History does not know who and when was the first to prepare cottage cheese. It is quite possible that this happened by accident: the milk turned sour, the whey drained, and a dense mass remained. We tried it - delicious!

According to the Roman writer and scientist Marcus Terence Varro, this product was known in Ancient Rome. The milk was then fermented with a curd, which was removed from the stomach of calves, kids or lambs that fed only on mother's milk.

Cottage cheese was eaten salted and unsalted, sometimes mixed with milk, wine or honey.

Cottage cheese in Rus'

For quite a long time, cottage cheese in Rus' was called cheese, and dishes made from it were called cheese (hence the name “syrniki”, although they are made from cottage cheese). It is not known where this name came from, but it was so firmly entrenched that it did not disappear even after the appearance of hard (rennet) cheeses in Russia. Cottage cheese has always been one of the most revered products among the Slavs. They ate it almost every day. The starting raw material was ordinary yogurt, a pot of which was placed in a not very hot oven for several hours. Then it was taken out and the contents were poured into a linen cone-shaped bag. The whey was filtered off, and the bag of cottage cheese was placed under a press. However, cottage cheese prepared in this way could not be stored for a long time, and refrigerators were not yet known. During the period when milk yield was good, and, of course, during fasting, the peasants accumulated quite a lot of cottage cheese. To prevent it from going to waste, people came up with a rather original way of preserving it - the finished (from the press) cottage cheese was again placed in the oven for several hours, then under the press, and so on twice. When it became completely dry, it was packed tightly into clay pots and ghee was poured on top. Such cottage cheese could be stored in the cellar for months; it could be taken with you on a long journey. In the last century, the Rostov district of the Yaroslavl province was famous for cottage cheese. From here he was taken to Moscow. In the Ryazan province, cottage cheese from the village of Dedinovo was considered the best. They sold the product by the pound, and the drier it was, the more expensive it was. Industrial production was mastered in the 19th century.

Bean curd

Cottage cheese is made not only from milk. Bean curd– one of the most delicious dishes of Chinese cuisine. It is made from soybeans, and the history of its preparation goes back more than two thousand years. The Chinese like its delicate delicate taste, amazing aroma and, which is also very important, low price. As a representative of Chinese delicacies, bean curd has long crossed the borders of China and has become popular in many countries around the world.

Use of cottage cheese in treatment

Cottage cheese as a food product is necessary for everyone, especially children and the elderly. It is part of diets for the treatment of liver diseases, atherosclerosis and hypertension.

Cottage cheese is widely used in medical nutrition for patients with gastric and duodenal ulcers, chronic gastritis, chronic gallbladder diseases, pancreatitis, and intestinal diseases. It is included in almost any diet. It is rightly called a product that is not prohibited in medical nutrition.

What kind of cottage cheese is sold in stores?

Stores usually receive pasteurized cottage cheese, prepared using a starter from milk that has previously been neutralized from bacteria. It can be eaten raw, without cooking. From the pasteurized product, pasta of various fat contents, sweet and salty curd cheeses are prepared. Unpasteurized cottage cheese made from sour milk can be used to prepare dishes that are subject to heat treatment.

How to cook cottage cheese?

To prepare cottage cheese, you need to pour milk into an enamel pan, boil, cool to about 30 ° C. Then ferment with sour cream, yogurt or kefir - 3-4 tbsp. spoons per 1 liter, mix and place in a warm place for 6-8 hours. Place the resulting mixture in a cloth bag and hang over the dish to drain the whey, or throw the resulting curdled mass onto a sieve or colander covered with gauze folded in half.

Kefir cottage cheese prepared as follows. Pour kefir into an enamel pan, which is placed in a basin or any other larger container filled with boiling water. Keep this water bath over low heat (do not overheat!), stir until the kefir curdles. Then the same operations as when preparing cottage cheese from milk.

The recipe for making cottage cheese from a mixture of kefir and milk is as follows:. At the moment the milk boils, pour an equal amount of kefir into the pan and boil for 1-2 minutes. The resulting clot is placed in a cloth bag and the serum is allowed to drain. You can get cottage cheese of different taste and consistency by changing the ratio of milk and kefir.

