how to make cottage cheese
How to Make Cottage Cheese
Making cottage cheese is an easy task and with some basic ingredients you can make tasty and nutritious cottage cheese in few minutes.
Did you know that there are over 2,000 kinds of cheese in the world?
Cottage cheese only needs two main ingredients - milk and vinegar. Some people use lemon juice instead of vinegar. Vinegar and lemon juice do the same work, so the choice is yours. The process of making cottage cheese from raw milk, needs a bit of coordination between pouring vinegar into the boiling milk and separating the cheese from whey.
Here is a simple method to make cottage cheese out of milk.
Making Cottage Cheese from Milk
Below is a list of ingredients you will require, and the stepwise instructions on making cottage cheese from raw milk.
Ingredients
The process to make cottage cheese from goat milk is similar to making cottage cheese out of raw milk. So, if you prefer goat milk to raw milk, then use goat milk for this recipe.
- Big pan
- Spatula
- Milk of your choice (raw/goat/soya), 1 Gallon
- White vinegar/lemon juice, ¾ cup
- Cheesecloth or muslin cloth
- In a pan set the milk to heat.
- Wait till the milk boils.
- After the milk starts to boil, further boil it for two minutes.
- Reduce the heat, and add vinegar/lemon juice slowly. (You can also use rennet to curdle the milk instead of vinegar.)
- Simultaneously, with a spatula keep stirring the milk.
- There will be separation of the yellowish whey and curd at this stage.
- Keep stirring till all the yellowish whey and curd separates out.
- Turn off the flame.
- Place the cheesecloth in a bowl, and pour the above mix into the cloth.
- Carefully hold the ends of the cloth.
- Hold it under running cool water for 2 minutes.
- Squeeze out all the water from the cheese.
Making Cottage Cheese from Curd/Plain Yogurt
This is another easy method where instead of milk you need to use curd or plain yogurt and there is no need of vinegar.
- Set-up a double boiler.
- Heat curd slowly in the double boiler.
- Make sure the temperature doesn't go over 115 ºF.
- Keep heating the curd on this temperature for around 20 minutes.
- Gently keep stirring the curd throughout the process.
- Pour it into the cheesecloth, and wash with cool water.
How to Make Cheese Cubes
When making cottage cheese people tend to aim for the crumbly soft texture. However, you can also create cubes of cottage cheese, and use it to make delicious paneer curries or use small cheese cubes in salads.
- When you are about to drain the cheese, use a cheesecloth to drain water.
- Tie the cloth tightly around the cheese, and place something heavy on it.
- Let the cheese settle down for about 20 - 30 minutes.
- Carefully remove the cloth and put the cottage cheese in a dish.
- Dip a knife in hot water and cut the cheese in any shape you like.
How to Flavor Cottage Cheese
It is possible that you might get an unpleasant sour flavor due to low quality of milk or due to the kind of vinegar you are using. However, you can add different flavors to your homemade cottage cheese with the below tips.
- After you are done running water over the cheese cloth, put it into a mixing bowl. Add salt to taste and mix well.
- If you want your cheese to be even softer and smoother, then add cream and mix well.
- Similarly you can add skimmed milk, whole milk, or some herb like mint, to flavor the cottage cheese.
- You can also add some honey to your cottage cheese, and some dry walnuts to create a sweet snack.
- Black pepper and lemon can also be used to season the cottage cheese.
- To add more taste to the cheese add some peanut butter and cinnamon.