Cottage cheese is a fermented milk product. It is a source of calcium, phosphorus, iron, vitamins A, B, C, D. However, when buying cottage cheese in a store, it is not always possible to get a healthy and high-quality product. Therefore, if you have the opportunity to purchase whole homemade milk, cook the cottage cheese yourself.
Method number 1: in a water bath
First you need to prepare yogurt. Boil 2 liters of whole homemade milk. Let it cool down to 38-40 ° C. You can measure the temperature with an ordinary mercury thermometer, having thoroughly washed it with dish soap. Then add a small bowl of sourdough culture to the milk. If there is no special starter culture for yogurt, you can use store-bought kefir or yogurt without sugar and other additives. When choosing a fermented milk product, pay attention to its composition. It is important that it contains natural ingredients and a minimum of preservatives. As a rule, such sour milk has a very short shelf life.
Stir the sourdough milk with a wooden spoon, cover with a napkin and leave at room temperature for 6-8 hours. Put the resulting curdled milk in a water bath. Wait a few minutes for the curd to separate from the whey. Then pour everything into a fine nylon sieve or several layers of sterile gauze. Once all the liquid is drained, the curd is ready to eat. From 2 liters of curdled milk, you will get about one small bowl of cottage cheese.
Method number 2: freezing
Prepare curdled milk according to the recipe as in the first method. Then pour it into small bowls and place in the freezer overnight. In the morning, remove the resulting ice from the dishes and transfer to a nylon sieve installed on a saucepan. Leave at room temperature for about a day. When the yogurt melts and all the liquid drains into the pan, a thick, homogeneous curd mass will remain on the sieve, which tastes like something in between curd and yogurt. Such a product is perfect for the first feeding for small children, as it turns out completely without grains. For flavor, you can add a little fruit puree to it. Freezing curd is often called "live". Its shelf life is no more than 2-3 days.
To prepare cottage cheese, several rules must be followed. Sour milk should not be sour, otherwise cottage cheese will turn out sour. If a metal sieve is used instead of a nylon sieve, the product will have an unpleasant metallic taste. When making cottage cheese in a water bath, it is important not to overexpose the yogurt on the stove, otherwise it will turn out too tough.
By the way, after receiving the curd, do not rush to pour out the whey. It can be used to make pancakes, pancakes, manna, as well as jelly or kvass.
