Curds and Whey - (Cottage Cheese)

After reading what all went into commercial milk, we decided to switch to organic milk for our drinking.  That prevents us from being exposed to hormones and many other contaminants.  The switch to organic whole or 2% milk has been good.  It tastes fresher to all of us and we enjoy it.  Suddenly it occurred to me that we had to switch all of our dairy products to organic products as well or learn to make them from the milk we purchase.  Like the yogurt that I blogged about earlier, making cottage cheese was even easier!  Who would have imagined?

Now I understand why they call it curds and whey.  A recipe will follow this pictorial so that you have all instructions in a clear and concise manner for reference but I thought you might enjoy watching Journey and I getting back to basics making our own homemade cottage cheese today.  We had a great time and learned a lot together.

This process only took about an hour, tops!  Start by heating your milk to 120 degrees over medium heat.  Stir a bit to prevent burning.

Gently pour in the vinegar and stir slowly for 1 - 2 minutes.  The curd immediately separates from the whey.

 Remove from heat and cover with a clean tea towel.  Let sit at room temp for about 30 minutes.  Pour this mixture into a colander lined with a tea towel.  Remember to save the watery whey, as it is full of nutrition and can be used in any recipe calling for water, but adding more nutrition to that recipe!  Let it drain for about 5 minutes.

Gather up the tea towel and run this large curd under cold running water for 3 - 5 minutes to cool it completely.  While rinsing, squeeze and move the curd around to facilitate it breaking up.  I may fashion a little tea towel bag for this step, as I lost a bit of curd down the drain during the rinse.  :(

Once cooled, squeeze as much water out of it as possible and transfer it to a mixing bowl.

Add the salt and stir to combine and break up the chunks into the size of curds you prefer.  Journey really loved this step.

If not serving immediately, cover and refrigerate.  Whenever you are ready to serve your cottage cheese, mix a little milk or cream back into it until it has the amount of moisture you like.  Now eat and enjoy!  It passed the taste test at my house and I have to admit I used what was left of a gallon of milk that would have turned bad very soon.. it was past my preferred drinking freshness but made fine cottage cheese.  Journey loved it and gobbled it all up.  I started with 2 cups of milk for my first recipe and only made a small bit of cottage cheese with that.  I think that is why the recipe calls for a gallon to start with... that will make 2 cups of cottage cheese.  NO PRESERVATIVES... ALL ORGANIC fresh food to nourish your body!

Here is the recipe.  When making a batch smaller than a gallon of milk, you use 4 1/2 teaspoons of vinegar per 2 cups of milk.  I did the math and thought you may appreciate the conversion!  Some recipes I found called for an ingredient called Rennet tablets, so I chose the one that called for vinegar since I readily have that in my kitchen.

Quick Cottage Cheese

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2007

Ingredients

• 1 gallon pasteurized skim milk
• 3/4 cup white vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 cup half-and half-or heavy cream

Directions

Pour the skim milk into a large saucepan and place over medium heat. Heat to 120 degrees F. Remove from the heat and gently pour in the vinegar. Stir slowly for 1 to 2 minutes. The curd will separate from the whey. Cover and allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Pour the mixture into a colander lined with a tea towel and allow to sit and drain for 5 minutes. Gather up the edges of the cloth and rinse under cold water for 3 to 5 minutes or until the curd is completely cooled, squeezing and moving the mixture the whole time. Once cooled, squeeze as dry as possible and transfer to a mixing bowl. Add the salt and stir to combine, breaking up the curd into bite-size pieces as you go. If ready to serve immediately, stir in the half-and-half or heavy cream. If not, transfer to a sealable container and place in the refrigerator. Add the half and half or heavy cream just prior to serving.