How to make cottage cheese from milk at home. How to make homemade cottage cheese from whole cow's milk? Delicate curd cookies

Hello, dear readers of my blog! Today I was looking through photos from my recent vacation in Thailand and decided to tell you how easy it is to make cottage cheese from milk. Where is the connection? It's simple. After a few days of rest, the abundance of exotic fruits and seafood no longer seemed so attractive. And in the morning I desperately wanted regular cottage cheese. But it's not so simple! Unfortunately, it is not sold in Thailand.

The desire to eat my favorite delicacy turned out to be so persistent that I remembered how, as a child, my grandmother prepared it herself from homemade milk. And it suddenly dawned on me - I can do everything on my own! Everything turned out so well that I’m on vacation.

You can use not only cow's milk, but also goat's, fresh or sour, store-bought or homemade, and even powdered milk!

The product tastes even sweeter and softer. The store-bought product is sour and more crumbly. It is a pleasure to prepare casseroles from such a product. The baked goods are more tender. And my son eats it just like that without any sweet additives :) In a word, there would be a desire, but there are a lot of options. This is also a great way to diversify the menu for the whole family and take care of the health of loved ones.

Cottage cheese from fresh milk at home - a quick recipe with vinegar

Using this option, I made my own cottage cheese at home for the first time. It still tops the list of my favorites. The mass turns out soft, airy, and at the same time the taste of vinegar is absolutely invisible. To be honest, this ingredient confused me a little, but then I never regretted that I decided to try it. It turns out very quickly and is suitable for children.

Ingredients:

2 liters of milk;
35 ml table vinegar;
a pinch of salt (optional).

Step-by-step cooking recipe:

1. Place a saucepan with milk on low heat. Choose suitable dishes - it’s better not to take enamel dishes so that nothing gets burnt. Heat to approximately 90 C without boiling. Turn off the stove.

Cottage cheese is healthier than milk: calcium is absorbed from it much better and.

2. Pour in the vinegar in a slow stream, trying to distribute it evenly - for this I pour it in a “spiral”, moving from the edges of the pan to the center. Then stir, cover and leave for 20 minutes. During this time, whey is formed.

3. The resulting mass can begin to be filtered. Place it in gauze or a clean cotton bag and place on a sieve. Leave for 5-10 minutes.

4. Once the whey has drained, transfer the mixture to a plate, mash with a fork, adding a pinch of salt. Ready!

From this amount of ingredients I get a little more than 300 g of cottage cheese.

It can be eaten fresh or added to baked goods. I especially love to cook. When I give my son such a tasty treat, after eating he starts dancing and humming something. It’s so funny and joyful to see this :)

And if you compress the product well, after a few hours you will get something like fresh soft cheese. I sometimes like to cut it into pieces and eat it as a snack with tea or coffee.

Delicious curd made from milk and kefir for babies

A friend whose baby is growing up shared this interesting recipe with me. She was very pleased with the quality and ease of preparation. It turns out very tasty and healthy for children. By the way, you can make cottage cheese from goat’s milk this way.

You will need:

150 ml milk;
150 ml kefir.

How to cook:

1. Bring the milk to a boil and quickly pour kefir into it.

2. Stirring gently, hold on the stove for 5 seconds and remove the pan from the heat.

3. After 3-4 minutes, drain the resulting mixture in a colander, drain the whey - and the curd is ready to eat!

The amount of ingredients can be increased, keeping the proportions 1:1.

The result is a soft cheese mass, ideal for feeding babies. If you keep the mixture on the stove a little longer, you will get a denser product, more similar to the usual store-bought one. And you can cook for yourself. I often make this for myself as a snack. Even without sugar it turns out sweet and low in calories 😉

How to make homemade cottage cheese from sour cow's milk

If you forgot about the milk in the refrigerator and it turned sour, don’t despair. It can make a wonderful cottage cheese. As it turned out, this is exactly the recipe my grandmother used when she treated me as a child.

Required Products:

curdled milk.

Cooking steps:

1. Pour water into a wide saucepan, place a napkin on the bottom, and place a jar of yogurt on top. It will be enough for the water level to reach half the jar. The effect of a water bath is obtained.

For more uniform heating, “cut” the curdled milk with a knife crosswise.

2. Cover the neck with gauze, turn on the heat very slowly and wait until the water begins to boil. But do not bring it to an active boil. After this, turn off the stove and leave for 10 minutes.

