How Is Cottage Cheese Made?

Nearly one billion pounds of cottage cheese is consumed each year in the United States. Its popularity is a result of the public's perception of cottage cheese as a health food. Cottage cheese has long been considered an ideal source of protein for those on weight loss diets because it is relatively low in fat, inexpensive, and can be used in a multitude of recipes.

The process of manufacturing cottage cheese differs significantly from that used to manufacture other cheese varieties. Cottage cheese is a fresh cheese, and therefore is not aged or ripened before it is packaged and sold to the public. This is advantageous for both the manufacturer and the consumer, since the time and labor involved in making cottage cheese is greatly reduced, translating to lower prices and faster production compared to other cheeses.

Cottage Cheese Manufacture

Cottage cheese manufacturing typically begins with pasteurized skim milk. It is then inoculated with active lactic starter to raise the acid content and rennet to speed coagulation. Active lactic starter contains lactobacillus--the same bacteria used to produce yogurt. Increasing the acid level of the milk enhances the flavor and changes the pH to a level suitable for curdling. Rennet, which may be derived from animal, vegetable or microbial sources, is a mixture of enzymes used to produce rapid coagulation of milk in the cheese-making process.

Depending on the type of cottage cheese being made and the amount of active lactic starter used, the inoculated milk is held for 5 to 16 hours at a temperature of 32 C (89.6 F). This allows the lactobacillus to reproduce and acidify the milk, and the mixture to coagulate properly.

The resulting coagulated milk is then cut into cubes that will form the curds that are seen in cottage cheese. Once the mixture is cut, the curds shrink and change shape as the whey drains from them. A process of heating and gentle rolling promotes the drainage of whey and smooths the edges of individual curds. As the whey drains from the curds, they also become considerably more firm.

Once the cottage cheese curds are suitably firm, they are rinsed three times. With each rinse, the temperature of the water used is decreased. The first washing typically uses water of 85 degrees F while the last washing uses water only a few degrees above the freezing point.

The washed curd is gravity-drained for 2 1/2 hours. During this part of cottage cheese manufacturing, most of the remaining whey drips from the container it is drained in. Most other forms of cheese are then pressed, but cottage cheese is not. Because the cheese does not undergo pressing, it retains significantly more moisture than other cheeses and does not form a solid block.

The final step in manufacturing cottage cheese is the addition of cream and salt. The amount of cream added to the cheese depends on the type of cottage cheese being made. Full fat cottage cheese has cream added until the overall fat content of the final product is 4 percent. Less cream is added when making reduced fat cottage cheese--usually enough to bring the total fat content to either 1 percent or 2 percent.