Easy and Delicious Homemade Cottage Cheese (without Rennet)



Making homemade cottage cheese is so much easier than you might think.  If you are like me, you may not have tried to make your own because you either didn't know that you could, or because you'd heard that you must have an ingredient called "rennet". 

I've not searched for rennet in my local store but it's not an item that I've ever stumbled upon.  It just sounds like an ingredient that would need to be special ordered!

I was so excited to find a recipe that doesn't call for rennet at macheesmo.com.  It only calls for vinegar, milk, salt, and half-n-half (I just substituted milk for the half-n-half with amazing results).  If you like cottage cheese, you have got to try this recipe.  It's super easy and incredibly delicious!  Thanks macheesmo!



To make your cottage cheese you will need two ingredients to begin ~
1/2 cup white vinegar and 1/2 gallon of milk (that is 8 cups).  I used whole milk but
I think you could use skim, 1%, or 2% as well

1) Heat 1/2 gallon of milk on medium heat, stir slowly and constantly until the milk is approximately 120 degrees F.  Macheesmo didn't have a thermometer, and I didn't  either. He said to heat until the milk felt warm. I just heated the milk until it felt as warm as I like my showers.



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2) Place a colander inside of a larger bowl to catch the whey that will soon be separated from the curds.

3) Line the colander with a tea towel, cheesecloth or similar clean cloth.  I used a clean baby blanket, the receiving type. 

4) Once the the milk has reached 120 degrees, remove from heat. Pour and gently stir in the 1/2 cup of vinegar. 



Immediately, the milk will start to curdle.  Very cool! 

Your concoction will look like this.

5) Put a lid on the pan and let sit for 30 minutes to cool down and firm up.

6) Pour mixture (gently) through cloth lined colander.

7) Remember to remove bowl with whey and rinse the curds in cold water.  I used my (clean) fingers to separate and rinse the curds. The rinsing helps remove the vinegar and cools your cheese down even more.

8) Gather cloth and gently squeeze out excess liquid. 

10) Mix 1/2 cup of milk or cream with 1/8th tsp salt (more or less to taste)
Add curds to the milk (or half n half) and salt mixture.

11) Gently stir mixture.  If it seems dry, you can add more milk or half-n-half.  Recipe made approximately 2 cups.

12) Cover and refrigerate.  This photograph was taken for informational purposes only.  Afterward, we basically ate the whole thing.

For a good resource on making your own dairy
products ~

Homemade Living: Home Dairy with Ashley English: All You Need to Know to Make Cheese, Yogurt, Butter & More

13) Save your whey to use in bread, shakes, soup, etc.  There are plenty of great ideas online on how to use this nutritional liquid.  I made bread with mine.  It was very tasty!