3. Remove the jar and let the product cool for 15 minutes. Then drain through cheesecloth.

4. If possible, hang the remaining mixture in the gauze over a saucepan or sink to drain off excess whey. It is quite difficult to squeeze it out by hand.

After a few hours, the dense, delicate product will be ready.

I remember my grandmother often cooked. Such a day was a real holiday for me. And as a gravy I served sour cream with sugar. Yum-yum :)

Quick cottage cheese from milk - video recipe with lemon

It turns out that lemons can be used to prepare a fermented milk product. Are you wondering how to do it correctly? Watch this video. The recipe can be further simplified by replacing 1 lemon with 2 tsp. citric acid diluted in a small amount of water. Every housewife probably has this ingredient in her kitchen at any time.

How to make cottage cheese from milk with calcium chloride (calcium chloride)

Brittle nails, hair loss, and dental problems can be a signal that the body does not have enough calcium. It is also responsible for bone strength, normalizes the functioning of the nervous system and the production of enzymes. In a word, it is an essential element for the body. If there is a shortage of it, it is recommended to use calcined cottage cheese, which can be prepared at home. This product is considered especially useful for children, adolescents and the elderly.

Prepare for the recipe:

1 liter of milk;
1 ampoule of calcium chloride.

Step-by-step cooking instructions:

1. Pour the milk into a saucepan and set to heat.

2. After heating, turn off the stove, pour calcium chloride there and stir constantly until a curd mass is obtained.

3. Drain in a colander and leave to cool.

Homemade cottage cheese from milk and sour cream in a slow cooker

With a kitchen assistant like a multicooker, you don't have to stand at the stove and watch the milk. It will take more time to prepare, but almost all the work will be done by the equipment itself.

Ingredients:

2 liters of milk;
5-6 tbsp. sour cream.

Cooking steps:

1. In the multicooker bowl, use a spatula to thoroughly stir the sour cream into the milk.

If you don’t have sour cream at home, you can replace it with yogurt, which will act as a starter. Just take natural, without added sugar.

2. Select the “Yogurt” mode, close the lid. There is no need to wait all 8 hours - after about 4 hours you can check whether fermentation has occurred.

3. When the curdled milk is ready, carefully separate it from the walls of the bowl with a spatula and change the mode to “Multi-cook”. Select a cooking time of 1 hour and a temperature of 90 C. If your multicooker does not have this function, you can use “Keep Warm” instead. But in this case it is better to increase the time to at least 1.5 hours.

4. Now place a colander over the pan, line it with gauze or a clean cotton cloth and strain off the whey. Usually it drains completely on its own in about half an hour.

The result is about 320 g of delicate, airy fermented milk product. In consistency, it is somewhat reminiscent of curd mass with raisins, which is sold in stores.

How to make cottage cheese without heating from sour milk (in the freezer)

Another easy way that does not require heating. All you need to do is use the freezer compartment of your refrigerator. This recipe makes curds made from baked milk especially tasty and tender.

Ingredients:

1 liter of sour milk.

Cooking instructions:

1. Pour the contents of the jar into convenient containers and place them in the freezer. It is better to use plastic containers for these purposes - it is much more convenient to get a “lump” of milk from them.

Store-bought sour milk can be frozen directly in its original packaging.

2. When the curdled milk freezes, place it in a colander covered with gauze and leave to thaw. As a result, a homogeneous fermented milk product will remain on the gauze.

Homemade cottage cheese made from milk with lactic sourdough

This option is perfect for those who like a dense product, more like homemade cheese. In its finished form, if you don’t specifically mash it with a fork, you can even cut it into slices with a knife. My husband loves sandwiches with them. Before preparing, please note that the list of ingredients contains Bakzdrav starter culture, one sachet of which is enough for 3-5 liters of milk. If you take a sourdough starter from another company, then be guided by the quantity based on the manufacturer’s instructions.

To prepare, prepare:

3. Pour the resulting solution into the pan and mix well so that the starter is distributed evenly throughout the entire volume.

4. Cover the pan with a blanket and place in a warm place for 7-8 hours.

5. When the mixture has fermented and thickened, cut it into squares with a knife - this will help the whey separate faster.

6. Place the mixture in a water bath and heat to approximately 50-60 C.

The higher the temperature, the more granular the cottage cheese will be. But do not forget that high temperatures begin to kill beneficial lactic acid bacteria.