Cottage cheese dishes

Cottage cheese and cheese

Back at the beginning of the 19th century. There was no strict distinction between the concepts of “cottage cheese” and “cheese”. Thus, V. Dahl, explaining the word “cheese”, indicates that this is cottage cheese, and speaking about cottage cheese, he writes that this is the southern name for cheese, and makes a note: “But usually the name cheese is German cheese made from fresh milk, salted and dried in circles.” Obviously, we are talking about all rennet cheeses, which “we also produce quite well.”

The first Russian cheese factory appeared in 1795 on the estate of Prince Meshchersky in the Tver province, but cheese making became widespread in Russia after 1866. Then an urgent need arose for separate concepts of “cheese” and “cottage cheese”.

The preparation of cottage cheese in pre-Petrine Rus' was not industrial in nature and was part of home cooking. Special conical pots with a hole at the bottom were common kitchen utensils. This is also evidenced by the fact that in the “Painting of Royal Foods” the recipe for cheese (cottage cheese) and cheesecakes indicates the amount of milk: “a dish of spongy cheese, and a third of a bucket of milk in it.”

However, cheese (cottage cheese) was prepared for future use and stored already pressed. This can be judged by the fact that in the same “Painting...” the recipes indicate: “For a dish of cheese pancakes with cheese, and in them half a shovel of coarse flour, 15 eggs, half a bucket of unleavened milk, a quarter of sour cheese, a hryvnia of cow’s butter " Cheese is also listed in Domostroy among the stocks stored in the cellars. The mention in “Painting...” of sponge cheese requires consideration. Here we are not talking about imported “German” cheeses, but about a locally produced product (the amount of milk to produce the cheese is indicated).

The fact is that in folk cuisine, methods have long been found for producing cottage cheese, similar in properties to modern rennet cheeses. In Belarus, peasant families still make this type of cheese - “blade”. Obviously, in the 16th–17th centuries. in Russia there was a known method for producing spongy cottage cheese. However, it is possible that the term “spongy cheese” was used already in the 16th–17th centuries. This refers to primitively prepared rennet cheese. The fact is that, although the beginning of cheese making in Russia dates back to 1866, already in 1831 E. Molokhovets describes the ancient folk method of making rennet cheese. Thus, the production of rennet cheeses was known in Russia much earlier than industrial cheese making appeared.

Finally, in cookbooks of the 19th century. (E. Molokhovets) rennet starter is called podpoushka - a word not accepted in the terminology of industrial cheese making.

To prepare the fluff, the veal stomach was cleaned, washed, rubbed with salt and dried, and before preparing the cheese it was soaked in whey from yogurt. This infusion was used to coagulate milk to produce spongy cheeses. We do not have direct evidence that this method was known in Rus' in the 16th–17th centuries, but it is quite possible.

Cheese from cottage cheese for storage was prepared in a certain size, since the recipes give the dosage of cottage cheese in pieces of cheese: a loaf placed with cheese, “and in it... 2 sour cheeses.”

Thus, there were sour cheeses (cottage cheese), used for products (fillings for pies, pies, making cheesecakes), and spongy cheeses, served as an independent dish. So, in “Books all year long...” it is said: “And during Shrovetide week the food is served: lean foods, spongy cheeses, dry sour cream cheeses.” It is difficult to say exactly what dry sour cream cheeses are, but, obviously, we are talking about dry sour cream cheeses, prepared similarly to dry cheeses from cottage cheese, prepared for future use and described by E. Molokhovets.

Curd cheesecakes are widely used in Russian cooking even today. However, it is quite possible that in the 16th–17th centuries. they were prepared differently.

Recipe for cheesecakes with eggs

Half a shovel of coarse flour, 20 eggs, half a bucket of unleavened milk, a kopeck of cow's butter. The recipe puts flour and eggs first, not cheese. Further, from a bucket of milk, cottage cheese of normal moisture yields 2.4–2.5 kg, and juicy milk - up to 3 kg; from 1/8 bucket of milk you will get no more than 370–380 g. If you make a mass from this amount of cottage cheese, 20 eggs (800 g) and 600 g of flour, the dough will turn out to be very liquid. This recipe is close to the recipe for modern cheese pancakes: flour 75, cottage cheese 25, water 75 (in the recipe for cheese pancakes with egg there is not 75 g of flour, but 90). Here is a description of the preparation of such cheese pancakes (Levshin V., 1797):“Take fresh cottage cheese, grind it with a spoon and pass it through a sieve so that no grains remain, rub a grainy handful of flour into it and dilute it with egg yolks, neither thick nor thin. Beat the whites and stir them in. Heat the cow’s butter and, taking a spoonful of the dough, put it in the butter and fry it brown.”

