Recipe: No Cook Cottage Cheese

[coco]

Hi everyone, new to the forum and haven't seen a recipe such as this no cook cottage cheese. I wish I could take credit for it, but pulled it off of a dairy forum. If 'homestesder2' joins the group, thank her It's a wonderful 'no squeaky curd' recipe.

I make this with raw cow milk. If it needs an additive for pasteurized milk, maybe someone would please advise?


Bring one gallon (cream skimmed off) to room temp (72-76) in water bath.

Add 1/3 cup mesophilic culture or equivalent (I use 1/4 tsp freeze dried culture) stir into 1/2 cup of milk until dissolved, then add to bulk milk, stir well.

cover with dishtowel and let set 12-18 at room temp.

cut curd and let set for 20 min.

strain into cheese cloth and hang for a couple hours, roll bag if cheese seems to have sealed the cloth.

Place in strainer and open cloth, rinse broken curds with cool water. Drain excess water and rinse again.

Tie up cloth again and hang for a few more hours. The drier the curds the better. You can put them in the fridge in a bowl lined with paper towel, but I prefer lining my bowl with dishtowel. I replace them once or twice every few
hours, until the curds are no longer wet.

Add salt and cream to taste. Enjoy!

[MrsKK]

Hojo,
Are you a member of Keeping a Family Cow?  (That's the forum where you got the recipe, I believe.)  It looks like homesteader2 is back - she's been gone since before I became a member there, but has a lot of good advice on cheesemaking. 

I like your avatar - are they your cow and calf?

[DeejayDebi]

Nice recipe Hojo I will give it a try.

[coco]

Hi, yes those are my girls in the avatar. I am a member of KFC, tho I feel guilty (I don't post much there, unless I have a problem). I'll have to pop in and see what Homesteader2 is up to, I do love her simple recipes 

Do you milk as well? What kind of cows do you have?

Debi, please do try it, it's wonderful I for got to mention, it's best to combine the cream and curd right before serving. It doesn't store well already combined.

[MrsKK]

I am also a member there (same name as here), but rarely post anymore.  I do look in quite a bit, but only post if someone has a question that I feel I can contribute some good experience to.

I have one Jersey/Holstein cross cow that I am in the process of drying up right now.  I skipped milking yesterday, but she felt a little full last night, so I think I will milk this morning, then call it quits.  Expecting our next calf at the end of May.

I haven't tried Homestead's cottage cheese recipe, but I should.  I've tried a method of using clabber this winter, but my clabber sets up really slowly in the colder weather, so it goes sour pretty quickly.  There's all kinds of cheeses I want to try once the milk's a flowin' again!

[DeejayDebi]

Thanks Hojo I'll make a note of that!

[GigiSideboard]

I tried this recipe and was thrilled with the results.  The cottage cheese was moist with the right amount of firmness and it was so EASY!  This is a great cheese for a beginner like me.  I used fresh raw milk and had to wait a little longer for the curd to fully set (20 hours).  For anyone hoping to make the grocery store version of cottage cheese, this is the recipe.  Thanks for sharing!

[mikekchar]

Am I missing something?  It seems like no rennet...  I don't see how that forms curds that don't shatter.  I make yogurt from mesophillic cultures all the time and I never get anything resembling cottage cheese...

[River Bottom Farm]

Mike the large amount of starter (1/4 tsp to one gallon) causes the acid to develop very quickly and makes the milk curdle into clumps of curd. I did this by accident when I over inoculated evening milk and let it ripen over night. Got up in the morning thinking I was going to make some cheese and found cottage cheese in the pot already... Was a tasty mistake.

[mikekchar]

*Very* interesting...  I suppose not unlike what I do with citric acid...  I'll give this a try next week.  Cheers!