7. Gently stir the contents of the pan again. Carefully cut large pieces with a knife or slotted spoon to separate the whey.

8. After 15-20 minutes, the resulting mass can be thrown onto gauze or cloth. Tie the cloth and hang it over a bowl or sink to catch excess whey under its own weight. At this stage, you can adjust the desired density of the finished product.

3 ways to make homemade cottage cheese from milk or kefir (video tips)

As you can see, there are many ways to make cottage cheese with your own hands, and all of them deserve attention. And the best part is that you often don’t even need to go to the grocery store to do this. Surely every housewife has a set of products in her kitchen for at least one recipe. If it’s not lemon, it’s vinegar; if it’s not kefir, it’s leaven. And to make it easier for you, I’m leaving here this video reminder of the basic cooking recipes.

Once you try to prepare this product at home, you can forever forget about buying it in the store. There is nothing difficult to do. And there’s nothing to say about the benefits of a natural homemade product compared to a store-bought one. Try one of the proposed methods - and you will see that everything is very simple and incredibly tasty.

Answers to frequently asked questions

How much cottage cheese is produced from a liter of milk?	approximately 130 - 150 grams (with a fat content of the original product of 2.5 - 3.2%). Plus it depends on what kind of fermented milk product you want. I like it more delicate, so I leave more whey, and this affects the final weight.
Fat content of cottage cheese from milk	18-20 %. The calculation formula is the same if you take a store-bought or home-made product:
How much milk is needed for 1 kg of cottage cheese?	6 – 7 liters
How much cottage cheese is produced from 10 liters of milk?	you get 1.5 kilograms (if you assume that 1 liter yields 150 g of product)

Cottage cheese is a healthy fermented milk product, on the basis of which many main courses and desserts are prepared. It will be useful for its lovers to learn how to make cottage cheese at home. This cottage cheese differs from store-bought cottage cheese due to its natural ingredients and the absence of additives and preservatives. There are many recipes that show step by step how to make cottage cheese at home. Let's consider the main and popular ones: from yogurt, using lemon, with different methods of heat treatment, with a high calcium content and more.

Before you cook cottage cheese, you need to decide what raw materials to cook from. There are two options:

In any case, it is important to pay attention to the freshness of the milk. The store prints expiration dates that must be observed. If you purchase a farm product, you need to take it from a trusted place. Better from familiar sellers.

Crockery and equipment

It is recommended to use glass or clay containers as utensils for creating curd. It should not be covered with lids. Free circulation of air masses is important for fermentation to occur. It is recommended to cover the top of the jar with cloth or gauze.

The use of metal utensils without enamel is not allowed. During fermentation, an oxidative reaction is possible, which can spoil the taste of the final product. When boiling milk, choose an enamel container that exceeds the volume of liquid being poured (for 3 liters of milk, a 5 liter pan). This is due to the rise of the boiling product. It is recommended to choose a wooden spoon for stirring.

Types of heat treatment: hot and cold methods

You can prepare homemade cottage cheese using the following methods:

Cold. Does not involve heating the product. The curd turns out soft, without grains. The principle of the method is to bring the milk to a thick yogurt, set aside time for fermentation, separate the mass from the whey using a sieve, and use it for its intended purpose. Most often, such cottage cheese is used as an ingredient in cottage cheese dessert. Cooking in a yogurt maker also refers to the cold method. The required temperature for curdling is maintained inside.
The hot method involves heat treatment of the workpiece. This method includes cooking on the stove, in the microwave, or in a slow cooker. The finished product comes out with a grainy structure. All bacteria are destroyed, which makes the cottage cheese suitable for baby food.

Approximate calorie content of the finished product

Homemade cottage cheese is a low-calorie dietary product. Its energy value depends on the fat content of the raw material. If the milk ingredient contains 3.2% fat, then the value of the curd is 55 kcal (proteins - 2.8 g; fats - 3.2 g; carbohydrates - 4.7 g). With 2.5 percent raw material, the output curd mass will contain 53 kcal (proteins - 2.8 g; fats - 2.5 g; carbohydrates - 4.7 g). A low-fat product will contain about 30 kcal.

The addition of granulated sugar, sour cream, rich cream or full-fat yogurt is of great importance. With such ingredients, the calorie content of the finished product will increase 4 times (219 kcal).

