Making Cottage Cheese at Home 1977-- Reviewed by Thompson, Marvin G., ARS Research Chemist Flanagan, Joseph F., ARS Industrial Specialist, Cheese Eastern Regional Research Center Home and Garden Bulletin 129, USDA, 1967. Slightly revised November 1977 Archive copy of publication, do not use for current recommendations. The PDF file was provided courtesy of the National Agricultural Library. Scroll down to view the publication.

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(VMakingCottageCheeseatHome

UNITED STATESDEPARTMENT OFAGRICULTURE

HOME ANDGARDEN BULLETINNUMBER 129

PREPARED BYAGRICULTURALRESEARCHSERVICE

Making Cottage Cheese at Home~ ~

You can count on cottage cheese—it's a tasty, nutritious, easily digest-ed, and surprisingly low-caloriefood. Kat it plain. Add a l i t t le >alland popper or a dash of some otherseasoning. Combine it with frui ts orvegetables in a refreshing saladtha t ' s a main dish or a dessert. Keepa supply in your refrigerator for asnack.

( 'o t tage cheese—a soft, unripenedcheese—can easily lie made at homefrom skim milk or reconstituted in-stant nonfat dry milk. The freshlymade curd has a mild acid flavorand a smooth texture. Cottage cheesecontains about -20 percent milk sol-ids, and many of the same nu t r i en t sfound in fresh milk.

Most homemakers who make theirown cottage cheese like having asteady supply of cheese with home-made flavor. Families that havelarge quantities of surplus skimmilk for making into cheese maysave monev. too.

TYPES OF COTTAGECHEESE

With ami without rennet

The two major types of cottagecheese an- small-curd, high-acidcheese made without rennet, andpopular large-curd, low-acid cheesemade wi th rennet.

Rennet is a substance t h a t speedscurdl ing and keeps the curd that

forms from breaking up easily.Adding rennet shortens the cheese-making process, results in a less-acid and larger-curd cheese, and re-duces the amount of curd pouredoff w i t h leftover liquid.

\\ i th cream( 'o t tage cheese made either with

or w i t h o u t rennet can be creamed.Adding cream to cheese increases itssmoothness and improves its f lavorand texture. Creaming cottagecheese also adds calories and s l igh t -ly lowers protein content.

Fruits, vegetables, or other flavor-ful foods are often added to cottagecheese, to make a variety of sidedishes and salads.

INGREDIENTSMilk

I'so pasteurized skim milk or re-consti tuted nonfat dry milk. Onei/nlldii fH..'~i /tounds) of milk willyield about / />ound of cotfuf/echi i xr. The equipment specified inthis bu l le t in wi l l convenient ly han-dle about I ' o gallons of milk.

The mi lk should be fresh, becauseyou cannot make high-quality cheesefrom poor-quality mi lk . Kven ifmilk is stored for only a few days ata t empera tu re as low as 40° F., un-desirable bacteria can develop andcause off-flavors or odors in cheesemade from the mi lk .

You can make cottage cheese from

1

unhomogenized whole milk if youfirst let it stand a few hours, andthen skim off the cream that rises tothe surface.

Note: You cannot skim creamfrom whole milk that has been ho-mogenized.

You can make satisfactory cot-tage cheese from reconstituted in-stant skim milk. The noninstanttype of skim milk often used bycommercial bakers will not makegood cottage cheese.

Starter

You must use a starter to get thecheese-forming process underway.The starter may be either a commer-cially produced lactic culture (apartial list of sources appears be-low) J or fresh cultured buttermilk.

*Dairy Laboratories2300 Locust StreetPhiladelphia, Pa. 19103

*Chr. Hansen's Laboratory9015 West Maple StreetMilwaukee, Wis. 53214

*Marschall DivisionMiles Laboratories, Inc.P.O. Box 592Madison, Wis. 53701

New Jersey Dairy LaboratoriesP.O. Box 748New Brunswick, N.J. 08903

1 Dairy laboratories are listed merelyto provide specific information as towhere to obtain lactic culture and rennetfor making cottage cheese. Mention of alaboratory does not constitute a U.S. De-partment of Agriculture guarantee orwarranty of either the laboratory or theproducts from it. Neither is this anendorsement over laboratories not men-tioned.

Rennet

Use rennet if you plan to make alarge-curd cheese. Rennet is avail-able either in tablet form (junkettablets), or as an extract. You cansometimes buy tablets in drug orgrocery stores; the extract is avail-able only from rennet companies.

