You asked, and here it is…
One of the foods on my Top 3 “Go-To” Traditional Foods For Trim Healthy Mama list is this… my Trim Healthy Mama Fuel Pull cottage cheese!
It’s super easy — just 15 minutes of hands-on time. Tops.
It has neither fats nor carbs. Not that I’m afraid of either, it’s just that since this cheese has neither, that makes it super versatile — it can be used in Trim Healthy Mama S (fats/protein) or E (carb/protein) meals or snacks.
What’s the big deal with Trim Healthy Mama? I lost more than 30 pounds in 1 year by following it with 100% traditional whole foods — foods just like this homemade cottage cheese. You can read my story here.
(Don’t care about Trim Healthy Mama? Not to worry, you’ll love this cheese for its own sake, too… and you don’t have to skim the cream off.)
Here’s a video where I show you how to make the cottage cheese yourself, plus tell you a little bit about it. If you don’t care for videos, look below for the complete transcript and recipe.
Want A Free 1-Week Trim Healthy Mama Menu Plan?
If you’re looking for more examples of how I eat Trim Healthy Mama with Traditional Foods, click here to get my FREE Traditional Food + Trim Healthy Mama 1-Week Menu Plan.
Other than cooking (sorry, you have to do that yourself), I did all the planning for you — meals, snacks, desserts, prep steps, and shopping list for 7 days! Get it here.
A Few Notes About This Recipe
Awhile back, I mentioned that I would show you all how to make my cottage cheese… if there was enough interest. I got like 100 replies — YES! — between blog, Facebook, Facebook live, and YouTube — so here you go…
Let’s make it together! 🙂
Before we get in the kitchen, though…
Confession: It’s Not *Really* Cottage Cheese
Though I call this cottage cheese, it’s not officially cottage cheese. It’s wayyy easier to make than true cottage cheese.
I came up with this recipe so we could save money on cottage cheese and have a healthier cottage cheese than we could buy at the store — yet it would actually be doable in our busy life.
So, it’s not only healthy, it’s super easy!
I make it twice a week, and it takes about 15 minutes total — 5 minutes on 3 separate days.
How Can This Cheese Be A Fuel Pull?
This cottage cheese is considered a Fuel Pull, which in Trim Healthy Mama terms means it has neither carbs nor fat. So it can be eaten in either S (fats/protein) or E (carbs/protein) meals or snacks…
How is this possible?
First, if starting with raw or at least non-homogenized milk — where the cream rises to the top — we skim off the fat. That leaves us with cheese that’s low-fat*.
*Not doing Trim Healthy Mama and don’t want low-fat cheese? Just leave the cream in or use whole homogenized milk — you’ll make a full-fat cottage cheese.
Second, this cheese is cultured for 2 full days at room temperature, which reduces the lactose (milk sugar = carbs) significantly.
Thus… it has neither fat nor carbs. Just protein (and probiotics!).
If you don’t have raw or non-homogenized milk, simply start with skimmed milk. It’s not a whole food, in my opinion, but culturing it does make it better. 🙂
How Much Does It Make?
The recipe below, starting with 1 gallon of milk, will yield about 3-1/2 cups of cheese. Feel free to scale it up or down. I scale it up and make a double batch once per week. (The only thing is, you don’t need to increase the culture unless you were using more than 3 gallons of milk. So scale everything else up but the culture.)
What About Goat’s Milk?
Raw goat’s milk is naturally homogenized — this means not much cream rises to the surface. You have 2 options: 1) use a cream separator right after milking to get the cream out, or 2) put the goat’s milk in the fridge in shallow pans for a few days so as much cream as possible will rise up due to increased surface area, then skim it off.
Trim Healthy Mama Fuel Pull Cottage Cheese {homemade}
To go with either THM:S or THM:E meals, you need this easy, versatile, homemade Trim Healthy Mama Fuel Pull cottage cheese!
Makes 3-1/2 cups cheese from 1 gallon milk. Serving size 1/2 cup
Ingredients
- 1 gallon raw whole milk or non-homogenized whole milk
- 1/8 teaspoon mesophilic cheese culture *
- 2 drops double strength vegetable rennet liquid
- 1/4 cup pure water
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
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Shake the milk gently to mix it.
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Pour into a food grade bucket or other food safe container.
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Sprinkle the mesophilic culture over the top. Mix well.
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Combine the rennet and water in a little cup. Mix.
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Pour over the milk while also pouring over the wooden spoon. Stir well.
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Cover the bucket with a plate or cloth and leave at room temperature to culture for about 24 hours.
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After 24 hours, you'll see a layer of cream floating at the top and there may be some whey, too. The milk curds are underneath this.
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Skim away the cream -- I save mine to make cultured butter.
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Now put a colander in a pot that fits it well, and line the colander with 2 layers of 90 count cheesecloth.
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Transfer the curds into the cheesecloth.
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Bring up the sides of the cheesecloth and fold up on top. Also put a lid on the pot to keep out dust and such.
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Leave it be for 12 to 24 hours, and the whey will drip out of the curds into the pot below.
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After this, open up the cheesecloth to see the cheese curds. Using the cheesecloth as handles, lift the curds and tip them out into a medium mixing bowl.
