How to Make Homemade Cottage Cheese

Many people think cheese making is a long and tricky process, luckily this is not true. Of course, some cheeses are certainly more difficult to make but other cheeses are quite simple for people to create at home. Cottage cheese is the simplest cheese to make for home cooks. Cottage cheese is a great all-purpose food that is delicious with fruit and other recipes. To make homemade cottage cheese all you need is a very simple recipe.

The first thing you need is proper equipment -- two large pots (one larger than the other) or a double boiler, a knife, a spoon, a storage container, cheesecloth, spoons, a thermometer, and some measuring cups. You will also need some ingredients -- skim milk (it only takes a gallon of milk to make a pounds worth of the cheese), salt, and starter. Skim milk is necessary because cream from whole milk won’t make curds.

Starter can be made with rennet and buttermilk or you can purchase a commercial culture. Different amounts of rennet are used for different sized curds -- large or small. To make large curd cottage cheese you will dissolve one-fourth of a rennet tablet in 2 TBSP of water and a gallon of milk. For small curds you use buttermilk instead of skim and one-eighth of a rennet tablet.

Next, you place the milk in the double boiler on the stovetop. The milk needs to heated to 80 degrees (check the milk with thermometer). Once the milk is 80 degrees stir in the rennet. Next let the mixture sit at room temperature. The curd is ready if you can stick a toothpick in it and it comes out clean. The curd then needs to be cut into chunks and left to sit for 10 more minutes. After it has rested for ten minutes dig in and mix it carefully with your fingers. At this point the curds will be firm and don’t need to be heated anymore.

After this, line a colander with cheesecloth and push the curds through. These will separate the curds and whey. Don’t let the curds sit for more than a minute or two or else they will stick to each other. Hold the cheesecloth into a ball shape and dip it into cold water (make it icy cold). Then place the cheesecloth inside the colander and rinse it with water. It needs to be rinsed until the water that is draining out is clear.

After it is clear let the water drain out. After all the water has been drained the curds are done. You will need one tsp of salt per each cup of curd. This should be gently stirred into the curds. Homemade cottage cheese can be flavored with ingredients such as sour cream, or skim milk, or sweet cream.

Obviously the first time you make homemade cottage cheese will be the hardest. Each time after that will get easier. Making homemade cottage cheese is such a simple process, and doesn’t require specialized equipment, so it is worth a try.

Homemade cottage cheese is better than the type you buy at the store for many reasons -- it is tastier -- just ask anyone who has made it. It is also healthier because it doesn’t contain any extra additives or preservatives that most cottage cheeses bought at the store contain. It is also cheap to make a gallon of milk makes a whole pound. Plus you get the added benefit of feeling self-sufficient by making your own cheese!