Instructions for proper straining

Whey straining is a process that separates the curd granules from excess liquid. The degree of dryness of the product depends on its purpose. If it is used to feed children, it can be left wet. For baking it is better to use dry cottage cheese. For cottage cheese desserts in the form of cheesecakes and casseroles, you can use a product of medium moisture.

Straining steps:

The pressure should not be strong. Otherwise, the integrity of the curd grains will be compromised and the curd will turn out dry.

Curdled milk recipe

To make full-fat cottage cheese from yogurt, you need to buy fresh milk. It should turn sour before your eyes (in a warm place). Cooking steps:

Use immediately after production, but can be cooled in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours.

Skim cheese

Low-fat cottage cheese can be made from store-bought milk with a low fat content. Its disadvantage is the reduced amount of vitamins and microelements. To get the most healthy cottage cheese, you can reduce the fat content of homemade milk. To do this, place it in the refrigerator for a couple of hours (the cream will float to the surface), remove the creamy layer. Preparation of fermented milk product:

The cottage cheese should be cooled before use.

Milk and Lemon Recipe

To make lemon curd we will need:

2 liters of milk,
5 tbsp. lemon juice (or citric acid)

Preparation:

This product is suitable for baking pies, cheesecakes, and juices.

Cold method cottage cheese recipe

Cottage cheese, made cold without heating, has a soft consistency, which makes it suitable for creating delicate desserts and delicious breakfasts. To prepare it we need fresh milk and a crust of rye bread. Stages of this method:

Recipe in a slow cooker

Cooking in a slow cooker is the easiest way. Cottage cheese will retain all the beneficial elements of dairy products. It will have a soft, creamy taste. To make it you need the following products:

1 liter of milk,
1 jar of natural yogurt (no additives),
1 tsp Sahara,
1/2 tsp. salt.

Preparation:

This product can be eaten as an independent dish. It has a sweet and sour, rich taste.

Is it possible to make cottage cheese in a yogurt maker?

You can make homemade cottage cheese in a yogurt maker. When the desired temperature is maintained, the product turns out tasty and healthy. Some yogurt makers have a mode for preparing curd mass (there is a container with holes for removing whey).

The recipe in the resort looks like this:

Before use, pour boiling water over the bowl and cover with a lid.
A liter of milk is brought to a boil and poured into the bowl of a yogurt maker.
Add starter - 1 tbsp sour cream, 1 crust of black bread, 2 tbsp yogurt or calcium chloride (1 tbsp per 1 liter).
Stir well. Set the time to 12-15 hours. As time passes, drain the whey, strain the curd grains through a sieve, and squeeze if necessary.

If you want a wet product, you don't have to squeeze out the liquid. The result is a soft and tender curd suitable for baby food. To deepen the taste, place it in the refrigerator for 4 hours.

With high calcium content

Calcined cottage cheese is a healthy product containing a large amount of calcium. It is beneficial for the growth of bones and teeth. Has a healing effect for hair and nails. You can prepare this product yourself. To do this, you should purchase calcium chloride at the pharmacy. It is added to milk in a proportion of 2 tbsp. l. substances per 1 liter of dairy product.

To make it at home, we need:

1 liter of dairy product,
2 tbsp. calcium chloride.

Manufacturing stages:

The milk is placed in a cooking pan, calcium chloride from the pharmacy is added, and the mixture is heated on the stove.
When the food has reached a boil, but has not yet boiled, remove the pan from the heat.
Allow the contents to cool completely.
Filter the curd from the whey using gauze or a special sieve.

The shelf life of the finished dish is 2 days.

How much cottage cheese will be produced from 1 liter of milk?

The final amount of homemade cottage cheese depends on the fat content of the raw materials. A liter of the fattest milk yields 200-250 g of cottage cheese. If you used milk with a low fat content or completely skimmed during cooking, you will get about 150 g of the finished product.

Storage rules

Cottage cheese, like other fermented milk products, is perishable. To be stored in the refrigerator only.

The shelf life should not exceed 5 days: for a product made from store-bought raw materials - 5 days, for a mass made from homemade ingredients - 3 days, calcified cottage cheese retains its functions for no more than 2 days. Without refrigeration, its shelf life is reduced to 4 hours.

After the expiration date of the cottage cheese, it can be used for cosmetic purposes. It is not recommended to eat it. As a last resort, you can make or from expired cottage cheese. Heat treatment in this case is mandatory.

Homemade cottage cheese retains as much nutrients as possible and has a beneficial effect on the gastrointestinal tract and the body as a whole. Calcium contained in the curd mass makes bones strong and restores healthy appearance to hair and nails. The product contains a large amount of protein, which helps with regular training.