Laboratories selling lactic cul-tures may also supply rennet. Thoselaboratories marked with an aster-isk (*) in the list above will sell youthe small quantities of rennet youneed for making cottage cheese athome.

Salt

Salt improves the flavor and keep-ing quality of cottage cheese.

Cream

Adding cream to cottage cheesemakes a smoother and more flavor-ful product.

EQUIPMENT

You probably already have mostof the necessary equipment for mak-ing cottage cheese. You'll need—

An 8-quart container for themilk. One made of stainless steel isbest, but you can use any acid-resistant enamelware or heavilytinned container. A milk pail orwater-bath canner would be satis-factory. But do not use any kindof galvanized metal or aluminumcontainer.

A somewhat larger container, toserve as the bottom part of an im-provised double boiler for heatingwater. A large galvanized pail, tinlard can, or dishpan will do.

A thermometer that measures

temperatures between 75° and 175°F. The floating, dairy type is best,though a candy or jelly thermometeris acceptable.

A long-handled spoon or stir re rthat reaches to the bottom of the 8-quart container.

A measuring cup.Measuring spoons.A knife with a blade long enough

to reach to the lx>ttom of the 8-quartcontainer.

A piece of cheesecloth, 18 inchessquare.

A colander, and a pan !>ig enoughto hold the colander.

A mixing bowl made of anythingbut aluminum or galvanized metal.

A covered container for storingcheese in refrigerator.

MAKING SMALLCURDCHEESE

Preparing starter culture

Starter culture should be pre-pared a day or two before you in-tend to make cottage cheese. If theskim milk you are using is not al-ready pasteurized, pasteurize 2pints. Use directions at right.

Refrigerate 1 pint of the pasteur-ized milk. To the other pint, add alactic culture (either liquid or pow-der) according to manufacturer'sdirections. Or add 1 tablespoon ofbuttermilk, if you can be sure it'sfresh. Either procedure will "inocu-late" your milk with the micro-organisms that cause milk to curdleinto cottage cheese.

Hold the inoculated milk at 70°to 75° F. for 16 to 24 hours, or untilit curdles.

With a scalded and cooled tea-

spoon, add a teaspoon of the curdledmilk to the pint of pasteurized milk

How To Pasteurize Milk

All the milk you use in mak-ing cottage cheese should l>epasteurized. Pasteurization willkill harmful bacteria and mostof the organisms that may pro-duce off-flavors in cottagecheese.

Almost all fluid skim milkand nonfat dry milk that youbuy has already been pasteur-ized. If the milk you are goingto use has not been pasteurized,you can pasteurize it yourself.

Use an electric, commerciallymade pasteurizer if you haveone. Follow the manufacturer'sdirections.

Otherwise, improvise a largedouble boiler (fig. 1) and followthis method:

• Heat water in outer con-tainer until the temperature ofthe milk in the inner containerreaches 145° F.

• Keep milk at this tempera-ture for 30 minutes. (You'llprobably have to adjust theheat to maintain the tempera-ture of the milk at 145° F.throughout the half hour.)

• Cool the milk to 72° F.You can do this simply byemptying the outer containerand refilling it with cold water.

• Either start making cot-tage cheese immediately, or coolthe milk to at least 50° F. andrefrigerate for later use.

J(BN-29313)

Figure 1.—Warming skim milk in animprovised double boiler.

you've been keeping in the refrig-erator.

When this second culture has alsocurdled (in 12 to 18 hours at 70°to 75° F.) it is ready for use as astarter to ripen milk for makinginto cottage cheese.

Preparing the milk

Like the milk you use for prepar-ing the starter culture, the milk youplan to make into cottage cheeseshould be pasteurized. See direc-tions above.

Warming the milk

Milk to be made into cottagecheese should be at room tempera-ture (about 72° F.). You shouldmaintain this temperature through-out the cheese-forming process untilcurd is formed, cut, and ready forfinal heating.

Warm the milk indirectly, by

placing it and its container inside alarger container filled with water.Heat the water until milk reachesroom temperature.

Add i/$ to 14 CUP °f starter, pre-pared according to directions onpage 4, for each gallon of milk. Ifyou are using fresh buttermilk as astarter, instead of a special lacticculture, add 1/4 cup or more.

Cover the container of milk witha clean, loose-fitting cover, or witha clean cloth.

