This soft unripe cheese is made from skim milk (or reconstituted dry skim milk in some countries) using lactic acid bacteria and a small amount if any rennet.
High quality Grade A skim milk must be used to make cottage cheese curds because:
*It is the law
*High-quality cheese cannot be made from interior milk
*Fat softens the curd
The incoming raw milk must be of high quality with regard to aroma, flavor, titrable acidity (TA, between 0.12 and 0.16), total solids, microbial counts (ideally less than 50,000 per mL).
In addition to the microbial quality of the milk, its dry matter content is important on relation to product quality and yield.
For use in the production of cottage cheese, milk is usually pasteurized to inactivate pathogenic and spoilage bacteria that may be present.
Milk quality for production of cottage cheese
