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*Not officially sponsored by the World Cup (but get in our DMs, FIFA! 🤙🏻)

Last winter I bought a lot of yogurt. Too much, probably — four quarts. It was on sale, it was a brand my household already used, and I had the fridge room to store it, but by the time July rolled around I still had quite a bit left. The date on the lid said 04/06/26, but it was unopened, and it passed both visual and sniff tests. That’s usually good enough for me, though I admittedly take a somewhat cavalier approach to these things (you should make your own food safety choices accordingly!).

Whether you grow a lot of food or just can’t pass up a great deal, it helps to have a few basic food-preservation techniques up your sleeve. Even perishable items like cheese and yogurt can be stored quite a bit longer than you might expect — cheese and yogurt were invented to extend milk’s shelf life in the first place. Sell-by dates are largely arbitrary, less about food safety than about keeping stock moving off store shelves. As a result, (literal) tons of perfectly good food get tossed out just because of some numbers printed on the label.

To address this, a new law in California aims to formally standardize “sell by,” “best by” and “use by” (expiration) dates, confusion over which currently accounts for around 20% of all food waste. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommended clarification of food labels a decade ago, but here we are.

In the meantime, it’s worth pointing out that labneh is an ideal way to use up a glut of yogurt. You can make it spreadable by straining yogurt just past the Greek stage (this is fabulous for çılbır (Turkish eggs) or you can strain it further to create a soft cheese that’s thick enough to roll into balls. From here, you can totally serve them as-is, but if you keep them in a jar of oil, they don’t even need refrigeration.

If you want to go a step further, cheesemaker and cookbook author (and friend of mine) Claudia Lucero recently shared her technique for aging labneh balls into a grateable cheese inspired by Swiss Belper Knolle — a unique product that goes for around $20 for a 2.5-ounce ball. (Switzerland and Morocco both reached the World Cup quarterfinals, so feel free to take your preferred style of labneh ball to your soccer viewing parties.)

Makes about 36 balls

Ingredients

1 quart plain Greek yogurt

½ teaspoon salt

Suggested spices for rolling: za’atar, sumac, dried mint, dried dill, paprika (sweet or smoked) and/or crushed nigella seeds

2 cups olive oil (plus more as needed) for storage

A pinch or two dried rosemary, a bay leaf, a 2-inch strip of lemon zest, and/or a pinch of hot chile flakes for the oil (optional)

Instructions

1. Set a fine-mesh strainer over a bowl and line it with cheesecloth, muslin or a thin kitchen towel.
2. Pour the yogurt into the cheesecloth, sprinkle evenly with the salt and fold the hanging ends of the cheesecloth over the top. Lay a small plate on the covered yogurt and set a weight on the plate (a large can of tomatoes or clean rock is fine). Set the bowl in the fridge and let the whey drain for two days.
3. Prepare whatever spices you’re using by spreading them in a shallow dish. Pour half the olive oil into a quart-sized jar. If you’d like to flavor the oil, add those seasonings now.
4. Portion the labneh into bite-sized balls and roll them in the prepared spices. Use a spoon to gently layer the balls into the jar of oil, taking care not to smush or smear them against the glass — you want to keep them as intact as you can. Add enough of the remaining oil to completely cover the labneh balls.
5. Store the jar in a cool, dry place and they’ll stay good for up to three months. Serve the balls with crackers and flatbreads as part of a cheese board or mezze.

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News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/07/11/superabundant-recipe-labneh-balls-spreadable-cheese/