Curd dishes come first on the sports menu. Low-fat options are suitable for quickly losing weight and maintaining the result. They help remove toxins and waste from the body and have a diuretic effect.

Stores offer us a wide selection of dairy products, and it is very convenient, for example, to buy ready-made cottage cheese and not have to “stress” with preparing it yourself in the kitchen. But for some reason, store-bought and homemade cottage cheese taste so different from each other, as if they were two different products. And making cottage cheese at home is not at all difficult. "AiF-Chelyabinsk" offers several recipes for making delicious and extremely healthy homemade cottage cheese.

Amino acids, phosphorus, calcium

The beneficial properties of cottage cheese are explained by the technology of its preparation, which results in the formation of two valuable components - milk fat and milk protein. Milk protein has high nutritional value and can replace animal proteins.

Cottage cheese also contains amino acids necessary for the prevention of liver diseases. Cottage cheese is rich in phosphorus and calcium, without which proper formation of bones and the skeletal system is impossible. Phosphorus and calcium are especially needed by the body during fractures; children during the period of teeth and bone growth; for hypertension and heart disease; as well as pregnant women and the elderly.

In addition, cottage cheese contains lactic acid bacteria, which improve the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract and also normalize intestinal motility.

Classic recipe

If you want cottage cheese to be tasty at home and retain all its beneficial properties, take only fresh milk with a high percentage of fat content.

What do you need:

milk - 2 liters, a 3-liter saucepan, a piece of gauze folded in several layers, a colander.

Pour the milk into a saucepan, cover with a light cloth and leave at room temperature to sour and form curdled milk. In the summer, milk turns sour within a day. In cold weather, this process can take two days. When milk has soured, a layer of sour cream may form on top - this depends on the fat content of the milk. This layer must be removed from the surface. Place the pan on low heat; heat the pan with yogurt to 70 ºС. Place your hands on the pan - your hands should be hot.

A volume of two liters warms up in about 20-30 minutes. If you have a larger volume of curdled milk, you will need more time. Don’t forget to stir the yogurt, but you need to do this very carefully and infrequently.

It is important here not to miss the very moment when the cottage cheese has reached the desired consistency. Overheated yogurt will make dryish cottage cheese. How do you know when the cottage cheese is ready? It settles to the bottom of the pan, and the whey turns out to be greenish (yellowish) transparent. Turn off the heat and leave the contents of the pan until completely cool.

After cooling, the top whey can be poured into jars, and the rest of the contents of the pan, along with the cottage cheese, are poured into a colander lined with gauze. You can press the curd mass with a wooden spatula so that the moisture drips off. You will get soft, slightly moist cottage cheese.

If you hang the cottage cheese wrapped in several layers of gauze and leave it for 12 hours (place a bowl for the draining whey), then all the whey will drain and you will get homemade granular cottage cheese.

In a water bath

This cooking method will require two pans. One is small, in which we already have yogurt, and the second is larger, so much so that the first one fits in it. Pour water into a large saucepan, place a small dish in a large one, then put it on the fire. Bring the water to a boil. After a few minutes, a yellowish serum will begin to appear. It is necessary to carefully monitor the separation of whey. Then, without leaving for a second and without taking your eyes off the curdled milk, wait until curd clots appear. They will gradually sink to the bottom. Important: the curdled milk should not boil.

When curd clumps have formed, remove the pan from the heat. After the whey has cooled, strain the curd through cheesecloth or a sieve.

Cottage cheese made from fresh yogurt can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Of course, after this you can eat it, but it is better to use this cottage cheese for baking.

We use sourdough

Another way to prepare cottage cheese is with sourdough. First, you need to boil the milk; at the stage of cooling the boiled milk (at a temperature of 32-36 degrees), add yogurt (or kefir) to the milk at the rate of 2-3 tbsp. spoons per 1 liter, mix lightly with a metal spoon, cover the pan with a lid and place in a warm place.

Fermentation of milk under these conditions occurs much faster. Next, you need to heat it in a water bath until the whey is released, as with the method of preparing cottage cheese described above.

Delicate curd cookies

Cottage cheese is an excellent base for baking. A variety of cookies, cheesecakes, manna cakes, muffins - probably every housewife has several favorite recipes for baking with cottage cheese. We suggest baking tender cookies with cottage cheese filling, in which it is better to use homemade cottage cheese.

