Culinary Etude 02.02.2018
Why make cottage cheese from kefir if there is a huge selection of different cottage cheese in stores? You know, I'm always interested in touching the most ancient skills of humanity, whether it's baking bread, making wine, cheese, or churning butter at home. Even if there is no particular need for this. But a piece of your soul goes into everything you made with your own hands. And this is already magic...
Kefir cottage cheese prepared at home is tastier and more tender than its store-bought “brother”, which is uniform in all consumer properties. Today we will look at how to make such delicious homemade cottage cheese from ordinary kefir in various simple ways. The presenter of the column, Irina Rybchanskaya, will share her secrets with us.
Dear readers of Irina Zaitseva’s blog! About ten years ago I made cottage cheese from kefir several times a week. All my family loves fresh homemade cottage cheese. I knew how to make cottage cheese at home using several simple recipes.
Then we moved to live in the village closest to the city. And there all the neighbors kept cows and produced wonderful cottage cheese. I didn’t feel any great need to make this delicious product myself.
Someone always treated me to wonderful country cottage cheese, and in return I gave away something I had baked with my own hands. Surprisingly, almost no one in the village had ovens for baking bread.
Moving to the city forced me to remember how to make amazing cottage cheese from yogurt and ordinary kefir, purchased at the nearest supermarket. The fact is that we really love to eat cottage cheese with berries in the morning all year round, so it should always “live” in the refrigerator.
How to make cottage cheese from kefir in the simplest “lazy” way
My dad once introduced this method into our lives. Mom once went to advanced training courses. Dad was left alone with me - a three-year-old inquisitive girl with an excellent appetite. That’s when he figured out how to make homemade cottage cheese with minimal human participation in the technological process.
Ingredients and accessories
- Kefir;
- container for kefir that can withstand high temperatures;
- a saucepan, the volume of which is two and a half to three times larger than the volume of the kefir container;
- metal sieve with handle;
- gauze.
How to cook
Pour kefir into a suitable container. I took a tall glass microwave safe glass.
Pour water into the pan and place a glass of kefir in it. The water should be at the same level as the kefir. If there is not enough water, add more. Remove the container with kefir from the pan.
Bring the water to 100°C, place the dishes with kefir in it, and stop heating. Leave it like this until the water cools to 25-30°C.
Remove the dishes from the water. We see that a curd has formed and the whey has separated.
Place a sieve lined with gauze folded in four layers over a clean saucepan. We pour out our brew, trying not to break the clot too much.
Let it drip until most of the whey has drained away.
We tie the gauze with the cottage cheese into a bag and hang it for the final “digging out”.
Place the finished cottage cheese in a clean container in the refrigerator for 2-10 hours so that it is finally “ripe”. We usually skip this operation. We made it and ate it right away.
My comments
- If you make a large amount of cottage cheese in this way, then the kefir container must first be sterilized in any convenient way.
- The resulting product is very gentle. It can be flavored with chopped herbs and used as a “spread” on bread. It is very tasty with any berries and a little sugar, with honey, raisins, and candied fruits.
How to cook cottage cheese from kefir in a water bath
Cooking cottage cheese is not difficult. It is important not to overheat the kefir so that the resulting product turns out to be tender and not “rubbery” in consistency.
It is easiest to regulate the heating if it is done in a water bath. In addition, with direct heating there is a risk of burning the mass.
If it is impossible to cook cottage cheese in a water bath, the process is carried out using a special “divider”. This burner guard prevents sticking.
If you are preparing cottage cheese for the first time, then take a small amount of raw materials - 500 ml is enough to try.
Ingredients and accessories
- Kefir;
- two pans of different diameters - the smaller one is placed in the larger one and held on the handles;
- gauze;
- a sieve or colander with small holes;
- wooden spoon or spatula.
How to cook
Pour water into a large container (about half full). Try on the smaller pan, make sure that it fits normally into the larger one and that its bottom touches the water. If necessary, add water.
Boil water in a larger bowl. When boiling is reached, reduce the flame to the minimum level and insert the container with kefir.
