On weekends growing up, we would often go for a drive and visit my grandpa and Mummu. Even though we usually had cottage cheese at home in our fridge, we would always ask for it at her house. Mummu’s just tasted better. We would sit around the table with a big dollop and some crackers on our plate—it was simply the best. But it goes without saying, not all cottage cheeses are created equal.
Cottage cheese remains one of mine, and both of my siblings, favorite snack/dinner/lunch/breakfast. We really eat it all the time—on baked potatoes, on eggs, with lasagna, on our salads, with bacon, with potato chips, on crackers—you name it. Since living on my own I have tasted many different cottages cheeses and have finally found what I think is the best:
Schroeder’s 2% milk Cottage Cheese
What makes it good:
Taste: I know there are a lot of people who don’t like cottage cheese. I think this has partially to do with the texture, but more to do with the flavor. Good cottage cheese has a salty, creamy and savory flavor. It doesn’t have the funky tang that some yogurts have. Or that watery, acidic liquid between the curds. It just tastes like a mild cheese with a little different texture.
Texture: Here is the part some non-cottage-cheese-eaters complain about—if you are one of those people, I would give this cottage cheese a try. When done well, the texture is not so offensive. And if you try it with a cracker, you might not even notice the difference between it and cream cheese. A good cottage cheese has soft curds that are uniform in size surrounded by a creamy sauce. Not paste-like (YUCK!) or too watery (also YUCK!). This cottage cheese has a lovely texture. Consistency: I have probably purchased this cottage cheese at least 20 times and it has always been delightful. With other previous favorites there was sometimes that stray tangy or pastey batch that was so disappointing. That was usually the one that ended up in lasagna. These days the cottage cheese barely makes it to the recipe. I have usually already cracked it open!
Where to buy it: I buy mine from the Wedge Co-op, though I am sure that any grocer that carries Schroeder milk will have it. Schroeder was started in St. Paul MN and is now part of a larger cooperative in Minnesota, Michigan and middle Canada .
If you love cottage cheese, let me know your favorite.
-Nikki
Nice blog, Nikki. I remember the three of you with your doctored up cottage cheese - cheese, etc. You were easy to please as long as cottage cheese was in the house. :)
ReplyDeleteJill