Homemade Cottage Cheese and My Raw Milk Obsession

I love cheese. Truthfully I love most things dairy. The problem is I, along with my hubby and kids are lactose intolerant. Let me rephrase that. We are anything that has been homogenized and cooked to death intolerant. For example: If I ate a big bowl of cereal with store bought "conventional" milk I would get sick along with my nursing son. However if I eat the same cereal with raw milk we are just fine with no nasty side effects. It's not just me either, my husband, children, and my dad can all drink raw milk with no discomfort afterwards. So whats this have to do with homemade cottage cheese?

Once a week Bart and I go pick up 3 gallons of beautiful cream on top raw milk from a farm outside of town. My milk comes from some of the prettiest Jersey Cows I have ever seen. It is wonderfully sweet and resembles nothing in the grocery store. I trust drinking the raw milk I get because I am allowed to see the process from utter to cup. I am not worried about getting sick because the facility is clean. Besides the fact that people have been drinking raw milk from animals since the beginning of civilization. Ok I am going to cut myself off here. The industrialization of food is a touchy subject for me and I could go on for sometime about it. I recommend doing your own research. Start with the documentary Food Inc, it is on netflix.

Back to the cottage cheese. I don't always go through 3 gallons of milk a week. So how do I not waste this liquid gold? Sometimes I just give it to our dogs. They love it and lap it up in no time, also with no intolerance. Occasionally my husband and I make mozzarella cheese, but its kinda stressful. So this past week I decided to make a family favorite that we usually buy at the store. It was so easy I feel a little foolish waiting so long to try it out.

Here's how:

Gather Ingredients:

1 gallon of raw or non ultra pasteurised milk

3/4 cup white vinegar

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup cream

Special Kitchen Tools:

Thermometer

Tea Towel or any thin kitchen towel

Heat milk over low to medium low heat. Stirring frequently so you don't scorch your milk.

Once it reaches 120 degrees take it off the heat and gently stir in vinegar.

Continue to stir for a minute or two as curds form. 

Cover and let sit for 30 minutes.

Line a colander with tea towel drain curds from the whey (leftover liquid)

Gently squish out whey while rinsing under cold water

Wrap and hang curds over a dish to catch extra whey.

Use a medium mixing bowl to break apart curd into desired size and add in salt to taste.

Eat right away by adding cream or refrigerate curd and add cream as you eat it.

Lasts for about a week in the fridge.

It was really yummy added to spinach kinda like paneer.

Also good on burritos and quesadillas!

Love,

Ashley B.