Ingredients

Cottage cheese - 200 g Sugar - 50 g Salt - 2 g Baking powder - 10 g Vanilla sugar - 8 g Butter - 150 g Sour cream (20%) - 50 g Chicken egg - 1 pc Wheat flour - 350-400 g Filling:

Cottage cheese - 200 g Chicken egg - 1 pc Sugar - 100 g Salt - 1 g Semolina - 40-50 g Vanilla sugar - 8 g Preparation

Sift the flour into a bowl (preferably 300 g of flour to start with), mix it with salt, sugar, baking powder and vanilla sugar. Beat cottage cheese, butter, sour cream, egg with a blender until smooth. Add this curd mass to the flour and start kneading the dough. Add flour if necessary. It may need from 350 to 400 g, depending on the moisture content of the cottage cheese. The dough should be soft, elastic and not stick to your hands. Wrap the dough in cling film and leave at room temperature while you prepare the filling.

For the filling, mix cottage cheese, salt, sugar, egg and vanilla sugar. Add semolina, stir and leave for 10 minutes. The amount of semolina depends on the moisture content of the cottage cheese

Roll out the dough 0.5 cm thick, cut out circles. In half of the circles in the center, use a notch to make a cutout of any shape (you can just use a circle of a smaller diameter). Connect the circles in pairs. The lower part is a solid circle, the upper part is with a cutout. Place the curd filling into the resulting cavity. Bake at 180 degrees until golden brown (about 15 minutes), use your oven as a guide. Make the decoration to your taste: you can sprinkle with powdered sugar and decorate with fresh berries.

Cottage cheese is a unique dairy product from which you can prepare a lot of delicious dishes, or you can eat it raw. But in the store it is not always possible to find a quality product that has the proper taste and contains a set of healing ingredients. Therefore, it is worth considering how to prepare cottage cheese at home.

Composition and properties

Cottage cheese is the most common solid milk product, which has been produced in different parts of the world since ancient times. At home, it was traditionally made from sour milk or curdled milk by separating the liquid whey from the solids using a hot or cold method. Modern factory methods differ from folk recipes; store-bought cottage cheese can lose many valuable components, although it is an airy, homogeneous mass that is pleasant to look at, but not necessarily to taste.

The composition of BZHU (proteins, fats, carbohydrates) varies among different varieties of cottage cheese. The fact is that according to standards, it is customary to divide this product into 3 categories of fat content: fat (more than 18%), semi-fat or dietary (9-18%), low-fat (2-9%).

Depending on this, the standard composition of BZHU and the calorie content of a dairy product are as follows:

fatty: proteins – 15 g, fats – 18 g, carbohydrates – 2.8 g, calorie content 236 kcal/100 g;
semi-bold: proteins – 18 g, fats – 9 g, carbohydrates – 3 g, calorie content 169 kcal/100 g;
low-fat: proteins – 22 g, fats – 3 g, carbohydrates – 3.3 g, calorie content 120 kcal/100 g.

Homemade cottage cheese, like other fermented milk products, contains lactic acid and lactose. These components, together with some enzymes, have a beneficial effect on the stomach and digestion. Among the vitamins, we can note A, C and D, as well as group B. The product also contains useful chemical elements: calcium, phosphorus, iron.

The benefits of cottage cheese are enormous; it is definitely recommended for children during their growth period, the elderly, for fractures, kidney, liver and stomach diseases, rickets, cardiovascular diseases, pregnant and lactating women. Finally, this is simply a nutritious dish that can be used regularly in the diet with virtually no contraindications.

As a source of iron, amino acids and several vitamins, homemade cottage cheese is very useful for enriching bone tissue, stabilizing the nervous system, and preventing metabolism. It has been proven that this product promotes the generation of growth hormone, which is important in childhood and adolescence. Studies prove that cottage cheese burns excess fat and helps with weight loss. It also helps build muscle mass, which is why it is widely popular among weightlifters and is an excellent preventative against atherosclerosis.

Cottage cheese has also been used externally: it is used as compresses for blows, cuts, bruises, and burns. As a cosmetic product, it is also used in the form of creams or masks for the face and body. As you can see, this is a truly universal product.

The harm of cottage cheese has largely not been proven, except perhaps from excessive consumption of the fattiest varieties, which contain large amounts of animal fat and cholesterol.

