In 1839, making cottage cheese was just a matter of leaving raw milk sit out until it formed curds, then strain overnight.
First, let me say that this won’t work unless you have raw milk available to you. The reason is that raw milk never really goes “bad,” it just sours. You can use it months after it’s left the cow (properly handled, of course). Pasteurized milk, on the other hand, has had its molecular structure altered, and because of that it doesn’t ever sour, it putrefies. This means if it goes bad, it’s not edible. I know, I know, this happenstance eliminates the possibility for many to make cottage cheese using this method, but it’s still interesting to see how people made food 175 years ago.
But if you do have access to raw milk, this makes a wonderful creamy cottage cheese that I love. It’s creamier than store-bought cottage cheese, and the “lumps” are very small. The flavor is a combination of cottage cheese, sour cream, and cream cheese. It doesn’t taste like store-bought cottage cheese because the store-bought stuff is cultured, which gives it a specific flavor. You can make cultured cottage cheese at home, too, if you purchase the culture from an outside source, but this recipe allows you to make your own like folks made it at home long ago. And, it’s easy as pie!
INGREDIENTS & HOW-TO
- 1/2 gallon raw milk
- salt (optional)
- butter (optional)
Raw milk forms curds on its own after it sits in a warm location for several hours.
Take your milk out of the refrigerator and set it in a warm corner (room temperature or higher) until curds form, which will take between 12 and 24 hours, depending upon the temperature of your room. You’ll see the curd development easily as the curds will separate naturally from the whey, as seen at right.
Once the curds form, strain them overnight, making sure not to press them. This can be done in different ways. I took a colander and placed it inside a larger bowl, and then poured my curds into a jelly bag. I left the jelly bag sit in the colander in the refrigerator overnight (you don’t need to refrigerate it). If you don’t have a jelly bag, you can just line your colander with a kitchen towel. Or if you don’t want to save your whey, you can secure a jelly bag or towel (tied at the ends) to the kitchen sink spigot and just let it drip into the sink.
The next day, turn your cottage cheese into a clean bowl. At this point you can choose to add more cream if you want it super creamy (I don’t find this necessary), butter for additional richness, or salt or spices to taste. I like it plain, myself. I just dump the cheese into a bowl and call it good.
I eat my cottage cheese with fruit and nuts, and I use it in recipes for things like homemade ranch dressing, dips, or anywhere I’d use cream cheese, sour cream, or sometimes plain yogurt. It has a wonderful flavor, and is so easy to make that I use cottage cheese in many ways. It is really only limited by your imagination!
Note: The references for this came from the 1839 publication, “The Kentucky Housewife,” by Mrs. Lettice Bryan. The original text reads: “Take a large bowl of milk* that is just beginning to turn sour, cover it and set it in the corner where it will keep lukewarm till if forms a curd. Then place a linen cloth over a sieve; put in your curd, fold over the corners of the cloth to keep out the dust, and let it drain till next morning, without pressing it in the least. Then turn it in an earthen dish, add as much rich, sweet cream as will make it a little soft; add a large spoonful of butter to each pint of the curd, mixing it in a very little salt, and work it with a spoon till th whole is very smoothly mixed. Then put it in a china bowl, and set it in a cool place till the tea-table is ready.”
Laura
July 29, 2012 at 5:09 pm
My grandmother used to make cottage cheese for my grandfather. She would set a roaster of (fresh) milk on the back of the woodstove til it separated. They had their own cow, had lots of milk & cream. : ) In a big old homestead, overlooking the harbour.
Rural Spin
July 29, 2012 at 7:12 pm
What a great memory! Thank you for sharing!
Jim Schultz
November 27, 2012 at 8:51 am
Hello Christina,
A most interesting article on cottage cheese. The reason that raw milk sours is that the teat canal of cows is naturally populated with a bacteria called Lactococcus lactis. When this organism grows it converts the milk sugar “lactose” into lactic acid. In the presence of enough acid a protein (called casein) in the milk coagulates and forms the cottage cheese curd. The acid produced also inhibits the “putrefying” bacteria from growing and spoiling the milk. Pasteurization kills the Lactococcus bacteria naturally present in the milk and thus no acid is produced.
The reason I’m contacting you however is that I am writing a book on cottage cheese and I was fascinated by your reference to the article on cottage cheese in the 1839 publication of “The Kentucky Housewife”. In Dr. Thomas Muffet’s poem concerning his daughter’s arachnaphobia, the curds and whey were probably some kind of an early version of cottage cheese. Since Dr. Muffet died in 1604, this dish was undoubtedly being made at least as far back as the 1500′s. However I have seen no written recipes that detail making cottage cheese that date back much further than the 1880′s.