Mix kefir over low heat for about half an hour. Carefully move the resulting clot flakes from the middle to the edges - this way the mass will heat up more evenly.
After thirty minutes, stop heating, remove the vessel from the stove, and leave until the water cools to 25-30 ° C.
Place the cooked cottage cheese on a sieve, in which four layers of gauze are placed. Let the bulk of the whey drain out. Next, we make a bag out of gauze, tie the corners, and tie it over some container for drainage.
Store the finished product in the refrigerator in a clean container for no more than two days.
Recipe for homemade cottage cheese made from milk and kefir
Ingredients and equipment for the first method
- One liter of milk;
- 250 ml kefir;
- a saucepan or saucepan with a thick bottom;
- gauze;
- sieve or colander;
- culinary thermometer.
How to make at home
Bring raw village or farm milk to a temperature of 70°C on a medium burner flame.
Pour kefir into the milk, stirring the mixture. Reduce heat by half. Heat the mixture for thirty to thirty-five minutes.
A fairly dense clot should appear. If you lightly run a spoon over its surface from the center to the edges of the dish, a stripe of greenish-yellow whey will appear.
Do not heat it further. Remove the dishes from the stove and let the contents cool to room temperature. This process should not be greatly accelerated. With slow cooling, individual curd flakes will merge into larger ones, as a result of which the yield of curd will be slightly greater than with rapid cooling.
Place clean gauze, folded in four, in a sieve or colander, place the structure on a bowl or pan with a displacement of at least 1.5 liters, carefully pour the curd mass with whey onto the gauze, allow the whey to drain freely.
When most of the whey has drained, we tie the edges of the gauze, make a knot, hang it over a bowl or place it under a small press. Homemade cottage cheese is ready.
Ingredients and equipment for the second method
- One liter of pasteurized milk (3-3.6%);
- One liter of kefir (I make it from 2.6%; we don’t sell fattier ones);
- a saucepan with a thick bottom;
- sieve;
- gauze.
How to do
Pour the milk into a thick-bottomed container with a capacity of at least three liters, add a liter of kefir there, and mix gently with a whisk. No need to beat. If the milk is raw, first boil it, then cool it to 25°C, and only then ferment it with kefir.
Let the milk sour under the influence of the fermented milk product. The process will take about a day or a little more (the souring time depends on the quality of the starting products and the room temperature).
The readiness of “kefir” curdled milk is easy to determine: shake the dishes from side to side. The contents should sway like good jelly, and not splash like liquid.
Place the container on low heat and heat it up. In about twenty minutes the process of protein folding will begin. Continue heating for another twenty minutes. All the serum should be gone by this time (the process lasts only forty minutes). The mass will not boil - we simmered it over very low heat.
The hot mass can be immediately thrown onto a sieve with gauze, but it is better to leave it to cool and then send it for straining - this way the yield of cottage cheese will be slightly larger.
Homemade cottage cheese made from kefir and cream. Oven recipe
One of the simplest recipes. You will definitely like it. Especially if you have small children who require your constant attention. You won't have to be on duty at the stove at all.
Ingredients and accessories
- One liter of kefir;
- 500 ml cream (I take 10%);
- stainless steel saucepan;
- sieve;
- gauze.
How to do
Mix kefir in a saucepan with cream using a whisk.
Place in the oven at 150°C. We walk for forty-five minutes, chat with the baby or read our favorite book. We don’t watch “Game of Thrones” - it’s addictive. Having woken up on the fifth episode you watched, you can find an indistinct “something” in the oven, little suitable for further processing. Fans of the series will understand me. Sorry for getting distracted at such length.
After the required time has passed, turn off the oven, remove the saucepan, and let its contents come to its senses for about fifteen minutes. Then strain through cheesecloth. Then make a gauze bag and leave it overnight to drain slowly. Why at night? This way there is less chance of unauthorized and extracurricular consumption - kefir cottage cheese with cream is very tasty.
How to make cottage cheese from kefir in a slow cooker
I suggest you watch a good video that clearly and clearly explains how to make delicious cottage cheese in a slow cooker from ordinary kefir.