The recipe for such cheese pancakes can be restored: flour 250, eggs 10 pcs., cottage cheese 250.

The second type of cheesecakes (“syrniki with cheese”) is different in that their recipe includes milk and sour cheeses.

Using this recipe, you can prepare cheesecakes that are close to modern ones. However, in the 18th century. Pancakes stuffed with cottage cheese were also called syrniki. Below is a description of both of them, since it is difficult to say which of them were meant in “Painting...”.

No. 456. Modern cheesecakes. IN mashed cottage cheese add 2/3 of the norm of flour, eggs, sugar, salt. The mass is kneaded well, shaped into a bar 5–6 cm thick, cut crosswise, breaded in flour, shaped into a meatball 1.5 cm thick and fried on both sides in cow butter. Served with butter, sour cream, jam.

Cottage cheese 250–280, wheat flour 40–50, egg 1 pc., butter, sugar 30, salt.

No. 457. Old cheesecakes. Pancakes are being baked. For; After this, grind the eggs, salt, sugar, add milk (50%; norm), add flour and beat until smooth, gradually adding the rest of the milk. Pancakes are baked from this dough without turning them over in small frying pans.

Flour 400, milk or water 1000, eggs 2–3 pcs., sugar (in the old days it was not added) 25, salt, fat.

On these pancakes, minced curd is placed on the fried side, wrapped in an envelope and fried. For! minced meat: puree the cottage cheese, add eggs, butter, flour, sugar, salt and knead well.

Cottage cheese 800, eggs 2–3 pcs., flour 50, butter 40, salt, sugar.

No. 458. Cheesecakes with potatoes. The cottage cheese is pureed, combined with boiled mashed potatoes, about 2/3 of the prescribed flour, eggs, salt are added and mixed well. On a board sprinkled with the remaining flour, cheesecakes are formed into round or oblong flat cakes about 1.5 cm thick, fried in a frying pan with butter, served with butter, sour cream, and sour cream sauce.

Cottage cheese 300, flour 50, egg 1 pc., potatoes 200, salt.

No. 459. Cheesecakes with carrots. Peel the carrots, cut them, add a little water (10-15%), oil and, covering with a lid, simmer. When the carrots become soft, they are pounded, cooled and added to the curd mass.

Cottage cheese 300, carrots 100, butter 6, flour 60, egg 1 pc., salt, sugar.

In modern Russian cuisine, cottage cheese is used for a variety of purposes: for preparing curd masses (such as cheese Easter), serving natural with milk or sour cream, various cheesecakes, puddings (loaves), casseroles, curd creams, fillings for pies and pies.

Special products made from cottage cheese have become a ritual Easter dish in our country and are even called Easter. However, in the list of dishes of the Moscow sovereign in the 16th–17th centuries. There are no dishes like cheese Easter. “Painting the Royal Dishes” begins with the menu of the Easter table (“On Great Day the sovereign is served...”). The list of dishes for this Easter table is very large, and the only cottage cheese mentioned are pies spun with cheese, a large hearth pie with cheese, a broken loaf, the recipe of which includes cheese, a loaf served with cheese, cheesecakes with eggs, cheesecakes with cheese, a dish of sponge cheese. Thus, the Easter table included more cottage cheese dishes than on ordinary fasting days, but the tradition of preparing Easter appeared later. Now it is difficult to imagine this spring holiday in an Orthodox family without cheese Easter and Easter cakes.

For cheese Easter (it retained the ancient name “cheese” and not “curd”), a mixture of cottage cheese, sour cream, cream, butter, eggs, sugar and other products is prepared and molded in special wooden collapsible molds (Fig. 12).

Rice. 12.Form for cheese Easter

These forms are made in the form of a truncated pyramid. On the inside of the planks there is an in-depth design carved on the themes of Easter symbolism: a cross, the letters “ХВ” (“Christ is Risen”), flowers (a symbol of spring). The mold is assembled, lined from the inside with a damp cloth, filled with curd mass, and placed under a press. When the whey has drained, the mold is disassembled and the cheese mass is placed on a dish, and colored eggs are placed around it. The curd mass is prepared raw or boiled for Easter.