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Sprinkle sea salt over the cheese curds.
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Mix the salt in by "chopping it" with a wooden spoon -- so you keep a cottage cheese consistency while breaking the curds up smaller.
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Transfer the cottage cheese to a glass bowl or jar, and store in the refrigerator.
Recipe Notes
- *Buy mesophilic cheese culture here or here.
- This cheese is wonderful spread on toast, blended up into salad dressings, or added to salads or alongside main dishes. Enjoy!
- Remember, to make this a TMF:FP First, start with raw or at least non-homogenized milk — where the cream rises to the top — then skim off the fat. That leaves us with cheese that's low-fat.
Get A FREE 1-Week Trim Healthy Mama Menu Plan
If you’re looking for more examples of how I eat Trim Healthy Mama with Traditional Foods, click here to get my FREE Traditional Food + Trim Healthy Mama {purist} 1-Week Menu Plan.
Other than cooking (sorry, you have to do that yourself), I did all the planning for you — meals, snacks, desserts, prep steps, and shopping list for 7 days! Get it here.
Links To Supplies & Ingredients
- FREE Traditional Food + Trim Healthy Mama {purist} 1-Week Menu Plan
- Mesophilic Cheese Cultures Options: here and here
- 90-count cheesecloth — cut it in half so you have (2) 1-yard pieces
- Double-Strength Liquid Vegetable Rennet
- Unrefined Sea Salt
- The glass storage dish featured in the video
Members, some of these supplies are from Cultures For Health, so don’t forget to use your exclusive discount code — you’ll find it in the member area on the eCourse supplies pages!
What are your favorite THM Traditional foods? Will you give this recipe a try? If you do, be sure to let me know how it goes for you!
Other Cultured Dairy Recipes
- Compound Butter {Butter Gets Dressed Up!}
- Homemade Raw Cheddar Cheese
- How To Make Homemade Buttermilk + 5 Buttermilk Substitutes
- Easy Sour Cream (with free video!)
- What To Do With Soured Cream?
- 15 Easy Raw Cheese Recipes
- Cultured Cream Cheese (+5 flavor options!)
- How to Make Raw Milk Mascarpone: Soft, Probiotic Cheese
- Middle Eastern Kefir Cheese Balls {with free video!}
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Can this “cottage cheese” be frozen?
Hi Barb,
Yes, it can. 🙂
~Millie, TCS Customer Success Team
This sounds delicious but I do not understand what you mean in step #5 – why pour the rennet mixture over the wooden spoon? If you use some other instrument to mix the milk will it not work (ie: plastic or metal spoon)? Thanks!
Hi Anne,
Pouring over the spoon helps distribute the rennet. You can use a plastic or metal spoon instead. 🙂
~Millie, TCS Customer Success Team
So if we want to leave the cream in it, we just dont skim it? And continue on with recipe?
And homogenized milk would work if we care not about having cream in it, rite?
If its pasteurized will it be ok on the counter? Or does this need to be raw milk?
TIA
I’m curious about this too! I don’t want to spend money on the culture ingredients if it won’t work for milk that isn’t raw. Thanks!
Hi Helene,
I’m sorry we missed this question! You can make this recipe as written using pasteurized, homogenized milk.
Using raw milk, skimming is optional.
~Millie, TCS Customer Success Team
Hi Millie, I am sitting with at least 12 Lt. of Kefir Milk. I am now making ‘cream cheese’ by pouring the curds and whey through a dishcloth and leaving the whey to drip over night into a container. I then have the cream cheese on the dishcloth which I scrape off. Can I freeze this cream cheese and what can I do with over 4 Lt of whey that I already have? I still have to process/decant another 12 Lt. of Kefir Milk.
Regards Frances from a Wintery South Africa
Hi Frances,
You can freeze the cream cheese. The consistency of it may change slightly but the wonderful benefits remain.
Here is a great article on using leftover whey: https://traditionalcookingschool.com/2016/06/09/askwardee-uses-for-whey/ 🙂
~Millie, TCS Customer Success Team
Hi Millie, as per my above comments on making ‘cream cheese’ by just decanting Kefir Milk through a cloth and the long elaborate recipe that is given by your blog. What is the difference in the cream cheese that we are both making? Why are all those ingredients and procedures necessary?
Thank you for the advice that I can freeze the cream cheese and all the options of what to do with the Whey.
Regards, Frances from South Africa
Hi Frances,
You can make kefir cheese.
The reason someone would want to do this is for a different flavor and texture. The curds are harder here (more like cottage cheese) and the flavor is more mild.
Other than that, do what you like. 🙂
~Millie, TCS Customer Success Team
What’s the difference in the cultures you listed and what’s the difference between then and the flora Diana culture also listed on the same site?
Sarah — The Flora Danica culture will work as well. It will have a slightly different (delicious!) flavor. As long as it’s a mesophilic cheese culture, you can use it. 🙂
Hi, I am extremely sensitive to molds. I’ve been warned that cottage cheese supposedly has a high risk of mold contamination. By adding cultures and letting it sit out, does this cause a higher risk of mold? Or do the cultures help to deter mold from growing?
