miss muffet

Home made cottage cheese. Have you ever tried it? It's a cut above store bought. When we lived in Africa I made it fairly often as we couldn't buy any there.  I was thinking about it recently … and how we made it in later years with homeschool kids as a "science experiment." Since not-so-Little One was over the other day, we decided to give it a whirl. After it was finished, we used the cheese in some open-faced broiled sandwiches and the Gardener remarked right away how he detected an improvement in flavor.

When the kids were little we went to a cheese factory and saw that the process is quite similar to making cottage cheese at home, just on a larger scale. It's interesting to read food labels and see how many (processed, of course) foods contain whey.

To make the cheese, simply: bring 1/2 gallon 2% milk just to a boil over medium heat, stirring slowly. Remove from heat immediately and stir in 1/2 cup vinegar. Here comes the most fun part: watch the curds separate from the whey while you sing "Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet eating her curds and whey." You may get the question "Why would a spider sit down next to a little girl?"

Let rest with lid on pan for 10 minutes and then pour into colander lined with cheese cloth or a thin tea towel. Put the colander in a bowl if you want to reserve the whey for other cooking. Drain for 20-30 minutes and then remove from towel and place in a bowl. Add a little salt to taste or other seasonings and stir in small amount of milk if desired (to make it more like store bought.) I figured the cost is about the same as buying it already made.