I would greatly appreciate it if you would send me information on the publication (The Kentucky Housewife), the dates of its publication, and if there is anyplace you know of where a copy of this publication is available. I would also like to quote and reference you in my book if that would be acceptable to you.
Thank you,
Jim Schultz
Rural Spin
November 29, 2012 at 9:19 am
Hi Jim. The Kentucky Housewife can be purchased as a reprint from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Kentucky-Housewife-Lettice-Bryan/dp/1557095140. And you are more than welcome to quote and reference me and Rural Spin in your book!
Jim Schultz
November 29, 2012 at 3:47 pm
Thank you very much.
Jim
Kirsty
July 30, 2012 at 3:42 am
Lovely old recipe – love the wording – it makes me smile!! I have access to raw milk and make this weekly, but more for the whey, which I use to soak my oats for porridge, etc. I usually only strain it for just a few hours and use it instead of yoghurt in naan bread – yummy! Some questions, though: Can you tell me what a jelly bag is? I have tried tea towels before and found that the cheese ends up tasting faintly of washing detergent (even though I use a small amount of a supposedly ‘natural’ one. I have since tried washing my cloths/bags in really hot water with bicarb & vinegar. I tend to use the calico bags that I buy bulk Kialla products in – they are useful for so many things!
Rural Spin
July 30, 2012 at 7:34 am
Hi Kristy. A jelly bag is something you can buy online or a hardware store (depending upon what they sell, of course). It literally is just called a “jelly bag;” it is fine-meshed sack of sorts, that has either a draw string or elastic at the opening. It is used specifically to drain jellies, but I find them useful for many purposes and they are washable. You can also try using paper towels instead, which won’t taste like washing detergent. But those calico bags are great and will serve you well for many things, as you say, including making this recipe!
Diane | An Extraordinary Day
August 3, 2012 at 2:27 pm
That sounds so easy! My friend discovered this and sent me the link. I have access to fresh raw milk. And this will be much less expensive and better than the organic cottage cheese. Thank you!!
Karen
August 15, 2012 at 4:12 pm
Would this work with goat’s milk?
Rural Spin
August 17, 2012 at 7:17 am
Great question! I have heard that it does work with goat’s milk but it takes about 5 days to a week sitting out at room temperature for the souring/separation to occur. I haven’t tried this myself, but in theory it does work. It just takes a lot longer.
Tyler
January 30, 2013 at 9:31 am
I love this post! We are blessed to have numerous sources of raw milk within miles from our house. So, I tried the recipe as described, but I didn’t get any separation whatsoever. I filled two quart jars with raw milk, put lids on/sealed them (maybe this is where I went wrong?), and then placed them in a warm area of the house. It’s been 2 weeks…no separation – the canning lids are pushed outward, so there’s pressure built up in the jars.
Where did we go wrong? Can I use the 2 week soured milk or should I cut my losses and start fresh?
Thank you for your help!
Rural Spin
January 30, 2013 at 12:37 pm
When you say you sealed them, what do you mean? Raw milk naturally separates, but if you sealed it as in SEALED it per canning then, yes, that is where it went wrong. Just put a lid on it…no sealing is required. And you can use soured raw milk months after it left the cow–it never goes rancid. Sour milk is not putrefied milk. You can use it for this, but it will taste like sour cottage cheese. You might want to save it for cooking.
Oliver Kraft
February 27, 2013 at 2:22 pm
Thank you, just the kind of recipe I was looking for. I just tried my first cheese and it seems quiet bitter. Anything you can think off that went wrong?
Rural Spin
February 27, 2013 at 3:33 pm
What kind of cheese did you make, using what kind of starter (if any), and what kind of milk?
Oliver Kraft
February 27, 2013 at 5:06 pm
well, we are in new zealand, and part of a raw milk coop – once a week we receive fresh raw milk straight from the farmer / once in a while it is our turn to go and get it for everybody else. i followed your recipe for the 1839 style cheese using milk that started turning sour in the fridge. i simply took the milk out of the fridge (it is in a food safe plastic bucket with lid), took the lid off and used a kitchen towel to cover the milk. i left it for about 24 hours (it is summer here now and very warm) and it formed beautiful curd/cheese. i than simply strained it and tried a bit – it is bitter. it looks great – it smells great, but it tastes bitter. compared to your picture showing the glass char with whey and curd i seemed to have ended up with much more whey and much less curd/cheese. i didn’t use any starter, heat treatment or salt. i googled the problem and found some notes saying it could be a sign that the cheese/milk is spoiled (maybe meaning that it is the wrong bacteria?). maybe i should try with fresh milk and not letting it turn sour in the fridge? but than it is a good way of using milk that is left over / sour before we receive the new one. any ideas?