Cottage cheese from frozen kefir at home
I have known the recipe for cottage cheese from the freezer for about forty years. Arabs from Jordan lived with my husband in a student dormitory room. They suffered without their favorite labane, a salty yoghurt spread made from sheep's milk.
In St. Petersburg in the seventies, we had never heard of yogurt at all. And even made from sheep's milk. But inventive Jordanians have adapted to preparing a version of their favorite cottage cheese from Soviet fatty kefir, placed in the freezer of a scarce Orsk-6 refrigerator, and then defrosted in a colander on gauze.
The whey slowly drained, and wonderful “raw” cottage cheese remained on the gauze. It could be rolled into soft balls, further dried in the refrigerator and eaten with olive oil brought from Provence and exotic dry herbs.
A wonderful delicacy and an invaluable product containing calcium. Homemade cottage cheese is loved by adults and children. You can use it to prepare countless delicious dishes and sweet desserts. Regular consumption is beneficial for any age, especially when it comes to a homemade product. To protect your family as much as possible, it is advisable to choose only proven recipes. How to make cottage cheese at home, useful recommendations and many simple recipes can be found in our article.
The composition of cottage cheese is rich in natural proteins and a record calcium content. In addition, you can choose a product with minimal fat content, which is important for baby food. Ideally, the human body should receive it at least once every two days, and for children and the elderly, cottage cheese is simply a necessary product.
Modern supermarkets have a huge selection of a wide variety of dairy products, including cottage cheese. By purchasing products from trusted manufacturers, you can provide your family with everything they need, but in some cases it is better to make cottage cheese yourself. This is especially important for babies, whose digestive system is just beginning to adapt to new foods.
How to make cottage cheese at home
It would be optimal to use homemade milk and dairy products for these purposes. Making homemade cottage cheese is as easy as shelling pears, even for an inexperienced housewife. In addition, the process will not take much time, which is ideal for always busy mothers.
The specificity of curd products is that they are usually consumed without preliminary heat treatment.
This creates a certain threat, because bacteria develop well in such an environment. This is why it is necessary to use boiled or pasteurized milk. The main nuances of home cooking are described below.
Secrets of successful cooking:
- Cottage cheese can be obtained from almost any dairy product. In addition to the traditional milk recipe, you can use kefir, yogurt, curdled milk, sour cream or cream as raw materials. The fat and calorie content of homemade cottage cheese directly depends on the raw materials, so it is better to prepare dietary cottage cheese for baby food from regular milk.
- If you have chosen a recipe with natural fermentation of the milk mass, the main thing is not to let it sit for too long. Otherwise, the cottage cheese will acquire a sour taste, which will make it not very suitable for desserts or baby food.
- The pharmacy has special starter cultures for these purposes. With their help, you can quickly ferment milk and prepare yogurt, curdled milk and other fermented milk products. In addition to the speed of preparation, such starters contain additional substances: vitamins, bifidobacteria, etc. The disadvantage will be the increase in the cost of products, and ordinary homemade cottage cheese can be made without extra expenses.
- The first complementary food for infants can be made from homemade cottage cheese. For this, only non-sour milk and kefir are used.
Cottage cheese at home from milk can be prepared using different methods. Usually the natural fermentation method is used, but for quick results it is better to boil milk or other raw materials and then quickly cool. Such temperature changes contribute to the rapid formation of semi-solid clots, from which the final product is obtained.
On average, to prepare one kilogram of cottage cheese you will need about five to six liters of milk.
Homemade cottage cheese recipes
Such processes are not complicated, because this product can be obtained in different ways. Usually, thrifty housewives use substandard dairy products, for example, sour milk or leftover kefir and milk mixtures. If you need to get a fairly large amount of cottage cheese, for example, to bake delicious pies or make cheesecake, you can buy homemade milk in advance and make the cottage cheese yourself. The taste of such a product will be significantly superior to the store-bought version, so it is better to spend a little time preparing it than to risk buying a low-quality or suspicious composition.
