Recipe of the day: Make cream cheese using amasi

The rising price of certain foodstuffs has led to many South Africans foregoing certain items in order to be able to afford to eat. Others have resorted to looking for cheaper alternatives to their favourite items like TikTik creator Asadullah Parker who tried making cream cheese using amasi.

He shared the process via his TikTok account (@paradisenursery2021) which involves emptying a 2kg amount of plain amasi into a piece of cloth (a kitchen towel) placed over a strainer inside a bowl.

He then covers the amasi with a plate and leaves it in the fridge overnight. 

After a few hours, Parker claims the amasi would have thickened to a consistency similar to that of cream cheese.

Parker notes, however, that the Inkomazi would need a little more salt to match the taste of cream cheese. 

When weighing the contents of what he made, he managed to weigh 820g of product from his 2kg bottle which he bought for R32. 

@paradisenursery2021 @paradisenursery2021 #creamcheese #foodhack #homemadecreamcheese #fyp ♬ original sound – Asadullah Parker

‘We want moreeee hacks! Groceries are getting way too expensive” commented a user named Nicole. 

“Please make a cheesecake using the Amasi cream cheese. Thank you,” added @nicoletterhoda.

“A little secret from a farm girl… that is exactly how cottage cheese is made. First, make Maas then put in cheese cloths and hung for liquid extract,” added Elda Botha. 

“For it to taste like mascarpone you can add castor sugar, mix well and then strain, great for making tiramisu,” commented Suney Diedericks. 

@paradisenursery2021 Replying to @nicoletterhoda #cheesecake #foodhack #ParadiseNursery #fyp ♬ original sound – Asadullah Parker

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“Been doing this for years. Salt it in the bottle and then strain it,” said user @marykeamzal.

A TikTok user named Jason Freeman has a question about what type of cheese Parker was speaking about, asking; “Cream cheese or cottage cheese? It’s not the same thing.”

“Cottage darling he made mistake,” wrote someone named Tee. 

“Hey man you have a fan, I just took the amasi out of the fridge, goodbye to paying an arm and leg for cream cheese,” added @AppleUser793448. 

What is the difference between cream cheese and cottage cheese?

According to Brittanica, cream cheese is similar to cottage cheese but is higher in fat content, however, cottage cheese is made from skim or nonfat milk. 

“In certain countries, including Canada and the United States, cream cheese is defined as consisting of about one-third milk fat, with a moisture content of 55 percent.”

Local website, Rediscover Diary, also asserts that cottage cheese and cream cheese have exactly the same manufacturing process. Both are made from skimmed milk. The only difference is the fat content. 

Amasi (in Zulu and Xhosa), maas (in Afrikaans), or mafi (in Sesotho), is a fermented milk product that is similar to cottage cheese or plain yoghurt.

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