How to Can Cheese...Even Cream Cheese!

hi cat's cradle here this is going to be a video on canning cheese I have watched many different people who live self-sufficient lifestyles who might even consider themselves Preppers canning cheese and I have had some concerns and have held my tongue and of course very seldom leave any kind of comments on anybody's video especially those that might be perceived as being negative but I I just can't stand it anymore and I have to I have to make this video this is not saying that this is absolutely the right way to do it but I have studied it out in my mind and have thought about these procedures long and hard in order to be able to make the safest product for my family and I believe that or my hope is that I will give you the very best information I can so that you can can cheese safely for your family I do begin a little differently than most people do first of all let me say that I can my cheese and half pint jars I would never can them in jars bigger than that because there is some concern about density of this cheese and I want to be able to get the cheese and the small drawers very hot and just just keep the size small this is kind of unconventional but this is how I start because realize that the people who pack the cheese to ship the bag boy that are the stock boy that unboxed it to put it on the shelf the checker and you may be other members of your family have touched this cheese and there's all kind of germs and bacteria on the outside of the package and so the packages are sealed and I'd have no concern about water getting in there if it does then you know just grate it and use it instead of canning it but I wash all my packages with warm soapy water and rinse them off and let them drain after they drained awhile then I come back with a very clean brand-new dish cloth and dry them off you have to kind of lift up that little place in the back where the package is sealed in order to get the water out of there and then I take them to my clean cutting board and I cut my cheese cubes and blocks and you can see about how big they are these half-pint canning jars have been warming in the oven at about 200 degrees I never heat them any hotter than that in the oven because technically they're not made for being heated with dry heat but $200 200 degrees is not going to impact them significantly I then put them I'm just doing a very small batch here for demonstration purposes for you I take a pan that will allow me to pour water in so that it comes about halfway up the sides of the jars I am using gloves here food service food grade health grade gloves to put the cheese into the jars these joke these gloves are smalls that's prep or a size she's a she's a young woman and they fit her hands well I'm out of the size I use which is larger extra-large so I have cut the wrists of nice gloves in order to keep them for being so uncomfortable and I'm placing the cheese cubes in the jar now the cubes at the bottom are warm and are getting soft even right now so I'm able to push that cheese down every few minutes it softens enough where I can push the cheese down an 8 ounce block of cheese will perfectly fit in one of these jars - about one of these cubes which is not an issue for us because we usually just eat a couple of cubes and then the rest of it will fit fit perfectly in the jars did you just keep pushing them in and mash them down a few cubes will be left and I'll save those as I show you how oh one little cube went for a swim just fish it out if that happens to you we'll eat that or give that to the dogs so a few these kids will be left Oh another one took a swim a few kids will be left and we will fill the tree fill the jars as the cheese melts and sinks down into the jar yes you are seeing right that is cream cheese I'm going to can two jars of cream cheese for you I just cut the blocks up in long strips and then begin mashing them down a jar you will hear other people say that you can't candy cream cheese that is not true now let me give you this little disclaimer the National Food Center for home food preservation says that they have not done any tests to determine if it is safe to kin cheese at home now I need to ask you how long have we been canning home canning in jars in our homes for years and years and years many many decades do you think by now they could have found time to do a test on to determine if canning cheese or canning butter at home is safe I think they probably could have and my premise is that they don't do that because the food the dairy Lobby is so powerful and they don't want them to do that they don't want you to buy these products on sale they don't want you to start call them they want you to go to the store and buy them fresh weekly and I think that's how come tests have never been performed I have determined in my own mind that for my family I feel confident that I can can it safely and I'll tell you a little bit more about that in a few minutes oh I'm just dividing this oh and an 8 ounce block of cream cheese will fit perfectly in