Cottage Cheese

[Guest guest]

I have checked the ingredient list on every brand of lowfat cottage

cheese available from the local Co-Op, Wild Oats, Whole Foods and

Orchard Natural Food Market and they are all unsatisfactory. The first

two ingredients are invariably skim milk and dry milk powder. Many may

not know it but nonfat milk must, by law, contain a certain percentage

of dry milk. Whenever milk is dried, the cholesterol in it becomes

oxydized -- aka rancid. Rancid cholesterol is harmful, releasing free

radicals into the body which is about the last thing someone suffering

from cancer needs. Even nonfat dry milk contains some cholesterol.

 

I decided to look into making my own cottage cheese so i went to Google

and did a search on " cottage cheese recipe " and found literally

hundreds, ranging from the overly complex to the overly simple. I

decided to experiment and made up my own recipe based on information

from some of the recipes that i found on the Web. The first trial batch

using two cups of whole unhomogenized milk came out perfect. In taste

and texture it was as good as any that i have purchased, and better

than most. I was surprised at how little actual time was required to

make it (less than one hour). For anyone interested, here is the recipe:

 

Ingredients

 

Unhomogenized Whole milk (Preferably raw milk from grass-fed cows)

Live acidophilus

Cream (optional)

Salt (optional)

 

Procedure

 

Add acidophilus to the milk, stir and allow to sit at room temperature

for at least 24 hours to thicken. I have been letting it sit for 48

hours now, during the early Spring. It will probably require less time

as the weather warms.

 

Place on stove and slowly heat the cultured milk until it reaches 110

deg. F. (Heating the milk too quickly can cause the curds to become

rubbery.) Hold at that temperature for a few minutes. Pour into a

collander lined with cheese cloth to drain off the whey. Form the curd

into a ball and dip into ice cold water for several minutes. Let it

hang in cheesecloth until it is drained to your satisfaction.

 

Place it into a mixing bowl and seperate the curds with a fork. Add

cream and salt as desired. (I use the cream from the milk that will be

used for the next batch of cheese.) When the cream is left in the milk

during the culturing and cooking, the butter seperates out and goes

down the drain with the whey -- a real waste.

 

Yield: about two cups of cottage cheese.

 

--

Neil Jensen - <neil

<http://www.sumeria.net>

" Cured yesterday of my disease, I died last night of my

physician. " --Matthew Prior (17th c)