Manufacturers often add special substances that slow down processes and promote long-term storage. If it is not possible to prepare cottage cheese yourself, it is better to choose products with a minimum shelf life produced at a nearby enterprise. You should not buy super-pasteurized milk to make cottage cheese. Any natural product of this type simply cannot be stored for up to six months, and without temperature conditions. Cottage cheese made from powdered milk also has a grainy consistency and often an unpleasant bitter taste.
Several quick and simple technology recipes are given in our article. With their help, you can easily prepare this healthy product yourself.
Homemade cottage cheese recipe from milk
It is advisable to purchase homemade whole milk. If you are confident in its quality, you don’t need to use boiling. To prepare, you need to leave the milk in a glass container for a day or two. To enhance the fermentation process, you can use special starter cultures, which are sold in pharmacies or supermarket departments. A “homemade” method would be to add kefir, sour cream or just a piece of black bread.
The taste of cottage cheese prepared in this way is no different from factory production; its consistency can be adjusted independently. But its main advantage is its natural composition without foreign impurities and strict compliance with all hygienic standards and storage conditions.
Homemade kefir cottage cheese
You can make delicious cottage cheese from any dairy product, but to do this you need to start the fermentation processes. It is optimal to use sour milk or ready-made kefir. The fat content of the cottage cheese will depend on the original product.
On the other hand, a dietary product will not provide enough raw materials for the formation of curd lumps, so it is better to choose kefir of medium fat content.
Algorithm for making cottage cheese from kefir:
- The mixture is heated over low heat. Do not boil, otherwise the cottage cheese will turn out too dry.
- Once solid clumps begin to form on the surface of the mixture, you need to remove it from the stove.
- Pass the resulting liquid through several layers of gauze.
- The “bag” of cottage cheese is suspended above the container to drain the whey. For the same purposes, oppression is often used, then the structure of the cottage cheese will be more dense.
- The resulting product can be used immediately or can be stored in the refrigerator for several days. To do this, it is advisable to wrap it in a dry cotton towel or napkin, but do not use a plastic bag.
You can take a mixture of milk and kefir, and also add any other dairy product. For young children, it is best to keep the ratio of milk and kefir within 2:1. Additionally, you can use calcined powder, which is also sold in pharmacies. Its use is often recommended when there is a lack of calcium in the body, but it should not be abused so as not to increase the load on the kidneys.
The main condition of safety- pre-boiling if there is any doubt about the quality.
For the lucky owners of reliable sources of supplies of homemade milk, there will be no such problem; the original products will not need to be boiled.
Homemade cottage cheese from sour milk
If you find sour milk in the refrigerator and you don’t have time for baking, you can use it to make delicious cottage cheese. To do this, pour the milk into a suitable container and put it on low heat. An increase in the temperature of the liquid will cause gradual thickening and the formation of curd lumps. Having almost brought the mixture to a boil, you must quickly move the container and cover with a lid. This must be done for better formation of the curd mass.
After the milk has cooled to a comfortable temperature, place several layers of clean gauze on the bottom of a metal colander and strain the resulting mixture. The whey that is formed when cottage cheese is heated can also be used to prepare cold milk soups (okroshka) or baked goods. All semi-solid residues will linger at the bottom of the colander, so all that remains is to carefully squeeze out the excess liquid and hang the gauze for the final drainage of the whey. For these purposes, you can use a press, leaving the curd lump directly in the colander.
This method will allow you to use those products that were previously simply thrown away as unnecessary. Cottage cheese made from sour milk does not have any differences in taste, the main thing is that the milk is simply sour and not completely gone. You can experiment a little by mixing the mixture with yogurt or adding fruit filling. If you do not want to use such a product in its pure form, there is always the opportunity to use it for baking, preparing, for example, a delicious casserole.
Homemade goat milk cottage cheese
The algorithm for preparing such a product is practically no different from the “classic” recipe using cow’s milk. A characteristic feature of such a product will be a slightly specific taste, but in terms of calcium content and other useful substances it will not be inferior to the traditional one. This will be an excellent alternative for congenital indigestibility of cow's milk. In addition, such products will be useful for young children and are perfect for first feeding.
