In the Kitchen - Cottage Cheese

In my quest for making all my own food I wanted to turn out a really good batch of cottage cheese.  Cottage cheese is one of my favorites and I always LOVED the taste of Anderson Erickson 4% cottage cheese... that is until I wanted to go organic and my distaste for the questionable additives and quality of original substances used in these things made me quit buying it.  But ever since then I have tried to re-create it myself.

Using the whole milk from Pickett Fence Creamery, I finally produced my own cottage cheese that is even better than AE.  It was super easy too!

Starting with one gallon of fresh Pickett Fence whole milk, I poured it in a large heavy pan and over medium heat, heated it to 120 degrees.  Removed from the heat, I slowly poured in 3/4 cup of white vinegar and stirred until curds began to form.  Then the pan was covered at room temp and allowed to rest for 30 minutes.

Once rested, the mixture was poured into a colander lined with a tea towel and allowed to drain the whey for about 5 minutes.  When that was done the tea towel filled with the curd was lifted and rinsed under running cold water for 3 - 5 minutes while the curd was broken apart and separated.

DONE!  Curd transferred to my favorite AE cottage cheese container and 1 teaspoon of salt was added (non-iodized) and mixed in.  After refrigerating the curds for a few hours, I added part heavy cream and part whole milk back into the curds to make the most delicious cottage cheese ever!

It passed my test and the Mike and Journey tests... best cottage cheese ever and quick and easy.  I am comforted to know that I know exactly the presence and quality of all the ingredients used.  This truly was quick and easy to make and homemade food just tastes better.