Curdling the milk

Do not stir the milk. Let it standat room temperature for 16 to 24hours. (You may have to occasion-ally reheat the water in the outercontainer, to maintain the tempera-ture at 72° F. in the inner one.)

For the best cheese, your milkshould curdle during this 16- to 24-hour standing period. If your milkcurdles before this, use less starterthe next time you make cheese. If itdoes not curdle satisfactorily dur-ing this time, use more starter nexttime.

When curdling occurs, a jelly-like, firm substance (curd) forms,and a small amount of watery liq-uid (whey) usually appears on thesurface. To determine if the curdis ready for cutting, insert a knifeor spatula into the curd at the sideof the container and gently pull thectird away from the container side(fig. li). If the curd breaks quicklyand smoothly, it is ready to be cut.

Cutting the curd

Cutting the curd into ^-inchpieces requires the four steps in fig-ure 3.

(BN-29315)Figure 2.—Curd is ready to be cut when

it pulls quickly and smoothly awayfrom the side of the container.

• Insert knife blade through thecurd to the bottom of the containeroh the side opposite you. Then pullthe knife, held vertically, towardyou as shown in step 1. Withdrawthe knife and repeat the cutting,every !/4 inch.

• Turn the container a quarter-turn, to step 2. Repeat the first step,again cutting the curd every *4inch.

• Turn the container to its orig-inal position and cut the curd at theangle shown in step 3.

• Again turn the container aquarter-turn and repeat the cutting,as shown in step 4.

When the curd is cut roughlyinto i/4-inch pieces, let it stand for10 minutes. During this time, wheyseparates from the curd and thecurd begins to become slightly firm(though it is still much too soft tobestirred).

Heating the cut curd

This is a critical step in makingcottage cheese.

Add water (72° F.) to the outercontainer until it is slightly abovethe level of curd and whey in theinner container (fig. 4).

Heat the water slowly and as uni-formly as possible, to raise the tem-perature of the curd and whey to100° F. in 30 to 40 minutes—a tem-perature increase of about 1° perminute.

During heating, stir the curdgently with a large spoon—about aminute at a time, every 4 or 5 min-utes. This helps heat the curd uni-formly and prevents curd particlesfrom sticking together.

Positions of knife in Cutting the CurdTOP VIEW SIDE VIEW (Cross-section)

First Cut Last Cut

\'lA \\\\'\ A]

STEP 1 STEP 2Make perpendicular cuts from (1) backto front and (2) left to right.

STEP 3 STEP 4Follow cuts of step 1 as nearly aspossible holding knife at angle shownabove.

Figure 3.

(BN-29317)Figure 4.—Heating the cut curd.

When the curd and whey reachesa temperature of 100° F., heat itfaster and stir it more frequently.The temperature of the curd andwhey should reach 115° in 10 to 15minutes. Then hold at this tempera-ture for 20 to 30 minutes, or untilthe pieces are firm and do not breakeasily when squeezed.

If the curd doesn't become firmenough at this temperature, heat itto 120° F., or even to 125°.

Stir the curd and whey constantlyand test the curd often for firm-ness. When the curd is firm enough,stop the heating process.

Removing the whey

When the curd has firmed suffi-ciently, dip off most of the whey(fig. 5).

Pour the remaining curd andwhey onto a fine-meshed cheeseclothspread over a colander that you'veset into the sink or another pan. Letthe curd drain for 2 or 3 minutes(fig. 6).

Note: Don't let the curd drain

too long, or curd particles will sticktogether in large clumps.

Washing and cooling curd

Gather together the corners ofthe cheesecloth containing the curd.Immerse both cloth and curd in apan of clean, cool water (fig. 7).Raise and lower the "bag" of curdseveral times, for 2 or 3 minutes, torinse whey from the curd and tocool the curd.

Rinse the curd again, for 3 to 5minutes, in ice water to chill thecurd.

Put the curd in a colander set in-side a larger pan. Shake the colan-der occasionally, until the wheystops draining.

If you prefer unsalted, un-creamed cottage cheese, you cannow remove the curd from the cloth,pack it in a suitable container, andstore it in the refrigerator. How-ever, unsalted cheese will have adefinite acid taste.

(BN-29319)Figure 5.—Dipping off whey with a

measuring cup.

(BN-2931G)Figure 6.~Draining off the last of the

whey. Curd is placed in a cheesecloth"bag," and set in a colander.

(BN-29318)Figure 7.—Rinsing the curd, in a cheese-

cloth "bag," by dipping it into coolwater.

