Again, I hesitate after someone’s comment about “homemade” because I didn’t raise the cow that produced the milk and since I bought the milk, bought the Rennet, I suppose that according to some purist definition of “homemade”, my cottage cheese is not homemade but to me . . it is homemade!
This is another recipe from One Hour Cheese. I’m already thinking I should order a second copy because I can see this book is going to get lots and lots of use. Typically, I don’t like cookbook type books on the Kindle but at some point, I can see adding this to my Kindle.
On the agenda for today . . cottage cheese. Vince loves cottage cheese and I like it but it’s one of those things that I seem to always forget to eat. When I see it or remember it, I can eat it straight out of the container and I do love it.
It was while I was making the cheese that Vince came in with baby chicks and between keeping the cottage cheese on track, watching the temp of the yogurt that I was also making, keeping one little chihuahua from consuming 14 baby chicks, getting the brooder box set up . . I just didn’t get any pictures of the cheese making in progress but it was simple and yes, it took less than one hour to make.
The cottage cheese does require rennet. Vegetable rennet was in my kit so that’s what I used but you could use regular rennet. The recipe calls for 1/4 tablet dissolved in water so if you’re using liquid rennet, you would have to figure out the substitution. That may be covered in the book . . I haven’t looked, but I’m sure the info is somewhere on the internet.
Cottage Cheese
It looks exactly like storebought cottage cheese but the curds probably aren’t quite as uniform and the more I make it, the more uniform they will probably be. It tastes exactly like cottage cheese – only fresher. I asked Vince .. when was the last time you had cottage cheese the same day it was made? Never!
Fruit
For our after dinner snack, we had home canned (and home grown) peaches, blueberries, fresh pineapple and bananas . .
Cottage Cheese on Fruit
That was so good! From one gallon of milk, I got 32 ounces of cottage cheese.
Whey
Today I ended up with about 3/4 gallon of whey and I had 1/2 gallon from making the first batch of cheese. Yogurt is straining overnight so I should end up with a little over 2 gallons of whey so tomorrow, I’m going to make ricotta from the whey. The whey left after the ricotta will go on the tomato and blueberry plants.
Lee says
I’m glad your cottage cheese turned out well and tastes so fresh. I’m reminded of a time my dad tried to make “home made” cottage cheese…I was only about 7 at the time so I don’t know what he used, but even HE wouldn’t eat it and he threw it all out. He probably said a whole lot of colorful language too.
JudyL says
Funny how those memories from long ago surface and make us smile.
Peg H says
Ooooooh! Homemade cottage cheese? Be still my heart! Then again, I admit to being more like you when it comes to cottage cheese: I usually forget about it. Then I see someone else eating it and I MUST have some. My mom gave me cottage cheese & stewed prunes almost every day of my life until I was a teen. Yummmmo.
I hope you share how you make ricotta cheese when you make it. I don’t know anything about whey except that I can get a powdered form of whey protein in cans. I’m learning a lot from your cheese stories – as usual! Thank you!
Anne says
I made cheese years ago and it was great. So since I haven’t done it in a very long time, I ordered the book you are using. I can’t wait to get it!!
I just wanted to mention, I have learned so much from you and wanted you to know how much I appreciate it! If only I could have chickens, I’d be really happy!! And mushrooms… and a big garden, and… well, you get the idea! 🙂
Dawn in NL says
Re “homemade”, I didn’t see the original comment, but I am sure you would call a cake homemade whether you grew the wheat yourself or not. Please don’t censor yourself because of one comment. I love reading your stories, and marvel at what you get done in a day.
Teresa says
While I don’t like cottage cheese (can’t stand the texture), I love ricotta. If ricotta is made from the left over whey, I am in. I don’t like whey in anything (too sour), so I have been “feeding” my compost pile with it from yogurt making.
Liz says
You can press the cottage cheese to make farmers cheese which is a drier cheese.
All this talk about cheese making brought back Easter memories with my mom. She was Russian Orthodox, so we would make paska (cheese) and kulich (bread) for Easter. We didn’t have a family recipe so we would try different ones each year. This recipe seem to be “familiar” with respect to ingredients and methods.
http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/crossculturaldesserts/r/paskacheese.htm
And we used a new flower pot to make the cheese since it has a hole in the bottom and then put pressure with cans of food. The bread was baked in coffee tins. I’m sure there are molds available for the cheese and bread.
Denise ~ justquiltin says
Does Vince realize that soon he is going to have to get you a cow so you have a fresh milk supply for all your cheese and yogurt making? 🙂 Looks yummy.
liz says
I’m getting the book through the library. I figure that I can get the book later with all the “parts” I need.
I love cottage cheese, but I go through phases and then end up wasting some. The idea of making fresh cheese in the morning for eating that evening sounds wonderful. Yup, and making artisan bread. Hmm… shouldn’t be writing this before lunch!
Rebecca in SoCal says
Pickiness of the definition of “home made” reminds me of my early quilting days, when some people would turn up their nose at anything not hand-quilted (I think they adapted to machine piecing, at least!) I even remember a guild speaker showing art wallhangings and overhearing (with a sniff), “Well, that’s not a quilt.”
Different strokes…