CHAPTER XXXIV 



COTTAGE CHEESE 



Food Value — Cost. — Cottage cheese, made from skim milk, 

 is one of the most healthful and economical as well as tasty 

 foods which can be provided for the farm table. The usually 

 calculated value of skim milk for stock feeding is about 25 cents 

 a hundred. One hundred pounds of skim milk will produce 

 from 14 to 16 pounds of cottage cheese, thus entailing a cost 

 of about 2 cents per pound. While such cheese is about two- 

 thirds water, which would advance the cost of the solid sub- 

 stances eaten to about 6 cents per pound, it must not be forgotten 

 that ordinary meat costing from 15 to 25 cents per pound is 

 likewise about two-thirds water; also that even at 6 cents per 

 pound for the solid substance of cottage cheese the fact that it 

 is rich in protein, making for muscular growth, gives it, in 

 reality, a higher value than cereals which could be bought at 

 the same price per pound. 



Method of Making. — The making of cottage cheese or pot 

 cheese, though simple, is controlled by certain principles which 

 make for quality. Flavor is the quality first to be considered. 

 This can be controlled only by governing the character of the 

 milk used. While not a very sensitive product cottage cheese 

 is the most tasty when clean sweet milk is properly soured at a 

 temperature of about 70 to 75 degrees F. A higher temperature, 

 one ranging in the neighborhood of 90 degrees, is liable to pro- 

 duce gassy fermentations and foul odors, and a temperature lower 

 than 70 degrees retards the growth of the bacteria which produce 

 the acid, and thus causes a waste of time, and if too cold the 

 souring process can scarcely continue at all. At times, too, it 

 is necessary to add to the skim milk to be soured a little starter 

 in the nature of clean, sharp buttermilk or a small quantity of 

 plain milk which has previously become sour. If the milk be- 

 comes too sour the tendency is to produce a hard, dry, sawdust- 

 like product, one not usually relished. When the milk has 

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