or more of water like pancakes, rice, instant mashed potatoes, a pot of soup, even a box dinner like Hamburger Helper or Rice a Roni. Then I grab a frozen baggie anytime I need something using 1c. I freeze it in 1 cup portions, I just use ziploc baggies. After spending all that time making healthy hommade cheese it would be foolish to toss out all the nutrition left in the whey. Now as to all that leftover whey in the bowl. Without the final addition of cream you have what is essentially the same thing as ricotta. You'd have to make an awful lot of this to get enough whey to come up with more than a few spoon fulls of real recooked ricotta.

When cool I pack and freeze till I'm ready to make lasagna because this make perfectly acceptable 'ricotta'. Drain a few min then pick up the towel and dump the cheese into another bowl. I just add the white vinegar, stir a bit, and after 5 min or so dump in a tea towel lined strainer over a large bowl. I don't bother with skimming rinsing, squeezing, or hanging in a cheesecloth. I don't use skim milk so that may affect results. About the only possible problems are using ultra pasturized milk or not getting the milk hot enough (190 - 200 deg), or possibly letting it go past boiling point. I have been making farmers/cottage/'ricotta' cheese at home for years, and I'm not even a very good cook. Stir the milk slowly in a circular motion. Remove it from the heat and add the vinegar or the lemon juice. Use a thermometer if you have, otherwise, the milk should be heated close to the boiling point. In a large pot, heat the milk to about 185-190F/85-87C. However, when you use whole milk, you will get a bigger yield of cheese and the texture will be creamier.Ĭonclusion: You will get a lot more farmer cheese from a gallon of whole milk than you will from a gallon of skim milk. From 1 gallon whole milk, you should obtain about 2 cups of farmer cheese.Īlso, you can use any kind of milk you like, 2%, 1% etc. Regular pasteurized milk, however, works fine for cheesemaking. Ultra-pasteurized milk is not always labeled as such, but you can tell because the expiration date is very long. Note: I do not recommend using ultra-pasteurized milk for cheesemaking because the curd will not set. We are going to make today the small curd cheese, that is very easy to make at home and does not require any fancy equipment. The other type is a large-curd cheese, that is made by adding Rennet to the milk, an enzyme that helps milk curdle and creates bigger cheese curds, like the cottage cheese you buy in the store and it is a little bit salty. Sometimes yogurt, cream or buttermilk is added to the milk. There are two different types of cottage cheese, one is a small curd cheese, that is made by adding some sort of an acid to the whole milk, usually vinegar or lemon juice. The recipe is so simple, that I am embarrassed to call it a recipe.The only ingredients we need are whole milk and some vinegar or lemon juice. Now, we do not have access to raw milk, so what do we do? Once the curds are separated, they are removed from the pot and allow to drain through a cheesecloth. Then, the milk is warmed up slowly, on low heat, until it reaches a temperature between 100 and 110☏ (38 - 43☌).Īs the milk gets warmer, curds begin to separate from the whey and form the farmer cheese. Traditionally, raw milk is allowed to clabber(or curdle) for 24 - 48 hours until becomes pleasantly sour and has the consistency of yogurt. what is farmer cheese and how is it made traditionally?įarmer cheese is a form of cottage cheese made originally from raw milk that is curdled using a bacterial culture or an acid such as vinegar. Many of you asked me what farmer cheese is or where you can find it, therefore I decided that it would be a good idea to share a simple recipe with you. It is not ricotta cheese, ricotta has a smaller curd with a drier texture and it is produced differently. Like most things home made, this cheese is tasty, creamier and healthier than any farmer cheese you find at the grocery store. I call it farmer cheese, but in some parts of the country you will probably find it as cottage cheese. It is such an easy recipe to make and the cheese can be used right away. I don't always have access to this cheese in the store, therefore I make it at home from scratch. From appetizers to desserts, the recipes are easy to make and use basic ingredients that people have in their pantry. The Romanian cuisine has a lot of delicious recipes that make a good use of the farmer cheese.

Skim cheese