recipe: from scratch cottage cheese

I made homemade cottage cheese in order to make yesterday's recipe for chocolate mint pudding. Having already mastered regular yogurt-making, expanding into cottage cheese was my next goal. I fast-tracked this plan after a disappointing trip to the store; I couldn't find a single option without added sugar or gums. I was shocked to find sugar in Aldi's store brand, and Walmart had dropped its organic selection entirely, leaving only versions packed with unnecessary additives.

It was a super simple process to make cottage cheese so I am happy I was hurried into making it!

From Scratch Cottage Cheese

Yields: 1 cup

Ingredients:

4 cups whole milk

3 tbsp white vinegar

Instructions:

1) Heat milk slowly in a saucepan to 190 degrees Fahrenheit (getting the milk to temp is the longest part of the process at about 20 minutes and then the rest of the process is super quick).

2) Take the pan off the heat. Add 3 tbsp white vinegar. Stir lightly and cover right away with a lid for at least 30 minutes (I will say I'm not sure how much this resting time creates more curds as the amount looked similar right after I added the vinegar to the amount 30 minutes later. I do wonder if I used a smaller pan if less heat loss would create more curds.) 

3) Line a colander with a tea towel and set it over another bowl in order to catch the whey. Spoon the cottage cheese curds into the lined colander (don't dump it in or you will crush the curds). Let sit for 30 minutes to drain. (I used my glass Pampered Chef four cup measuring bowl with spout and it was the perfect size to catch the whey from this quantity of cottage cheese).

4) Gather the ends of the tea towel together, hold the ball under running cold tap water, gently squeezing the surface while rinsing and turning the ball. You are just trying to cool the cottage cheese down so do this motion for about 3 minutes and don't crush the ball, just gently massage the outer edges of the ball.

5) Unwrap the ball from the towel and gently turn the cottage cheese into a container (preferably a lidded container so you can use it for storage). Use a spoon to pull the mass apart to create the size curds you want.

6) Chill and eat just like this. Or, add 2 tbsp heavy cream if you used skim or 2 percent milk to make 2 percent cottage cheese and 4 tbsp heavy cream to make 4 percent cottage cheese. Salt if desired.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge and eat within a week. If it's gone bad it will have a sour odor and be discolored.

Notes:

I tried making ricotta with the whey that was drained off while making the cottage cheese. However, it was unsuccessful. Likely, the proteins were already used up in the cottage cheese making or my saucepan was too large so the heat escaped too quickly when I took it off the heat and was waiting for the curds to form. However, do try yourself to use the whey for ricotta! My whey still didn't go to waste as I used it in smoothies instead of milk/water. You can also throw it in a soup if you have one planned near your cottage cheese making time.

How I tried to make ricotta - With the approximately 2 3/4 cup whey I had after making cottage cheese, I heated it over medium until it reached 160-170 degrees fahrenheit. I added 3 tbsp whole milk and continued heating until it reached 185-195 fahrenheit. I turned off the heat and added 1/2 tsp white vinegar, then covered the pot and let rest for 15 minutes. Had it developed more clumps (see below for what I did get), I would have lined a colander with a damp cheesecloth or a fine coffee filter and let drain for 15-30 minutes depending on how creamy or firm I wanted my ricotta. Then I would have seasoned with salt.