How To Make Farmers Cheese Recipe

Learn How To Make Farmers Cheese Recipe using only one ingredient. Use this quick and easy whey-enriched homemade cheese in savory and sweet recipes instead of ricotta or cream cheese.

Add it to your salads, have it for breakfast with some raspberries, top up your pudding or make the best-ever farmer’s bread with it. 

Using only one ingredient, you will get homemade fresh cream, cheese, and whey, all filled with healthiness.

This un-aged, cultured cheese recipe using fermenting method is a perfect addition to our low-carb lifestyle. Use it with various recipes, from simple spreads and bread-making to superb cakes and sweets.

What is Farmers Cheese?

Farmer’s cheese is mild fresh cheese with a curd-like consistency. It is an un-aged cheese made from either milk, sour cream, kefir, or yogurt, where during the process, lactic bacteria are fed on lactose and subsequently produce healthy acidity.

Therefore it is a member of the acid-set cheese group. Non-acidic types of cheese like feta is mostly used for grilling or baking, example recipe is my feta cheese egg bites.

Different Names Used

There are several names used around the world. Some of them to mention are:

• Quark Cheese
• Curd Cheese
• Fromage Blanc

Quark cheese has the firmness of sour cream but is slightly drier, resulting in a somewhat crumbly texture like an American ricotta.

Origins of Farmers Cheese

Farmer’s cheese, or quark as some call it, has a long history and has been used for centuries, primarily in Eastern European countries.

From childhood, I remember everyone from my grandmother to my neighbors making their cheese at home. It is easy to make, much cheaper than the store-bought one, and fresh like no other. Very few people used to buy it in the supermarket.

Farmer’s cheese in central and Eastern European countries contains much less whey and therefore is much drier in consistency compared to the quark or cheese you buy in the US.

Tvorog

The origins of name tvorog come from the Slavic name “tv or, “which means “form,” meaning, in the process, cheese is formed.

Some Names Used Around Here Are:

Polish Twaróg, Belarusian Tварог, Russian Tворог, Czech and Slovak Tvaroh, Austrians name it Topfen (“pot cheese”), Flanders Platte Kaas (“flat cheese”), Dutch Kwark.

How is Farmers Cheese Made?

There are various ways:

• Natural way without any additions – our recipe
• Acid method – using lemon juice or vinegar
• Fast way – using rennet and starter culture 

Our homemade recipe is made using a cultured method instead of relying on acid. No lemon, vinegar, rennet, or starter culture is added to the milk. The pure fermentation process takes care of all after the milk gets fermented for approximately three days.

Using Our Method, You Will Get the Following:

1. Fresh cream to spread on your breakfast bread
2. Farmers cheese
3. Whey to add instead of water to soups, bread, or cake making.

Is Farmers Cheese Keto Friendly?

It for sure is. Depending on what you are watching, look at the amount of protein, as every cheese is rich in proteins. One portion (100 grams) contains 11 grams of protein, which you must count to stay in ketosis. One hundred grams contain 3 grams of carbohydrates, which fits our lifestyle.

Best Milk for Homemade Farmers Cheese Recipe

The best quality milk should be used to make your own homemade cheese.

Pick an organic, full-fat, whole milk. More fat the milk has, the more goods you will get from it at the end of the process.

If you can get unpasteurized milk directly from the farmers you trust, you will have a 100% chance of making the best cheese you can.

This process only works on some of the regular milk bought in the store. In this case, you can also use lemon juice to help the process. 

Few Tips:

• You can also use goat, sheep’s, or ewe’s milk, which will also work. The taste differs slightly, but you get a different take.
• If you get unpasteurized milk, which you are unsure about, just cook it at 80 degrees to kill all the viable bacteria and follow the process described in our post.
• The more fat your milk contains, the more cheese you can produce.
• Do not use expired milk if you think of speeding up the process. This will not happen.
• If you have big enough containers and a cooking pot, you can use 1 gallon of milk to make enough farmer’s cheese for all the yummy recipes. 

Flavouring Curd Cheese or Farmer’s Cheese At Home

This cheese could be consumed either on a sweet side or salty. Adding honey, cinnamon, or sugar substitutes, is a perfect breakfast option.

On the other side, mixing it with various herbs and condiments is a perfect addition to any spreads or toppings for your snacks or a party preparation.

What Do You Need To Make Farmer Cheese?

• Wide Mouth Glass Container
• Big Cooking Pot
• Colander
• Muslin or Cheese Cloth
• Mason Jar

Ingredients needed:

• Unpasteurized Milk

*Exact measurements are listed in the recipe card below.

STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS FOR MAKING FARMER’S CHEESE FROM SCRATCH

First Step: Glass Container

For the best fermentation and getting the most of the products you will get in the next three days, choose the container with a wide mouth opening and the top for covering. Glass container works the best. I have purchased those in Ikea and use them for storage and making various homemade products.

Pour all of the fresh milk into the container.

Second Step: Cover

For the proper fermentation, you should cover the jar with something. I have a glass cover, but you can also use a plate or anything that would fit your chosen pot. Find the best place in the kitchen to keep your jar for the next three days. The area should be dry, room temperature warm, but without direct sunlight.

Third Step: Day 2 – Fresh Cream

On the second day, you will already see a change. Looking through the glass, you will see the fresh cream formed, a bit more white than the rest of the milk. You have a choice to scrap a fresh cream into a bowl. The wider your glass jar is, the more fresh cream will form.

