Cheese and its economical uses in the diet

by C. F. Langworthy; Caroline Louisa Hunt

Cottage Cheese.

This cheese is very commonly prepared in the home, and the process of making it is very simple. It consists merely of curdling the milk, separating the curd from the whey, seasoning, and pressing it.

The curd is formed by the souring of the milk, and the process is hastened if the milk is kept warm, the best temperature being about blood heat, 96° F. A temperature much above this should be avoided, as the curd is likely to become hard and tough if much heated. The danger is usually not that the whole will be overheated but that the portion nearest the fire will be. In the old-fashioned kitchen there was usually a place where the milk could stand till it was uniformly warm throughout. With our present cooking arrangements it is often desirable to hasten the process. This may be done by setting the milk into a pan of warm water or by pouring hot water directly into the milk itself. The effect of the latter method is to remove much more of the acid than when the whey is left undiluted. Some consider this a great advantage.

If, for any reason, the curd is overheated, it should be put through a meat chopper. This will insure cottage cheese of excellent texture.

If the milk is thoroughly chilled before the whey is drained off it retains more of the fat than if this is done when warm. Under no circumstances, however, is much of the fat retained in cottage cheese. It is therefore more economical to make it out of skim milk and to add the fat to the curd in the form of butter or cream.

Chopped parsley, caraway seeds, chopped olives, and pimiento may all be used for flavoring if such flavored cheese is preferred to plain cottage cheese.

Cottage cheese[15] is most commonly consumed immediately, but if made in quantity for commercial purposes, it may be packed in tubs and placed in cold storage. Sometimes it is formed into rolls or blocks and wrapped in tinfoil when marketed. Such cheese is used without ripening.

Though cottage cheese is usually made by allowing the milk to sour naturally, it is sometimes more convenient to curdle the milk by adding rennet, and some housekeepers have a preference for cottage cheese thus made, since the flavor is milder and the acid taste which it possesses when made from sour milk is lacking.