No. 460. Cheese Easter. The cottage cheese is rubbed, fresh sour cream, butter, a little salt, granulated sugar are added, everything is mixed most thoroughly. To this mass you can add vanillin, sorted and scalded raisins, candied fruits, scalded and chopped apricots, lemon zest mashed with sugar, etc.

Cottage cheese 1000, sour cream 100–150, butter 100, sugar to taste, salt (the recipe is approximate, since there are a large number of them).

No. 461. Easter custard. Rub the cottage cheese, add eggs, sour cream, butter, salt, sugar, mix everything, bring to a boil, put in the cold and mix very well. This mass is placed in a mold and pressed.

Curd casseroles

Casseroles are prepared from a wide variety of products (cereals, vegetables), including cottage cheese.

No. 462. Cottage cheese casserole. The cottage cheese is rubbed, flour (or pre-steamed semolina), eggs, sugar, salt are added, everything is mixed. Place the prepared mass in a layer of 3–4 cm in a baking tray or frying pan, greased with oil and sprinkled with breadcrumbs. The surface is leveled, greased with sour cream and baked in the oven for 20–30 minutes.

Cottage cheese 300, flour 30 or semolina 20, sugar 30, salt, eggs 0.5–1 pc.

No. 463. Curd casserole with raisins. It is prepared in the same way, but sorted and scalded raisins are added to the mixture.

Cottage cheese is one of the oldest products. We can assume that it appeared along with milk. Roman agricultural writers (Varro, Columella) testify that cottage cheese was known in Ancient Rome. The Romans ate salted and unsalted cottage cheese, and sometimes mixed it with milk, honey and even wine before consumption.
Cottage cheese also appeared in Russia a very long time ago. In any case, already in the 9th-10th centuries. Cottage cheese was an almost everyday food product among the Slavs.
Dishes made from cottage cheese have long been called cheese in Russia, and even now we say, for example, not cottage cheese, but syrniki. However, this is not because cottage cheese was not known to our ancestors. On the contrary, it was in wide use several centuries before the appearance of cheese in Russia. But our ancestors called cottage cheese cheese. Even after the appearance of rennet cheeses in Russia, they began to be called spongy cheeses, and cottage cheese for a long time, by inertia, was simply called cheese. And we still buy “Homemade Cheese”. In any case, back in the 18th century. the word "cottage cheese" was not used.
Our ancestors probably ate it every day (minus fasting, of course): the cow is milked every day, if the milk does not have time to drink, it has turned sour, the sour must be boiled so that it does not completely disappear... If you look at the root, the technology for preparing homemade cottage cheese has remained almost unchanged – except that the kitchen ambiance is different. Three hundred years ago, a pot of curdled milk was placed in a warm oven for several hours, then the whey was drained and the resulting curd was placed under a press.
The center of cottage cheese production in Russia has long been the Rostov district of the Yaroslavl province, from where this product was sent to Moscow. In the Ryazan province, the best cottage cheese was produced by residents of the village of Dedinovo, located on the vast water meadows of the Oka River.
On sale in Russia was mainly the so-called prefabricated cottage cheese. It was saved throughout Lent, when milk consumption in the village almost stopped. Such cottage cheese was not distinguished by quality and uniformity, so in wealthy houses it was fed to birds, and whey - to pigs. Mostly low-fat cottage cheese from skimmed milk was sold.
In order to stock up on cottage cheese for the winter after a productive summer, it was dried - heated in an oven and pressed to such an extent that it became hard, like today's plastic. Kept in a cellar. They say that buttons were even made from such cottage cheese: they say that it ossified so well that it then served its owners for a long time and faithfully.
Interestingly, a putty that is insoluble in water was made from cottage cheese based on its casein complex. A mixture of cottage cheese with linseed oil, chalk and water was also used as putty; it protects the tree from the influence of weather and even from fire.

We don't know.