We are talking about a quality homemade product. This cannot be said about the many questionable cottage cheese products with chemical ingredients that are available in many stores.

Cooking features

There are several ways to cook cottage cheese at home. All of them include the following steps: creating curdled milk from whole milk, heat treatment, squeezing and removing excess liquid. For production, a regular saucepan and stove, water bath, multicooker or microwave are suitable. There is also a cold production method without heat treatment.

In order to make curdled milk from fresh milk, it is best to use glass or earthenware, for subsequent cooking use enamel or galvanized pans, and for further storage any suitable container, for example, plastic containers. For squeezing, you need a piece of clean gauze, for example, medical gauze.

To ferment fresh milk and make curdled milk from it, there are several traditional methods. The main thing is to add an ingredient that contains yeast or acid to promote fermentation. This could be a piece of rye cracker, a couple of spoons of sour cream or a glass of kefir, half a teaspoon of vinegar or citric acid. If you are using homemade cow's or goat's milk rather than store-bought milk, then to be safe, it is better to boil it.

Homemade curdled milk should be stored in a warm place: near the stove, radiator, behind the refrigerator. Avoid exposure to sunlight, as it destroys beneficial vitamin C. Three days are enough for complete aging under such conditions.

You should not keep the yogurt mixture in the refrigerator, since the milk does not ferment, but simply deteriorates over time.

How to choose raw materials?

Many people admit that village cow's milk is most suitable for making high-quality cottage cheese. It is the fattest, retains all the beneficial ingredients and does not contain additives that prevent fermentation. Not every city dweller has access to it, then it is quite possible to use a store-bought one, but there are a number of nuances here.

You need to choose a product with a fat content of at least 3.6%.
Do not buy milk with a long shelf life; most likely, they contain antibiotics that prevent fermentation.
Don’t be lazy, check production and expiration dates, and purchase only fresh raw materials.

Pasteurized milk from the store is good because in any case it will not be as fatty as natural milk. The cottage cheese made from it is dietary and low-calorie, this is especially true for those people who are on a diet and avoid consuming excess calories.

Country milk is usually boiled before making yogurt and cottage cheese. Boiled or baked milk loses a number of remarkable properties, in particular, even at a temperature of +50 degrees, some useful enzymes and vitamins burn out. But they are unlikely to be present in a store product; factory processing is even more merciless.

To give homemade cottage cheese a special taste, not only curdled milk is used, but also other ingredients that are also of dairy origin. This can be fermented baked milk, kefir, yogurt in various proportions. There are recipes for sourdough with sour cream, which serves as an oxidizing agent for fresh milk.

From the whey remaining after straining out the solid product, you can make delicious okroshka or dough for pancakes or dumplings.

Best Recipes

For the simplest DIY cottage cheese recipe, take 3 liters of ready-made yogurt, pour it into a five-liter saucepan and put it on low heat. The mass is heated, but not brought to a boil; it needs to be stirred from time to time. When large lumps float to the surface, you need to remove the container from the heat, let it cool and gradually pour it into a colander with gauze folded in 4 layers, pushing out the large lumps with a spoon. Place a separate bowl or pan under the draining liquid. After the whey has drained, tie the gauze into a knot and squeeze thoroughly.

The squeezed curd mass is suspended in a bundle on a rope. Instead, you can use a press: cover the cottage cheese with a flat plate on top and press with a weight for several hours.

Instead of cooking, you can cook cottage cheese in a water bath. To do this, take a large pan of water and place a smaller container with yogurt on top. After boiling, you need to steam the mixture for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

You can cook cottage cheese in the microwave very quickly. To do this, 1 liter of yogurt is poured into a glass or porcelain container with high sides, it is placed in the microwave oven in an open form, and the power is set to 350 - 400 W. You need to cook for 10 minutes, after which the curd mass floats to the surface, and the whey remains at the bottom. The consistency turns out to be quite dry; you don’t need to squeeze it out in gauze.

And this dairy product is also easy to prepare in a slow cooker. In a 5 liter bowl you need to pour 2-3 liters of yogurt, set the heating mode and leave for half an hour for a juicy consistency or 45 minutes for a dry and crumbly consistency. After cooking, place the mixture in a colander and let cool.

Without heat treatment, homemade cottage cheese is prepared as follows. The curdled milk is poured into any suitable container and placed in the freezer until completely frozen. Then it is taken out and placed in a colander lined with gauze, which is placed on a bowl to allow the whey to drain. Next, you need to wait until the mixture has completely melted and the liquid has drained. The result is a delicate and crumbly product.

