How to Make Quark from Milk
June 28th, 2014 in Tips, Advices & How-to by Julia Volhina
Total cooking time: 3days
This is a bit more time consuming way to prepare quark (fresh cheese) than the one from kefir, it it is also a bit cheaper.
Usually you would just leave unpasteurized milk in warm place for a day or two to sour. But since all milk sold here is pasteurized, it needs some help to get sour, this is why we will also use kefir or cultured buttermilk.
Whole milk will produce tastier cheese, so I suggest using whole milk. I use Snowville Creamery milk for my recipes and it works great every time.
This amount of ingredients will produce about 1.5lb of fresh cheese.
Ingredients and Tools:
- Half gallon of whole milk
- 1 quart of plain kefir or cultured buttermilk
- Cheese cloth
How to prepare, step-by-step:
-
Prepare ingredients:
How to Make Quark from Milk: Step 1 -
Pour milk into oven safe pot:
How to Make Quark from Milk: Step 2 -
Add all kefir or buttermilk:
How to Make Quark from Milk: Step 3 -
And set aside for 2-3 days to sour in warm place, milk should become kefir or buttermilk consistency (different milks will sour differently, that is why time varies):
How to Make Quark from Milk: Step 4 -
When milk is ready, warm up oven to 325F and put pot in for 25mins, then take pot out and let it cool down till room temperature:
How to Make Quark from Milk: Step 5 -
Arrange colander over a big pot, line it with 3-4 layers of cheesecloth:
How to Make Quark from Milk: Step 6 -
Carefully pour content of the pot to the colander (you can do it portion by portion to allow liquid to drain easier):
How to Make Quark from Milk: Step 7 -
Leave it be for some time, to allow liquid to drain, then carefully pick up ends of cheesecloth:
How to Make Quark from Milk: Step 8 -
And pick it all up, liquid will continue to drain, so allow it some time for the process:
How to Make Quark from Milk: Step 9 -
Secure ends of cheesecloth with a knot, gently squeeze some more liquid from cheese and hang it over a pot or sink to drain more liquid for 10-12 hours (you can also put it under small pressure such as a pot with water or so to speed up the process):
How to Make Quark from Milk: Step 10 -
Then unwrap fresh cheese from cheesecloth:
How to Make Quark from Milk: Step 11 -
And serve with a bit of sour cream and sugar on top or use it for another recipe, store fresh cheese in fridge:
How to Make Quark from Milk: Step 12
Tip and Advises
- The liquid drained from sour milk after cooking it can be used to prepare okroshka soup (instead of kvass or water) or in crepes instead of milk or kefir. It can also be used to marinate meats or fish.
you said use unpasteurised milk and let it in room temperature for one or two days.
We have raw milk but we boil it before drinking it. When boiling the milk does this mean it become pasteurised
Thanks and Best Regards
Yes, we boil milk as well, for health concerns, and this kills these microorganisms which help milk to sour. This is why adding some kefir cultures after boiling helps.
Good Day
How to make Quark without using kefir or buttermilk . In my country we have no kefir nor buttermilk
Thanks in advance
You can either use some kefir grains or maybe sour cream.