Cottage cheese


Cottage cheese is a type of fresh cheese with a mild flavor and a creamy, heterogeneous texture made from skimmed milk – hence the low milkfat content. It is made by adding an acid – like vinegar or lemon juice – to the milk which causes the milk proteins to separate from the liquid. The curds are then drained and mixed with cream and salt, which is what gives cottage cheese slightly tangy taste and creamy texture. The addition of a "dressing" to the curd grains is primarily responsible for the taste of the finished food. Cottage cheese is not aged.
It was first referred to as 'cottage cheese' in U.S. in 1831 to reflect that it was being made in farm cottages using milk left over from butter making.
Cottage cheese can be relatively low in milkfat/calories for the amount of protein it provides and is a rich source of vitamin B12. Cottage cheese comes in different fat levels, including low–fat and fat–free – but even an original 'full fat' version is less calorific than a chunk of hard cheese or wedge of soft cheese.

History

Origin

The first pictorial evidence for cheesemaking was found on a frieze at the Temple of the Great Goddess of Life, Ninhursag, in Mesopotamia in the Fertile Crescent – a region which covers modern day Iraq – and is 5,000 years old. The frieze depicts priests engaged in the production of cow dairy and perhaps creating curd mixture somewhat similar to cottage cheese.
A fictional 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 animals stomachs induces a coagulation process separating the curds from the whey.
As Rome expanded its empire, it spread the knowledge of cheese, discovering many new forms. The Romans introduced cheesemaking to England.

United States uses

s to United States brought the tradition of fresh cheesemaking with them and by the mid-1800s the term cottage cheese entered the American vocabulary.
The first American cheese factory opened in 1868, beginning the wholesale cheese industry in the United States. The use of industrial cheese in the United States, in general, increased greatly at the end of the 19th century; by the turn of the 20th century, farm cheese production had become significant.
Cottage cheese was widely promoted in America during the First World War, along with other dairy products, to save meat for infantry rations. This promotion was shown in many war posters, including one which claimed that one pound of cottage cheese contains more protein than a pound of lamb, pork, beef, or chicken.
After the war, cottage cheese quickly became more commonly consumed. of cottage cheese were produced in 1919, and by 1928, were manufactured. Consumption peaked in the United States in the 1970s when dieting became common, and some $1.3 billion of it was sold per year, but in the 1980s, yogurt consumption increased, and cottage cheese sales dropped considerably further in the 2000s.
In 2016, a Wall Street Journal article speculated that cottage cheese might be ready for a resurgence following the increased use of Greek yogurt due to its high protein and low sugar levels.

Manufacture

Since the 1930s, industrial cottage cheese has been manufactured using pasteurized skim milk, or in more modern processes using concentrated nonfat milk or reconstituted nonfat dry milk. A bacterial culture that produces lactic acid and rennet, which allows the milk to curdle and parts to solidify, are added to skim milk and heated until it reaches, and maintained at that temperature for 8 hours or more. The solids, known as curd, form a gelatinous skin over the liquid in the vat, which is cut into cubes with wires, allowing more whey to drain from the curds. The curds are then reheated to for one or two hours. Once the curds have been drained and are primarily dry, the mass is pressed to dry the curds further. The curds are then rinsed in water. Finally, salt and a "dressing" of cream are added, and the final product is packaged and shipped for consumption. Some smaller modern luxury creameries omit the first heating step but allow the milk to curdle much longer with bacteria to produce the curds or use crème fraîche as dressing.
In the United States, cottage cheese made with a food-grade acid must be labeled as a "direct acid set" and contain not less than 4% milkfat and not more than 80% moisture.
Usually, a small amount of low -producing citrate-fermenting lactococci or leuconostoc bacterial strains are added to the starter mix for the production of diacetyl for added buttery or creamy flavours. Producers must be careful that the final product contains approximately 2 ppm diacetyl and that the ratio of diacetyl to acetaldehyde is 3–5 to 1 to achieve the typical cottage cheese flavor. If the ratio is too small, the product tastes grassy; if it is too much, the taste becomes harsh.
Titanium dioxide is added to some brands of cottage cheese to make it a brighter white. In the United States, the FDA allows the additive in many dairy products up to 1% of total volume by weight. It may also be used in Canada and the European Union. In the US, the FDA does not restrict nanoparticle technology used in food, but in Europe, it must be first submitted for approval as a food ingredient. According to the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, it is found in hundreds of products, not always labeled as such, including many organic products; however, several large US producers have denied using it.
Cottage cheese may be marketed as a small-curd or large-curd.

Nutrition

Full fat cottage cheese is 78% water, 12% protein, 5% carbohydrates, and 4% fat. In a reference amount of, full fat cottage cheese supplies 103 calories of food energy, and is a rich source of vitamin B12 and a moderate source of phosphorus and sodium.
Cottage cheese is safe to eat during pregnancy, unlike some cheese products that are not recommended. Other than supplying nutrients, there is little evidence that consuming cottage cheese provides any direct health effects.

Consumption

In the United States and Canada, cottage cheese is used in many culinary dishes. It can be combined with fruit and sugar, salt and pepper, fruit purée, tomatoes, or granola and cinnamon. It can be eaten on toast, in salads, as a chip dip, as a replacement for mayonnaise in tuna salad, and as an ingredient in recipes such as jello salad and various desserts. Cottage cheese is also consumed with fruit, such as pineapple, pears, peaches, or mandarin oranges.
The sour taste of the product is due to lactic acid, which is present at 124–452 mg/kg. Formic, acetic, propionic and butyric acids contribute to the aroma.
Due to its incorporation of whey, cottage cheese is high in lactose relative to most other cheeses. However, lactose is partially decomposed by lactic acid fermentation.

Coagulate skimmed milk with lactic bacteria and rennet