Cottage cheese success!

[Zilli]

I made my first batch ever of cottage cheese last night, following the recipe/directions on the Fiasco Farms website, and it turned out pretty well, I think. The directions said to let it sit in the refrigerator for a couple of days before eating, but I have snuck a couple of small nibbles and it tastes pretty good!

When I showed it to my son, he said, "Wow! Those curds are really big!" So, I guess I need to work on that a little; they also aren't as uniform as store bought.

It is "dry," which is what FF said it would be, so I will add a little milk/cream to it to get it to the consistency I want.

Does anyone know how long it will keep? I'm thinking this batch isn't going to last long (lasagne, anyone?) but for future reference.

[Sherry in Iowa]

Congrats! What kind of culture did you use?

[trnubian]

Jealous. I love that stuff. I want to try and make it when we get some milk.

[Zilli]

Originally Posted by Sherry in Iowa

Congrats! What kind of culture did you use?

I used store bought buttermilk.

I am planning on ordering the DVI Culture that Fiasco Farm recommends though.

I wish I had made more than I did (I only used 3/4 gallon of milk). I made the smaller batch, though, for several reasons: 1) I'm only milking once a day and getting a little less than a half gallon; 2) I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out; 3) I had just given a bunch of milk to the dogs and cats and didn't have that much extra on hand; and 4) the stainless steel pan I used couldn't hold that much and my big stainless steel pot has a batch of homemade blackberry wine currently working in it.

I will make a bigger batch in a few days (after I put the wine in jugs) - now that I know how it can turn out and that it really was quite easy. I think what I made last night will be enough for lasagna this weekend.

[Bret]

Cottage cheese, lasagna and blackberry wine...at the same time. Good work. Your homested really does have culture.

[Donna1982]

I am on the way Zilli, that all sounds so good

[Sherry in Iowa]

Sounds great Zilli. I read that site you talked about. I see that there are 2 different cultures that she listed. Where are you gonna order the DVI one from? If and when I decide to try this..you may have to tutor me!

[Zilli]

Originally Posted by Bret

Cottage cheese, lasagna and blackberry wine...at the same time. Good work. Your homested really does have culture.

Haha......

The lasagna will be ready long before the wine will.

Although I do have some dandelion wine that should be ready about now.......

Originally Posted by Donna1982

I am on the way Zilli, that all sounds so good

Come on over!

Originally Posted by Sherry in Iowa

Sounds great Zilli. I read that site you talked about. I see that there are 2 different cultures that she listed. Where are you gonna order the DVI one from? If and when I decide to try this..you may have to tutor me!

LOL

I've only made it once; you'd be better to let me have a couple more successes before you trust me to tutor you.

Now I need to tackle the Mozarella!

I'm not sure, yet, which culture I'll order. The store bought buttermilk worked fine and I still have enough of that for my next batch next week so I'll figure out which to order after that.

Does anyone know if cottage cheese freezes ok? I'll be needing to dry my doe up in a couple of months and it would be nice if I could freeze some before I do. I understand that it may not be all that good to just eat but if it was suitable to use in recipes, that would be ok.

[Cyngbaeld]

It freezes fine. I like to make up a ton when the goats are pumping it out and freeze it for later.
Get the mesophilic culture if your house is on the cool side and thermophilic if you keep the house warm or have a way to warm the milk while culturing.

[Zilli]

Originally Posted by Cyngbaeld

It freezes fine. I like to make up a ton when the goats are pumping it out and freeze it for later.
Get the mesophilic culture if your house is on the cool side and thermophilic if you keep the house warm or have a way to warm the milk while culturing.

Thanks!

[mekasmom]

Just a question....
Did it smell when you made it? I never made cottage cheese ever because my dad always talked about how it stunk when you made it? I was imagining the smell worse than sauerkraut from his description, so I chickened out.

[Zilli]

Originally Posted by mekasmom

Just a question....
Did it smell when you made it? I never made cottage cheese ever because my dad always talked about how it stunk when you made it? I was imagining the smell worse than sauerkraut from his description, so I chickened out.

No.........not at all.

At least not that I noticed.

[Cyngbaeld]

No smell here either. Maybe somebody let their milk set too long and it soured?

[Zilli]

I'm curious, since you have experience with making cottage cheese, if you've ever made it using buttermilk?

Mine came out great using it; the reason, though, that I thought I should order some of the other cultures is that then I would have that on hand and it wouldn't be a case of, "Gee, I want to make some cottage cheese but I don't have any buttermilk in the refrigerator so I guess I'm out of luck."

So, have you used both of those cultures and buttermilk? If so, do you have a preference?

I imagine that if someone wants to use the buttermilk, they could freeze it in small amounts (what you would likely use in one batch). Just thinking to myself a little bit here.

Also, when you freeze cottage cheese, do you add any milk and/or cream to it prior to freezing to make it creamy rather than freezing it as dry curd, which is what I ended up with? Or would it be better to freeze the cottage cheese "dry," and then add the milk/cream after it's thawed?

And, one last question.......can you use milk that has been frozen to make cottage cheese? I'm hoping to get another freezer soon so I can stock up on milk (no room in the two that I have) before I have to dry my doe up for the couple of months before she freshens again and it would be nice if I could just pull some of it out if I needed to make a batch.