Cottage cheese matting

[Jenniferblank]

I have tried making cottage cheese with both buttermilk and junket tablets and mesophilic culture and liquid rennet. I always get a good curd but when I take the temperature to 110 my curds always matt together. I have tried stirring more and hardly stirring at all. The closer I get to 110 degrees, the matting just gets more pronounced. What am I doing wrong?

[awakephd]

Jennifer,

Welcome to the forum! I am sorry that I don't have a specific answer for you, as I have not made cottage cheese. However, a couple of "generic" answers related to cheese making, for what they are worth:

First, is 110° the target that the recipe calls for? I'm curious because that's at or above the level that mesophilic bacteria can survive - but that may be the point of the recipe; unlike cheese that ripens for weeks or months, you may be intentionally killing off that bacteria. (This is where my ignorance on cottage cheese is showing!)

Second, I find that cheese curds love to mat up when heating up to that range, until they begin to dry out enough. I find this in making thermophilic cheeses such as alpines, which are generally heated to well above 110°. (For example, the emmentaler-style I just made calls for a target temperature of 120-122°.) Only answer I know is to keep stirring, and breaking up any mats as you find them. Very often I am stirring with the slotted spoon in my right hand, while my left hand (well sterilized, of course) is reaching into the whey and breaking up mats. Alternately, when I encounter a mat I may cut it up using the edge of the spoon.

Hope that might be helpful ...

[River Bottom Farm]

My experience with cottage cheese is that you don't need to heat it but that's just my recepie. To help with matting you can stir more or add cream to the recepie or add melted butter as you are heating.the extra fat helps the curds to not hit that sticky stage (like when making cheese curds)

[Jenniferblank]

Thanks so much!  I will try both of these methods.  We are currently getting 4 gallons a day from our Jersey cow and I am overrun with milk.  It can't be that hard I keep telling myself. 

I haven't had much time to attend to the forum so sorry in the delayed reply.

Jennifer

[awakephd]

First, I'm jealous of your first-hand source of raw milk! But second ... I would never be able to keep up with even a goat, much less a cow. I need about 1/16 of a cow ... which raises a question. Have you considered selling "cow shares" to use up some of the milk, while knowing it is going to good use and getting a little income back? Not sure what has to happen legally, if anything, to do this.