Cottage cheese is a curdled milk product with a mild flavor and a creamy, heterogenous, soupy texture. It is made from skimmed milk by draining curds but retaining some of the whey and keeping the curds loose. An essential step in the manufacturing process distinguishing cottage cheese from other fresh cheeses is the addition of a "dressing" to the curd grains, usually cream, which is mainly responsible for the taste of the product. Cottage cheese is not aged.
Cottage cheese can be low in calories compared to other types of cheese — similar to yogurt, this makes it popular among dieters and some health devotees. It can be used with various foods such as yogurt, fruit, toast, and granola, in salads, as a dip, and as a replacement for mayonnaise.
It is also known as curds and whey.
History of cheese
A popular story on the origin of cheese was taken from Homer's Odyssey, in which the poet describes how the Cyclops Polyphemus made cheese by storing milk in animal stomachs. The enzyme rennin from the stomachs of nursing animals induce a coagulation process separating the curds from the milk.
Cheese is thought to have occurred in the Middle East around 5,000 BC, but archaeological remains believed to be of cheese-making date to before that in parts of Europe. Evidence of cheese can be found in a band of carvings on the walls of an ancient Mesopotamian temple that dates back to 3,000 BC. The ancient carvings show how the civilization created a cheese-like substance, using salt and milk to create a salty, sour curd mixture believed to be somewhat similar to today's cottage cheese. As Rome expanded its empire, it spread the knowledge of cheese, discovering many new forms.
In the late 19th century Minnesota, when milk went sour, farmers sometimes made something they called "Dutch cheese", which is said to have been similar to modern industrial cottage cheese, in order not to waste the bad milk.