Goat milk must first be fermented a little. In order to ensure maximum naturalness of the process, place a crust of black bread in a container with milk. A day later, the milk had already become sour milk and acquired a slightly heterogeneous consistency. For convenience, you can use a water bath. When the container is placed in boiling water, care must be taken to ensure that the milk does not boil. After 15 - 20 minutes, you can drain the resulting mixture in a colander and then put it under pressure, the cottage cheese is ready.
Quick and original methods for making cottage cheese
Even with minimal effort, it is possible to obtain this product at home. For those who are always busy with other things, we offer a selection of the fastest methods for making cottage cheese at home.
Place the initial mixture: milk, yogurt, kefir or a set of fermented milk products in a suitable container. Then put everything in the microwave and set the power to maximum. Cooking time is around 10 minutes, you can periodically look at the mixture.
When the curd mass becomes thick and heterogeneous, you can safely strain. Using this method, you can quickly prepare a child’s breakfast, especially since in a family with children there is usually no shortage of raw dairy products. Many mothers even try to make cottage cheese from breast milk, but in this case it is better to use a traditional stove rather than a microwave oven.
Freezing the original product
The original recipe for making cottage cheese from kefir is freezing the original product. For convenience, kefir is used in a cardboard box. In the evening, such a bag is placed in the freezer, and in the morning it is laid out to defrost at room temperature.
For quick results, it is advisable to open the package, transfer the contents to a sieve and leave indoors. After some time, the mixture will thaw and the result will be the most delicate cottage cheese with a soft consistency. This method is good because almost no effort is spent on preparation.
Of course, such recipes now cannot be done without the use of an indispensable modern assistant - a multicooker. With its help, you can also quickly prepare cottage cheese, especially if it has a special “yogurt” program. Housewives have experimentally figured out other methods.
You can set the “baking” mode (about 80º C) or just heating (the temperature depends on the brand of equipment). In the first case, cooking will take 10 - 15 minutes, when heated - about an hour. With the automatic yogurt preparation function, the production speed will also depend on the multicooker model.
Using a conventional oven
Using a conventional oven, you can also pamper your household with homemade cottage cheese. Pour the milk and curd mixture into a suitable container and heat to 150º C for half an hour. After this, drain the whey, the cottage cheese is ready. An unusually delicious curd dessert can be prepared in clay pots.
To do this, add sour cream or cream, a little sugar to the pre-fermented milk and set for the same time and temperature. Cottage cheese prepared according to this recipe has a pleasant taste and delicate texture. Alternatively, this can be a delicious dessert for dinner, especially since preparation requires minimal effort.
Homemade cottage cheese is a wonderful food for any occasion. Children love its delicate taste, and adults love its rich composition and the ability to use it for a variety of dishes.
It can be used to make desserts, used in baking and added to salads. A “classic” dish, a favorite since childhood, is cottage cheese with sugar and sour cream, and most people still associate the taste of kindergarten cottage cheese casserole with the best moments in life. You can prepare this healthy product at home; this does not require special culinary skills or complex equipment. Using the recipes in our article, you can easily master this simple technology and be able to pamper your family and friends with delicious and healthy dishes.
It just so happened that in the country where I live, at one time there was no good cottage cheese. Now it has appeared, but out of habit, I often make it at home. The advantage of homemade cottage cheese is that whey remains, with which you can prepare okroshka, bake bread, pancakes and pancakes.
I usually make cottage cheese at night. That is, at 7-10 pm I mix the products, and in the morning, when the mass has fermented, I make cottage cheese. It turns out that the mass ferments for about 10-15 hours. I’m not in a hurry here: I set it at 8 pm, and made the cottage cheese at 10-11 am.
You need to take natural milk, with a short shelf life (I have milk with 3.8% fat content). And the kefir is fresh. It has been verified that if you take slightly expired kefir, the cottage cheese will not turn out.
So, to prepare homemade cottage cheese from milk and kefir, we will prepare the products according to the list.
Pour milk and kefir into a saucepan. Mix.