those jars as well so I'm going to leave just a little bit out let it melt down and then I'll put the rest in you see the cheddar cheese continues to soften this is sharp cheddar cheese I do not recommend canning that one because the cheese the nature of the cheese is that it has less moisture in it and it's a little bit more crumbly and so it's harder to get it to Mel I really recommend you just canning mild cheddar cheese it seems to work so much better so then just don't don't mind the empty drawers in the back there for another project I just have them heating in the oven the ovens on 200 degrees and I just put put the cheese in there to soften I do not use a wooden implement to mash down my cheese I also do not use anything like a spatula like this how in the world could I be sure that it that's clean in there I've seen people use both of these on videos I would not recommend that I use a little plastic knife like tool that comes with the canning set the ball canning set to mash them like cheese this is not nearly melted enough so I'm not going to mess with this for very long yeah it's still it's still pretty firm but I'm going to check every jar yeah I'm just going to wait for this to soften a little more so that I can show you how I push it down so I'm just going to close close the oven being very careful not to slosh that water around I don't want any water to get in those jars and I'm gonna let it go a few more minutes now you can see I'm holding this in front of the oven door and that's because I am actually sitting in a chair in front of the oven because I want to keep a very very close eye on this I'm just sitting there reading in between times that I'm testing the cheese and it makes it very easy for me just to sit there and peek in now this cheese is softening enough that I can push it down so I'm going to gather up a few blocks of the remaining cheese I have left you can see I'm just sticking the little knife in them and I'm putting them in the jar my camera person will show you that in just one second here and that's probably enough for that jar see I'm adding the cheese at the top it's melting at the bottom and being pushed down some will let it go a few more minutes okay the cream cheese is just about ready and what I want to do is push that cheese down and fill in those gaps down there it's really pretty soft at this point the jar is very hot I'm getting it into those voids so that there's cream cheese in every little space in that jar I'm going to get a little bit more off this cutting board the last little piece and put in there and we will consider that full for that jar I'm just mashing it down trying to pack it in there I'll worry about cleaning off the rim of that jar in a in a minute when the cheddar cheese has been softened I'll bring them all out and get them ready to put the lids and bands on okay the cream cheese is done I'm wiping the rim you will notice with a clean paper towel or napkin I would never grab a wet dishrag out of my sink I would never grab a dish towel to wipe it I pick a new paper towel or a new napkin to do that with to just ensure I'm not transferring any bacteria whatsoever to the room of that jar so on go the hot lids and the hot rings and I won't wait I'll go ahead and put those into my big pot here this is actually my pressure canner but I'm not using it as a pressure canner today I'm using it as a boiling water bath so I get the cream cheese right in and now it's time to go on to the cheddar cheese this cheese has completely melted now you can see how soft it is on the top you will also notice there's a lot of oil that comes out of the cheese do not be tempted to drain that off you want that to stay in your cheese that's what gives it the nice texture when you bite into it after you get through canning the oil will all completely come to the surface of that jar don't worry about it as it cools it will be reabsorbed and redistributed in that cheese just like it's supposed to be I just push down again filling in any gaps I send the cheese that's at the top to the bottom of the jar and it will roll the cheese that's at the bottom to the top it looks like they're still voids left in that cheese but those voids are filled with the oil so it's perfectly packed in there I drop that lid so I'm returning it to the boiling water or the simmering water actually that's in that bowl to be reheated because I want to be sure I didn't pick up any bacteria off my stove even though my stove was thoroughly cleaned before I started and here you go here's the third one it's all just completely melted that's exactly like you want it the jars are very hot I'm going to wipe the rim of this last one make sure to get all the oil off you see how I turn that napkin over and wiped again let's go get that final lid and the last ring and screw it on and now the cheddar cheese is going into the steaming pot you can see the steam rising out of that I keep it just below a boil until I get the pot completely loaded there's a rack in the bottom of this pot so the jars are not sitting