But the ancient Romans already knew and prepared this dairy product. This is evidenced by the Roman scientist and writer Marcus Terence Varro. To ferment milk, they used a clot extracted from the stomach of a calf, kid or lamb feeding on mother's milk. And another Roman writer and The philosopher Lucius Columella said that cottage cheese in the 1st century AD, both rich and poor loved it, consumed it both in its usual form and along with honey, milk and even wine.

In Rus', for quite a long time, cottage cheese called cheese, and dishes made from it were called cheese. This is the reason for the name of pan-fried cheesecakes. The cheese name is so firmly entrenched in cottage cheese, which did not disappear even after the appearance of hard cheeses in Russia.

Cottage cheese has always been one of the most revered foods among the Slavs - they ate it every day. Did cottage cheese from curdled milk, the pot of which was placed in a not very hot oven for several hours. Then the pot was removed and the contents were poured into a linen cone-shaped bag. The whey was filtered off, and the bag with cottage cheese put under a press. However, prepared in this way cottage cheese It was not stored for long - only a couple of days, and refrigerators had not yet been invented. To prevent the product from going to waste, people came up with a rather original way of preserving it.

Ready cottage cheese again placed in the oven for several hours, then under a press, and so on twice. When it became completely dry, it was packed tightly into clay pots and ghee was poured on top. In the cellar like this cottage cheese could be stored for months, it could be taken with you on a long journey. Sold cottage cheese pounds, and the drier it was, the more expensive it was. Industrial production cottage cheese was mastered already in the nineteenth century.

Now cottage cheese popular not only in Russia. "Break the pot with cottage cheese“so that happiness accompanies you all year,” they call in India at the holiday in honor of the birthday of the god Krishna. According to an old legend, it was cottage cheese Krishna considered it his favorite delicacy, calling it a magical gift of nature. As if the fermented milk product endowed people with remarkable strength and intelligence and could cure any ailment.

According to tradition, on the day of the holiday, tall wooden poles are installed in city squares, the tops of which are decorated with original targets - pots with cottage cheese. Hitting such a target with a stone or stick in one attempt is not at all easy. However, there are many who want to take part in this exciting competition: after all, the most accurate ones will receive not only the happiness promised by Krishna, but also a tasty reward - curd flatbreads with sweet sauce and soft drinks.

In China, soybean is very popular. cottage cheese. The history of the dish goes back more than two thousand years. They are preparing one like this cottage cheese from soybeans. The Chinese love its subtle delicate taste, amazing aroma and, very importantly, low price. As a representative of Chinese delicacies, soy cottage cheese has long crossed the borders of China and has become popular in many countries around the world.

Cottage cheese It is a perishable product, so it can only be consumed fresh. In a refrigerator cottage cheese should not be stored for more than two days. If cottage cheese If it’s stale, it’s better to heat-treat it before using it, for example, prepare cheesecake, cheesecakes or casserole.

Cottage cheese Of course, you can cook it at home. Milk for cottage cheese need to boil and cool quickly. Or you can pasteurize it by heating it to a temperature of eighty degrees and holding it at this mark for fifteen minutes. Stirring, pour into milk cooled to thirty degrees sourdough, approximately five percent of the total mass of milk. You can use it as a starter sour cream or curdled milk. The container with fermented milk must be placed in a warm place, and then, when a clot forms, it is placed in cheesecloth until the whey is separated and placed under a press.

Sometimes raw milk, which has been sour, is used for preparation. In this case, it is simply placed in a warm place until a clot forms. True, experts do not recommend doing this cottage cheese from raw milk, as it may contain microorganisms hazardous to health. Cottage cheese It is considered a very nutritious food, containing a huge amount of useful microelements, minerals, amino acids, protein, and milk sugar. Cottage cheese rich in phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, iron and calcium. Cottage cheese contains vitamins PP, B1 and B2, A, C.

Today cottage cheese It is called a dish that knows no prohibitions - it is useful for both elderly people and newborn babies to consume it, since it is not only tasty, but also a very healthy product.

Please note the following products:

Sourdough "Cottage cheese" Lactina allows you to obtain a fermented milk product with a dense viscous consistency with probiotic properties and a clean, soft fermented milk taste and aroma. 65.00 rub. +
Cottage cheese is a product obtained by thermal coagulation of milk protein and separating it from whey. In this form, protein is absorbed best. Cottage cheese is introduced into the diet of young children to compensate for the protein deficiency that occurs when breastfeeding or with adapted milk formulas. RUB 124.00 +

Cottage cheese. History of the origin of cottage cheese

Cottage cheese has always been in the life of modern humanity. It is simply impossible to imagine that he is gone. We are all accustomed to eating cottage cheese from early childhood. Today there is simply an unrealistic number of dishes to which cottage cheese is added.