Instead of yogurt, you can use low-fat kefir to make delicious cottage cheese. It is poured into a transparent glass container and placed in a warm, dark place. When whey forms in the mass, place the container in a water bath and heat for 15 minutes, then separate the curd and strain on gauze.

A delicious dessert for children can be prepared by heating 3 liters of milk to a boil, then adding 1.5 liters of kefir. Next, the mixture is heated over low heat for 10 minutes with stirring. When it curls, it needs to be cooled and strained through a colander with gauze.

The prepared cottage cheese can be mixed in a blender until smooth with chocolate, fruit, honey, sour cream, sugar and other sweet ingredients. The delicacy will appeal not only to children, but also to adults.

You can prepare a product from boiled village or store-bought milk as follows. 1 liter of milk is poured into an enamel pan and brought to a boil, after which the fire is turned off and half a teaspoon of salt and citric acid is added. Next, the container is placed under cheesecloth for 4 hours, then the resulting whey is drained, the cottage cheese in the gauze is washed with warm water and squeezed out. You can serve it with cream or sour cream.

Without heat treatment, it is possible to preserve some useful substances in homemade cottage cheese. Although if you freeze it, then under the influence of low temperatures in the freezer it can also lose a number of useful properties.

When cooking in a microwave, you should not set it to the highest power setting. This will not speed up the process, and the cottage cheese may dry out, burn, or turn out rubbery.

Modern household kitchen appliances allow you to prepare this product quickly and tasty without burning or escaping milk. You can always make homemade cottage cheese in a yogurt maker, slow cooker, or microwave oven. Depending on the selected mode and time, it can turn out soft and juicy or dry and crumbly.

To strain the curd mass correctly, it is necessary that the gauze be folded in at least 2 layers and protrude beyond the edges of the colander. After draining the whey, take all the corners of the gauze and tie them tightly together. You can hang the lump in the kitchen, the main thing is that it is warm and dry.

It is possible to prepare a product enriched with calcium. To do this, add 10% calcium chloride powder to the curdled milk, which is easy to find in any pharmacy. For 500 ml of liquid mass take 1 tbsp. l. substances.

But it is worth remembering that you should consume no more than 100 g of this product per day, otherwise the balance of substances in the body will be disrupted.

To learn how to make cottage cheese from real cow's milk, watch the following video.

One of the simplest and fastest ways to prepare tender cottage cheese at home. You don’t need to wait for the milk to sour, you don’t need to use pepsin, or buy starter cultures. A little fresh milk, lemon juice, an hour of time - and the most delicate cottage cheese is ready.

Milk that has not been brought to a boil contains a lot of enzymes that help the digestive system cope with the digestion of foods. In addition, we recommend trying to make cottage cheese from goat milk. If you compare goat's and cow's milk, this is what you get: there is 6 times more cobalt in goat's milk than in regular cow's milk, and it is the main component of vitamin B12, which is responsible for important hematopoietic and metabolic processes in the body. Many times more potassium, higher quality protein and fats, which promises high nutritional value.

Goat's milk is low in lactose (milk sugar), which means it is easy to digest, does not cause stomach upset, and is ideal for people who are lactose intolerant but love dairy products. Milk is also valued for its high content of capric and linoleic, sialic acids, carotene, niacin, iron and magnesium.

How to make cottage cheese at home

Ingredients

1 liter of milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons lemon juice

Step 1

In a large saucepan, combine milk and salt. Bring the milk to almost a boil, but do not let it boil. Turn off the heat and add lemon juice and stir gently. The milk will begin to curdle into flakes. Stirring occasionally, let stand for 5-7 minutes. For extra creaminess, you can add 1 tablespoon of heavy cream at this stage.

Step 2

Line a bowl with gauze or a cotton towel and pour in the curd mixture. Carefully tie the edges and lift the tied “bag”. Place in a colander and let the whey drain. The more time the liquid drains, the denser and drier the ricotta will be. It takes 45-60 minutes to prepare tender cottage cheese.

Step 3

The whey obtained from cooking can be used instead of water in recipes for baking muffins, cookies, bread, and as a base for okroshka. Cottage cheese is eaten with berries and fruits, honey, nuts, salted with herbs, as a spread on toast, as an ingredient for cheesecakes and cottage cheese baking, gnoc.