Thanks for your help!
Hi Shonda,
You would be better off following a quicker cottage cheese recipe that would be done in a few hours. Here’s a link to another cottage cheese recipe, which is a considered a “fresh” cheese because there’s no aging and it’s made quickly.
https://traditionalcookingschool.com/food-preparation/recipes/homemade-goat-milk-cottage-cheese/
~Danielle, TCS Customer Success Team
Hi there I made this two weeks ago and it was good. Yesterday I made it again and today it is still milk? What do you think I did wrong, and has temperature in the kitchen anything to do with it? Please advise
Janny
Hi Janny,
Mesophilic cultures will work at 50 -108 degrees with an optimal temperature of 77 – 86 degrees.
So if your kitchen was either really cold or really hot it’s possible that the cultures failed.
Hope this helps!
~ Vicki, TCS Customer Success Team
hi vicki thanks for your reply. I added new cultures and rennet and today it is ok,only I cannot get the fat of it anymore.
it is dripping now but I suppose now it will be fat cottage cheese,can I still use it for thm as an
s food do you think?
still trying to do things right lol
Hi Janny,
Since it is full fat it can be used in THM for S meals/snacks.
Keep trying! 🙂
~Danielle, TCS Customer Success Team
Finally getting around to trying this and I realize not only is my culture past the date (by 3 months) but apparently I was supposed to be storing it in the fridge?? And my unopened rennet’s best by date is next month. Ugh. Anyone have any experience using these 2 things past their dates? Can it be harmful? TIA!
Hi Jill,
If your house was too hot they likely will not work. The only way to know for sure is to try a small batch. I’m sorry.
~Danielle, TCS Customer Success Team
Finally making this! Yay! I got new rennet & culture. I skimmed the cream off the top and will make cultured butter with that. The whey that drips from the curds that are now in cheese cloth can be used to soak grains, etc. But what about the liquid that was left after I spooned the curds out? I had quite a bit! It’s not yellow like whey usually is. It’s cloudy. So I wasn’t sure if that is actually whey or not. Thanks for your help!
Hi, Jill,
How exciting you made this! The liquid left over is whey but it has some cream/milk in it, that’s what makes it cloudy. It won’t keep as long but it can be used like whey.
~Peggy, TCS Custome Success Team
Thought on using clabbered milk for this purpose? Mine has already separated so I was wondering if I cold strain it and put in a water bath with the rennet to strengthen thr curd a little verses the “cream cheese” that we usually make this way?
Kristi, clabbered milk absolutely works for this! Go for it! It’s too late to add rennet, I think. So just go ahead and make sure to drip it really dry. It might be a little softer, but not too much. Enjoy!
Please elaborate.. what can I do with sour raw milk? I don’t have a culture available. Are youu in saying you make cream cheese with clabbered milk? I don’t get it often enough to know what to do with after it sours except just not throw it out ?
Hi, Laura,
Here are some recipes you may like:
https://traditionalcookingschool.com/food-preparation/recipes/free-video-easiest-sour-cream-ever/
http://realfoodrn.com/how-to-make-raw-milk-cottage-cheese/
Enjoy! 🙂
~Peggy, TCS Customer Success Team
Hi! I hope you will get this still…I was wondering in the first step, can the container/bucket be stainless steel? It just occurred to me that it might need to be plastic in case there is a reaction with culture/rennet and metal?? Checking just in case!
Hi Carrie,
Yes you can use stainless steel. 🙂
~Peggy, TCS Customer Success Team
This cottage cheese must be much healthier than recipes where you cook the curds? How does the texture compare to recipes that cook the curds? Also how does the culture affect raw milk, as raw milk will clabber on its own?
Hi Lily,
Here is what one of our team members stated:
The texture is a little more “mushable”.. the curds don’t stay separate like cottage cheese. That being said we absolutely love it. I find that because of the consistency I can use it a variety of ways (in cottage whip, as a spread on sandwiches, crumbled onto a salad). I usually make it with raw milk and the cultures. You could let it clabber but that is not guaranteed plus you wouldn’t get the flavor the culture provides (I prefer that to clabbered milk but to each their own!). I have made it with skimmed milk but prefer to make it with raw milk because I get two for one (cultured cream scooped off for a cream cheese and low fat FP cottage cheese). If you are making it with raw milk it is healthier for you than the usual way cottage cheese is cooked. All of the enzymes are alive and well! FYI Wardee’s Cultured Dairy eCourse teaches how to make many raw cheeses, including cottage cheese that isn’t heated past 102°F.
~Peggy, TCS Customer Success Team
How much powdered rennet would be equal to two drops liquid rennet?
Hi, Lily: Please see this post for recommendations regarding rennet: https://traditionalcookingschool.com/food-preparation/recipes/techniques-tutorials/how-to-choose-rennet-for-cheesemaking/ Megan writes that she successfully cuts rennet tablets into eighths, or dissolves part of a tablet in water and uses some of the liquid in her cheese-making. —Sonya, TCS Customer Success Team
I just finished making this. It’s not cottage cheese it’s actually a low-fat cream cheese. It will make a wonderful boursin cheese spread.