think sauerkraut) and is great to soak grains in before cooking! There is a drink called beet kvass that is amazing. Whey is added to that. So many options! Hope that helps. I almost cringed to think of all that whey tossed! =)
 
whey is great as animal "water"-chickens, cats, dogs-soak grain in it for others ie goats cows pigs!-also great in place of water in bread-or you can add a Kool-Aid pack to it-chill it and drink it!!! Yummy! also good as a plant fertilizer!! i have not had any luck making ricotta from it so far- but only tried once! Good Luck!!!

MNBlonde
 
I have used my whey in bread making and for animal feed and for making ricotta cheese.
But my ricotta is different than the one described here.
take leftover whey, add about 2 or 3 cups whole milk and then bring to boil and add citric acid or lemon juice or even vinegar in a pinch and let it sit till curds form and then drain thru tea towel lined strainer. The family loved it compared to the one from the store which they hated. It was great in the lasagna! And even better in the spinach/ricotta stuffed shells.
 
I have used my whey in bread making and for animal feed and for making ricotta cheese.
But my ricotta is different than the one described here.
take leftover whey, add about 2 or 3 cups whole milk and then bring to boil and add citric acid or lemon juice or even vinegar in a pinch and let it sit till curds form and then drain thru tea towel lined strainer. The family loved it compared to the one from the store which they hated. It was great in the lasagna! And even better in the spinach/ricotta stuffed shells.

i usually do this with my whey. turns out pretty good, but doesn't have too long of a shelf life, with all the natural bugs killed off. :mug:
 
i usually do this with my whey. turns out pretty good, but doesn't have too long of a shelf life, with all the natural bugs killed off. :mug:

LOL I don't think any of my fresh cheese ever last long enuf to get bad! I only make ricotta if I am gonna make ravioli or lasagna.
And for those recipes that encourage folks to use whey in their sauerkraut recipes and for lacto-bac. fermenting of pickles- don't do it they are so gross and nasty and slimy- most good lacto fermenting recipes do not call for whey and they pickle with a nice crisp clean taste.
And a good sauerkraut should only have good salt and cabbage and maybe some caraway seeds. Of course I only store my lacto fermented veggies and sauerkraut in the fridge as cooking it to can it for long storage kills the good bugs too.
 
I make cheese about once a week from my Jersey cow and was also looking for something to do with all the whey. Since we can only eat so much cheese and ricotta ourselves, I decided to look up making a fermented brew.
This is my recipe:
I ripened my whey overnight with the help of 1/2 cup of yogourt. Then I added 4 kg of sugar, 1 cup molasses, 2 kg raisins and champagne yeast and wine yeast. It started bubbling after a day and now I'm waiting for the results.
I'll keep you posted. It smells good so far!
I was to encouraged to experiment after making a successful batch of my grand-mother's wine from raisins, bananas, oranges and lemons. Really excellent!
I also just bottled a batch of dark ale and it turned out great.
 
I make cheese about once a week from my Jersey cow and was also looking for something to do with all the whey. Since we can only eat so much cheese and ricotta ourselves, I decided to look up making a fermented brew.
This is my recipe:
I ripened my whey overnight with the help of 1/2 cup of yogourt. Then I added 4 kg of sugar, 1 cup molasses, 2 kg raisins and champagne yeast and wine yeast. It started bubbling after a day and now I'm waiting for the results.
I'll keep you posted. It smells good so far!
I was to encouraged to experiment after making a successful batch of my grand-mother's wine from raisins, bananas, oranges and lemons. Really excellent!
I also just bottled a batch of dark ale and it turned out great.

How did this turn out?
 
Finally did a cheese and have almost a gallon of whey. Not really enough to do a ricotta.
Any other applications where whey can be used instead of water? I've actually had difficulty thinking of what I use water for.

I will be freezing cubes of it and using it, instead of ice in a smoothie. Particularly those that use milk or yogurt as a liquid base.

And I found this http://www.dbicusa.org/documents/Uses of Whey in the Farmstead Setting.pdf
which seems interesting. Pretty much says what was said here in some cases.
 
This is related to Kumis and is a Russian/Asian drink. Traditionally it is made from mare's milk which is sweeter than cows so you will need to add some sugar. I would boil down a small sample to see what your original sugar content was or maybe just guess and see. LMK!
 
I think that whey is great when making porridge-like starches: risotto, polenta, grits, etc. Give them a nice tartness.
 
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