Cottage Cheese

I am pretty disgusted with my choices in cottage cheese. I like the small curd variety, and I've tried the usual suspects: Deans, Oberweis, Breakstone, and the common house brands, etc. They are invariably salty, dry, inconsistent in curd size, lumpy, etc. The last decent stuff I can remember was Wanzer, but I haven't seen it around for awhile. Does anybody have a source for some well-crafted product locally?

I don't know if they make it themselves, but I've always thought the cottage cheese at Kaufman's in Skokie was really good. I don't know if you can just buy it there, but it comes in their deli trays. Who knows though, maybe it's Breakstone.

I have noted a surprising variation between brands. I like Dean's small curd, full-fat. I find any of the reduced fat varieties to be dry and not to my taste, and the difference in calories is actually pretty small. Haven't tried Kaufman's. Have tried several other brands at Whole Foods, never found one I liked better than Dean's, to my surprise.

Of no practical use, but back in the day, Breakstone made a version they called "Tangy." It was what I grew up on. And it was just that. A bit of yogurt tang to it rather than pure bland creaminess. The texture was also less the uniform little globules one finds today, and more irregular, like farmer cheese that had been desultorily mashed with a fork. In retrospect it seemed more like a real cheese than any of what's out there today, and I miss it.

Judy H wrote:I have noted a surprising variation between brands. I like Dean's small curd, full-fat.

I also prefer the small curd, 4% milkfat version. But I have Dean's to be as inconsistent as most of the other common offerings.

Cogito wrote:

Judy H wrote:I have noted a surprising variation between brands. I like Dean's small curd, full-fat.

I also prefer the small curd, 4% milkfat version. But I have Dean's to be as inconsistent as most of the other common offerings.

The biggest variable I've found affecting cottage cheese is time. Freshness is your friend. As it gets older, it tends to be much less creamy. Check those freshness dates when purchasing.

I've been eating Kalona sour cream and cottage cheese lately and they are amazing. The sour cream has a very pronounced tang and the cottage cheese has a slight tang. Both are excellent. I buy them at Whole Foods.