That's all, actually. Cover with a lid and go to bed.
What do we see in the morning? The result was the most delicate yogurt. It is very tasty!!! Usually I set aside a couple of tablespoons of this mixture for myself, and use the rest to make cottage cheese.
We put the pan on medium gas and do not move far from the stove. You will see flakes begin to form along the edge. Stir. There will be more and more flakes. The mass should not be hot, but slightly warm. But even if you overexposed it, it’s okay. In this case, the cottage cheese will turn out to be more grainy and dry, which is not bad! The flakes will rise to the surface and the whey will be at the bottom.
Today I brought the mass to the condition as in the photo. The mass was slightly warm and moist, the whey was mixed with flakes.
Once you have reached the desired consistency, remove from heat. Place a colander on the pan and add gauze folded in several layers into it. Pour the curd mass and let the whey drain. This will take about 30 minutes.
The output will be almost 1 liter of whey...
And 270 gr. cottage cheese.
By the way, if you pour the whey into a jar and close it with a lid, it can be stored in the refrigerator for three weeks! Same with cottage cheese: it can be stored for two weeks in a closed container.
Homemade cottage cheese made from milk and kefir is ready. We serve it for breakfast with whatever your heart desires, or use it in desserts, creams, etc.
Bon appetit!
Cottage cheese made from sour milk or kefir is definitely healthier and more tender than the store-bought version. An article about how to make cottage cheese from kefir at home in different ways.
Before you cook kefir cottage cheese, you need to understand some of the features of preparing this product.
- Firstly, it is best to use homemade kefir. It can be prepared from milk and a special starter.
- Do not bring the kefir mass to a boil under any circumstances. In this case, homemade cottage cheese will turn out rubbery.
- The heated mass is first cooled, then strained.
- It doesn’t matter what you cook from: both cottage cheese from milk and kefir requires perfectly clean gauze, because harmful bacteria in a fermented milk environment multiply even faster than beneficial ones.
- The homemade product turns out to be sour. That is why it needs to be prepared from milk and kefir: milk will make its taste more delicate.
The tenderness and softness of the taste is also affected by the fat content of kefir: the higher it is, the better.
Basic kefir recipe
For preparation we will need only three liters of kefir. The sequence is:
Important! The whey does not need to be poured out. It is suitable not only for okroshka, but also for baking, marinade and even cosmetic purposes. Three liters of kefir will yield approximately 500-600 g of finished cottage cheese.
Recipe in the freezer
Even the laziest housewife can make cottage cheese from frozen kefir. It is important to take sufficiently fatty kefir - about 3.2%. Pour it into a food container and put it in the freezer. The product must be frozen. Now we remove the ice and place it on a thick cloth (cotton) and tie it. We hang it and put a bowl (basin) down for the whey. Kefir in the freezer will be ready in a day. The melting temperature should be room temperature.
If the room is too hot, place the mixture in a cooler place. We recommend a video recipe for kefir cottage cheese using the freezing method:
Cottage cheese from milk and kefir in a slow cooker
Using this kitchen appliance, you can prepare cottage cheese from kefir and milk, the first one needs 100 grams, and the second one needs 2 liters. It is done like this:
- Pour the milk into the multicooker bowl and set the “baking” mode;
- Warm up for 4 minutes;
- Pour in kefir, stir;
- Leave for one night;
- In the morning, turn on the “heating” mode and heat for two minutes;
- Remove the bowl from the multicooker and place in cold water, cool;
- Pour the mixture into cheesecloth (fold it in two layers) and allow the whey to drain.
Watch the video recipe in a slow cooker:
If you haven’t taken care of the dairy product and it has turned sour, don’t throw it away: homemade kefir cottage cheese will turn out delicious even if it has turned sour. We need two liters of it. It is prepared in the same way as a regular one, but faster: after cooking, it cools in just two hours and drains in 30 minutes.