Salting the curd

After transferring the curd fromthe cheesecloth to a mixing bowl,add a teaspoon of salt for eachpound of curd. Mix thoroughly.

Creaming the curd

For each pound of curd, add 2 or3 ounces (4 to 6 tablespoons) of

either sweet or sour cream, or ofhalf-and-half. Mix thoroughly.

MAKING LARGE-CURDCHEESE

Large-curd cottage cheese is madein roughly the same way as thesmall-curd type. However, besidesusing the basic ingredients, milkand a starter, you must also userennet.

Preparing the rennet

Follow manufacturer's directionsfor using rennet. Or dissolve 14 ren-net tablet in 2 tablespoons of clean,cool water. Add 1 tablespoon of theresulting solution for each gallon ofskim milk that you're making intocheese.

Warming the milk

Follow the procedure describedon page 4. When the milk reaches72° F., add diluted rennet.

Curdling the milk

Let the milk stand at room tem-perature for 12 to 18 hours. Itshould curdle in this time, but therate and extent of curdling will de-pend on the temperature of themilk, the activity of the starter, andthe amount of rennet you use.

Cutting the curd

Cut the curd into %-inch pieces,following the procedure on page 5.

Stir the cut curd slowly for abouta minute, every 4 or 5 minutes.

Heating the curd

Gradually heat water in the outercontainer, until the temperature of

curd and whey in the inner con-tainer reaches 110° F. The curdshould firm up satisfactorily at thistemperature. If it doesn't, or if itseems to be firming up too slowly,you can heat the curd and whey to115° or 120°.

Finishing large-curd cheese

Separate cheese curd from thewhey, wash and cool the curd, addsalt and cream. Follow directions onpages 7 and 8.

REASONS FOR IMPERFECTCOTTAGE CHEESE

Sour acid -flavor—means that toomuch acid developed before andduring cooking of the curd, that toomuch whey was retained in the curd,

or that the curd was not sufficientlywashed and drained.

Yeasty, sweet, or unclean fla-vors—indicate that yeasts, molds,or bacteria were introduced intoyour cheese by unclean utensils oran impure starter; or that your milkwas not completely pasteurized.

Soft wet curd—results from toomuch moisture in the cheese, the de-velopment of too much acid duringcutting of the curd, heating the cutcurd at too high or too low a tem-perature, or allowing too-large curdparticles to form.

Tough dry curd—results from in-sufficient acid development in thecurd before it is cut, too fine a cut-ting of the curd, too high a heatingtemperature, or too long a holdingtime after cooking and before dip-ping off the whey.

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Single copies of these publications about food are available from theOffice of Communication, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington,D.C. 20250. Send your request on a post card and include your ZIP Code.

Beef and Veal in Family Meals: A Guide for Consumers G 118Breads, Cakes, and Pies in Family Meals: A Guide for Consumers. G 186

Cheese in Family Meals: A Guide for Consumers G 112Conserving the Nutritive Values in Foods G 90Eggs in Family Meals: A Guide for Consumers G 103Family Fare: A Guide to Good Nutrition G 1Freezing Meat and Fish in the Home G 93Fruits in Family Meals: A Guide for Consumers G 125Home Canning of Fruits and Vegetables G 8Home Canning of Meat and Poultry G 10(5Home Freezing of Fruits and Vegetables G 10How To Make Jellies, Jams, and Preserves at Home G 56Keeping Food Safe To Eat: A Guide for Homemakers G 162Lamb in Family Meals: A Guide for Consumers G 124Milk in Family Meals: A Guide for Consumers G 127Nuts in Family Meals: A Guide for Consumers G 176Pork in Family Meals: A Guide for Consumers G 160Poultry in Family Meals: A Guide for Consumers G 110Soybeans in Family Meals G 208Storing Perishable Foods in the Home G 78Vegetables in Family Meals: A Guide for Consumers G 105Your Money's Worth in Foods G 183

This is a ^ ( M 4 X / e 4 / o f USDA

Reviewed by

Marvin G. Thompson, ARS research chemist, and Joseph F. FlanaganARS industrial specialist, cheese, Eastern Regional Research Center

Philadelphia, Pa. 19118

Acknowledgment is made to Consumer and Food Economics Institute,Agricultural Research Service, and Dairy Division, AgriculturalMarketing Service, for assistance in preparing this bulletin.

Revised December 1975Washington, D.C. Slightly revised November 1977

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1977—O-247-970