directly on the pot bottom that would might cause them to crack now I'm adding more water because I want the water to cover the top of the jar so you see there's about 1 to 2 inches above the top of the jars the water is very hot here's some water that's coming from my boiling water kettle the other water came from the pot that I had the jar is heating in in the oven it was plenty hot okay that looks good they're completely covered so now I'm going to get the lid to the canner and put it on now I have let them simmer the 20 minutes I'm going to set this lid just slightly askew to let most of the steam escape again I did not use this as a pressure canner I used it as a boiling water best there was no looking at the gauge no putting of the valve on or anything I just used this like a pot with a lid the steam is escaping I open my microwave which is above my stove and that's where I set the lid for the pressure canner just to keep it out of my way and off the counter I lift up so I'm not dragging that pot against my ceramic top stove and I pull it off the heating element you can see it's still bubbling just a little bit there's a little glistening on the water yes sometimes a little bit of oil escapes from the jars don't worry about that and I'm going to let them sit for about five minutes before I remove them to a towel-lined counter you want the towel because you don't want to set the hot jars on the cold counter and run the risk of them cracking the cheese looks just beautiful here comes one of the cream cheese sometimes these little half-pints have a tendency to want to tip over if you get too much water in the pot so I don't like to have the water level level much more than about a inch or two inches above the lid on these so there they go they're all out of the counter and I am going to let them sit for 24 hours before I touch them now they have cooled and watch the lid this one good so you just run a plastic knife around the edge of the jar I never use metal in my jars I don't want to etch them or slightly scratch them so I'm just going to run this around the cheese is very firm now well Kitty now I'm just going to kind of cut into it I'll cut a little cone of cheese out and plop it on the plate for you a little bit weird want to get pretty attest a taste test she's a good tester for me okay pepper a watch UK she has a taste of this sermon this short cheddar before stop that get closer Tara it's not that it's a little different I mean I was a good cheesy flavors the textures kind of weird but a good a good cheesy flavor I mean you you I would definitely if I had to and so yeah it's slightly it's slightly different yeah here trot and triangle peace without the cracker it's it's not really rubbery it it just changes it a little it just changes Texas by it it's still good I mean it still tastes really like to Turkey you guys still good very good good not happy with them car so what's your crunchy just Ron loves cream cheese good seal I'm excited for this canning cheese thing that's that's great okay for cheese lover spoon real good now could do I don't think this came texture at all now the cream cheese the cream cheese is lovely really good and it really you know it's it's still very creamy okay what's good all right there you go cream cheese for your cheap and the good thing is this can go right back in the drawer for storage through the lid on what's wrong with the lid on and good you go you may have watched some videos on YouTube where the presenter is processing cheese in a pressure canner I just don't believe it's necessary the process used in order to make cheese is that you have to add some kind of acid to it whether it's rented or whether it's vinegar you have to add acid to it that's what causes the cheese to break up into curds with that said I would consider cheese an acid food and so I just don't believe that pressure canning it is necessary I've had no trouble processing it for 30 minutes in a boiling water bath it seems perfectly shelf-stable to me and very viable doing it that way the cream cheese is usable right out of the jar it just it acts exactly like cream cheese the cheddar cheese is solid just like it is when you buy it in a block at the grocery store you can grade it you can melt it you can make cheese toast you can do whatever and I just love the idea of having cheese on my shelf I hope you do too and I hope that you'll try it using your own discretion in determining whether it's safe for your family until next time this is cat's cradle

Channel: katzcradul

Views: 267,091

Rating: 4.8929319 out of 5

Keywords: katzcradul, cheese, cheddar, cream cheese, monterey jack, swiss, mozzarella, pizza, grilled cheese, grated, melted, melt, fondue, aged, sharp, prepare, prepper, preparedness, frugal, thrifty, diy, how to, howto, how-to, canning, dehydrating, food storage, long term, pantry, kitchen, cook, recipe, cooking, eating, wrol, teotwawki, shtf, self reliant, self sufficient

Id: HQo29wCbS8M

Length: 19min 16sec (1156 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 15 2013