In the yogurt maker
With this method of preparation, the result depends on the power of the yogurt maker, so the time it takes for the product to curdle will vary and you need to monitor this yourself. Let's prepare it like this:
- Pour a liter of kefir into the container of a yogurt maker and leave for a couple of hours;
- When the whey begins to separate, pour the mixture into a colander lined with gauze and allow the whey to drain;
- Ready.
Children's version
Suitable for first feeding. To prepare you need only 300 ml of fermented milk drink, but it must be of high quality. Pour it into a small saucepan and heat until curdled in a water bath. Once cooled, pour into a colander lined with gauze and allow the liquid to drain. After this, you can rub through a sieve for a delicate consistency.
In the oven
Previously, this was a recipe made from sour milk and a Russian oven was used. Time has made its own adjustments, but the oven is still quite suitable. To prepare, you need one liter of high-fat milk and two liters of fermented milk drink. Let's prepare it like this:
- Pour both drinks into a large saucepan and keep in a preheated oven for two-thirds of an hour. Temperature is about 180 degrees.
- Remove and leave for another third of an hour.
- Fold the gauze into 2 layers, place the entire mass in it and tie it. After hanging, do not forget to place the basin below.
- The product will be ready in 8-9 hours.
The product prepared in this way has a slight taste of baked milk!
How to store cottage cheese
How long a fermented milk product prepared at home will be stored depends on many factors:
- from the freshness of the ingredients from which you prepared it;
- on how humid the air is in your home;
- on the temperature at the storage location: the lower it is, the longer it will be stored.
In the refrigerator, store on the shelf closest to the freezer or in a fresh box. So he will “live” for about 4-5 days. Homemade kefir cottage cheese can be stored in the freezer for two months, but the temperature should be -18 degrees. Place the product in small containers and seal them well. You cannot defrost or freeze cottage cheese again.
Homemade cottage cheese is much healthier than its store-bought counterpart. We recommend that you prepare it at home. There are several ways to get this healthy and tasty product; we have already prepared cottage cheese from fresh homemade milk. In this recipe we offer the easiest and fastest way to prepare homemade cottage cheese. All ingredients are available at any time of the year, and preparation will not take much of your time. Without a shadow of a doubt, it can be given to even the smallest children, because it is completely natural. Add other fruits to it every time, and then your baby will never get tired of it. You can use berries and fruits, dried fruits, and other tasty additives. If you prepare homemade cottage cheese correctly, it will appeal not only to children, but also to adults, so feel free to start preparing this healthy and very tasty product!
So, we will now tell you how to prepare cottage cheese from kefir and milk, as well as how to prepare a simple fruit dessert for your child from this cottage cheese.
Taste Info Dairy desserts
Ingredients
- Milk – 200 ml;
- Kefir – 150 ml;
- Cherry; Dried apricots (for decoration and taste)
How to make cottage cheese from kefir and milk
1. Measure out the required amount of milk and kefir. We recommend taking milk at room temperature so that it does not burn when heated.
2. Pour it into a saucepan or slow cooker. Add a pinch of salt for taste. Don’t forget to stir it, because it likes to burn and “run away.” 
3. When bubbles and foam begin to appear on the milk, pour kefir into it. We will turn it off when the whey begins to calve. 
4. We wait for the kefir and milk to mix, warm up, and for whey to form. 
5. Next, heat the milk-kefir mixture further, stirring several times during the process. We end up with large grains of cottage cheese mixed in with the whey. 
6. Then place in a very fine sieve or cheesecloth to drain excess whey. 
7. If you want drier cottage cheese, then squeeze it out by hand, but if not and you want juicy cottage cheese, then leave it and let it drain on its own. 
8. When you decide it’s enough, place the cottage cheese on a plate. 
9. Our homemade cottage cheese made from kefir and milk is ready. Serve with fresh cherries and raspberries or any other toppings you like. 
We recommend placing a sieve/colander/gauze with cottage cheese over a vessel. The drained whey may be used to make pancakes or pancakes. In addition, it is used for baking bread, making okroshka with it, and also serving as a drink with a variety of additives. Ready homemade cottage cheese can be made not only sweet and served as a dessert. By adding salt, spices, herbs, and sour cream, it can also be used as a snack.