We all know what to make from cottage cheese and where to buy it, but not many know how it appeared in people’s lives. Let's take a closer look at this wonderful product and find out the history of its origin.

How did the first cottage cheese appear?

No one knows for sure how the first cottage cheese appeared; it appeared so long ago that no one knows the exact date, and what is the exact date, no one even knows the approximate date of its appearance. But of course there is an assumption.

It is believed that one day someone simply left milk in the sun, it turned sour and curdled under the scorching rays of the sun. Naturally, seeing that the milk had already disappeared and it was no longer possible to drink it, they simply poured it out, but in the place where it was poured there was a piece of cloth. Thus, the whey went into the ground, but the curd itself remained on the fabric, people tried what was left and it turned out to be very tasty, and then people began to sour milk in the sun and pour it onto the fabric. Further, of course, its production was improved. No one knows whether everything really happened that way, but the story may well be true.

Cottage cheese in ancient Rome

In contrast to the general history of cottage cheese, the fact that it was made and eaten already in ancient Rome is confirmed in writing. The ancient Roman writer, historian and scientist Marcus Terence Varonna wrote about cottage cheese.

The ancient Romans prepared it by curdling milk using an enzyme. They took a clot from the stomach of a dairy calf, kid or lamb (such a process, of course, is difficult for modern people to imagine how this all happened).

Such a curd was placed in a vessel with milk and left in a warm place, the milk curdled, then it was strained and the cottage cheese was eaten. Rich and poor consumed it equally often; cottage cheese was on the table almost every day.

Cottage cheese in Rus'

In Rus', this product appeared in ancient times. While everything that was generally prepared in those days, cottage cheese was also prepared in the oven.

People poured yogurt into clay pots and put it in the oven until the mass curdled. Then they took the pot out of the oven and poured everything into a special cone-shaped bag, the bag itself was then hung to drain the whey. But then there was no such word as cottage cheese and our ancestors called it exclusively cheese; in those days it was the only existing cheese.

As everyone knows, cottage cheese is a perishable product, and our ancestors did not have refrigerators; in winter, of course, it was stored in a barn and the frost did not allow it to spoil.

But in the summer it was difficult, because the milk yield in the summer was naturally higher. We must not forget that previously, all people strictly observed fasts, and they did not always drink milk, but the cows were milked constantly.

And then our wise ancestors found a way to store cottage cheese for a long time. They invented a method to preserve this valuable product in a very interesting way.

The finished cottage cheese, after it had sagged, was placed under a press, after the press it was put in a pot and put in the oven again, there it released juices again, then the product was again sent under the press to release the liquid, after which it was put in a pot again and then again under press. They did this with the cottage cheese twice, and in the end it turned out completely dry.

Then this same cottage cheese was tightly placed in pots, and then heated melted butter was poured into the pot, which filled the voids and covered the top. Such cottage cheese could be stored in the basement for months, then they took it with them when they went on a long journey or to work in the field. Such cottage cheese was highly valued and was expensive; the drier the cottage cheese, the more expensive it was. The most popular cottage cheese was in the Ryazan and Yaroslavl provinces.

Cottage cheese and the legend of Krishna

Even in legends associated with the Buddhist god Krishna, this valuable product is mentioned and not only is it mentioned, the legend is followed to this day.

It is believed that it was Krishna’s favorite food; he considered it a gift from nature to all people, which brought them health, longevity and benefits for the mind.

In India, to this day it is believed that if a person breaks a pot of curd, it will bring him incredible luck. To this day, during major celebrations, wooden poles are placed in squares, similar to ours at Maslenitsa, only pots of cottage cheese are hung on the pole. But they don’t climb the pole like we do, but try to break the pot with a stone or stick, and those who break it are given a gift - sweet cakes made from the same cottage cheese, but the main prize is a supply of success for a whole year from Krishna himself.

This is how our favorite cottage cheese came into our lives!

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