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homemade cottage cheese

Lifting_Knitter
Lifting_Knitter Posts: 1,025 Member
edited January 12 in Recipes
I'm a cook and a baker and eating healthy is driving me nuts. I am so used to making eclairs and donuts from scratch. I became curious by cottage cheese because it is so high in sodium. I love it for its protein but hate it because my sodium intake is over every single day. I found a few recipes online and went from there. www.savvyhousekeeping.com/how-to-make-cottage-cheese/ and www.food.com/recipe/homemade-cottage-cheese-46595 I also checked out other recipes and they all are very similar.

My take on recipe:

4 cups skim milk
3 TBSPs white wine vinegar

Heat milk up to 190 degrees F. It will not be boiling but will be steaming, you do not want it to boil! Once it gets to this point take it off the heat.

Add vinegar and allow mixture to cool. I let it cool for about an hour.

Pour mixture over a cheesecloth (in a colander) and let drain. This is whey, there are many uses for it. I am using it in place of water for my bread.

Now this is where you come in. I did not add any salt, I don't want any added salt in my cottage cheese. You may want salt and guess what? You control how much goes in. You can also add in cream or half and half. Me? I'm leaving it as it is. Yes, it is bland. No, I don't personally care. You can use any percentage of milk. I got 183 grams from 4 cups of milk...remember, there is no added anything to this. Cottage cheese has added cream to make it silky.

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Replies

  • TAGambrell
    TAGambrell Posts: 1
    I wonder what is done to get larger curd cottage cheese. When we lived in California you could purchase dry curd cottage cheese that did not have salt added but I have not been able to find it anywhere in Tennessee. The curds were bigger than what is in your picture.
  • squeakyfish
    squeakyfish Posts: 109 Member
    This is very cool - I'm going to try making some this week! I've made mozzarella in the past, I thought I'd have to add rennet or whatever it is you normally add to make cheese. Nice to know, I can do it with just vinegar!
  • CoraGregoryCPA
    CoraGregoryCPA Posts: 1,087 Member
    Interesting.. I never looked at the salt content on my fat free cottage cheese!
  • airangel59
    airangel59 Posts: 1,887 Member
    Interesting. Ok, so how did it taste? Did you add any seasonings etc to flavor it or ate it as is?
    Thanks look good...& thanks for posting pics, love when the OP adds what the finished dish looks like.
  • Lifting_Knitter
    Lifting_Knitter Posts: 1,025 Member
    So, I'm going to pretty much talk to everyone above me from this post. ^^^^

    Honestly, I'm not sure how to make the curds bigger. There are a variety of ways to make cottage cheese. You can use rennet which squeekyfish pointed out. That may be the key to big curds. I'm not sure though.

    Sodium is what flavors the cottage cheese along with the cream. The curds are very bland by themselves but for me, I am more worried about my sodium intake. (I eat my cottage cheese with other things that are flavorful so I feel good about taking away one of the flavors). If you don't like the taste, you can add salt until you are happy with the flavor.
  • silverainn
    silverainn Posts: 49
    I wonder what is done to get larger curd cottage cheese. When we lived in California you could purchase dry curd cottage cheese that did not have salt added but I have not been able to find it anywhere in Tennessee. The curds were bigger than what is in your picture.

    Rennet (and not stirring much) will help with curd size. I've had varying results with microbial rennet, but animal-based rennet (which I don't use, but my boyfriend does) is fairly reliable in producing large curds.
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