We love to eat it with a piece of our farmer’s bread or add it to any of the dips we make for breakfast or a snack.

You can decide to leave it in and not use it, but I advise you to at least try. Fresh homemade cream is out of this world.

Fourth Step: Day 3 – cooking

On a third day, you will see the consistency change again, and that is mostly the day when your fermented milk is ready. On top, you might see a bit of fresh cheese drying and cracks form, and that is the time for you to get on making the best deliciousness.

Place all the milk into a big cooking pot and switch the heater to low. No stirring occasionally as with other recipes. Do not mix during or after. The more you mix, the fewer curds will form and, therefore, less cheese you will have at the end.

Cover it with a lid and let it cook at the lowest temperature possible for about half to 1 hour, depending on how much milk you are using.

Do not bring the milk to a boil. The high temperature will destroy all the good bacteria and nutritious protein; you might also risk scorching the milk at the bottom of the pot. Be very particular about the lowest temperature you can set your stove on. Also, the curdle will happen less. 

Fifth Step: Let it sit

Once you see the whey is separated from the curds, turn off the heat and let it fully cool.

Do not stir. Please do not move it. Just switch the stove off and go and do something else.

Sixth Step: Check if ready

Once all of it is cooled, check with the end of the spatula if the curds are appropriately formed by gently moving them away from the whey. When you feel comfortable that enough curds have been created and all of the whey is fully separated, it is time to move into the next step.

Seventh Step: Strain

Again very gently strain all through a strainer covered with a muslin cloth. Pour gently and let the whey work through the sieve into the container. Let it sit, and the rest of the whey will slowly drip through.

From 2 litres or half a gallon of milk, you will get

• 1,5 litres of Whey 
• 400 grams of Farmer’s Cheese
• 100 grams of Fresh Cream

At this point, you have few choices.

1. Use a cheesecloth to wrap the cheese and squeeze all whey out for more dry cheese. You can let the whey drip overnight.
2. Transfer the cheese straight into a mason jar or a container for a creamier consistency. This way, some whey will stay in, making the cheese much creamier.

Using the second choice, you can mix the already-made cheese with a hand blender to get the smooth cheese, which you can use for various cheesecakes or spreads.

RECIPE TIPS AND TRICKS:

• DO NOT THROW THE WHEY: Whey is very nutritious, and you can use it in many ways. Use it instead of water for various soups; add it to our farmer’s bread instead of water. Drink a small shot every morning on an empty stomach. I have decided to make a separate post on homemade natural whey and its uses and on whey root vegetable soup.
• Pick organic, full-fat, whole milk. More fat the milk has, the more goods you will get from it at the end of the process.
• For extra dry, crumbly cheese, hang the cheesecloth and let the whey drip overnight.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

How To Use Farmers Cheese?

There are millions of ways you can use this homemade cheese. You can add it to almost anything. Think cream cheese.

• Eat it plain.
• Add some berries with granola or keto muesli for breakfast (the favorite for my daughter).
• Pan-fry with it.
• Use it as fillings for fathead cakes or pierogi.
• Add to our bread pudding.
• Bake soft teddy bear cookies with it
• Bake the best farmers bread.
• Use it as a salad topping.
• Mix it with yogurt and some herbs for a veggie dip.
• Bake puddings.
• Add it to a casserole dish.
• Serve with crackers as an appetizer.
• Use it as a spread for roll sandwiches.
• Add it to wraps and tortillas.
• Use it for pasta dishes.
• Mix it with our fiber noodles.

What Is a Substitute for Farmer’s Cheese?

In most of my recipes, I always suggest using quark or farmers’ cheese, but also you can use it as a substitute for cream cheese, curd cheese, ricotta, cottage cheese, or Fromage.

What Is the Difference Between Farmers Cheese and Cottage Cheese?

To make cottage cheese, a bacterial culture or some acid separates milk and whey and forms curds. Those curds are then cooked again by adding some salt. Therefore the first thing you will realize trying cottage cheese is the saltiness of it. Also, it has more soft like curds.

Is Ricotta, Cream Cheese or Farmers Cheese the Same Thing?

No, it is not. Cream cheese is made by adding cream to milk and forming a very soft creamy consistency. You can use it as a substitute for some recipes, but it is a differently structured type of cheese.

How To Make Farmer’s Cheese From Buttermilk?

Using buttermilk, kefir, or Arabic leban makes it a bit sour but still extremely tasty. You do not need the milk to culture because the acidity is already in.

All you have to do is let it cook at a low heat until the curds form, and then follow the same steps as I describe in our recipe.

Can I Make Farmer’s Cheese in an Instant Pot?

You certainly can, and I have made it. And I have decided to make a separate post on curd cheese in Instant Pot and a recipe using this method. 

Can I Freeze Farmer’s Cheese?

You can freeze almost any cheese without a problem. I suggest doing that if you do not have time to consume it immediately. Just wrap it in the food plastic wrap fully, so the freeze does not get in, and place it into the freezer for up to 3 months.

Once you are ready to unfreeze, the best way is to take it out the day before. I usually do this with almost anything I take out from the freezer.

The evening before, I take it from the freezer and place it straight into the refrigerator to gradually thaw.

Tasty Recipes That Use Farmer’s Cheese

This is an ingredient I have used for as long as I remember. We bake and cook with it daily. And therefore, I do have some recipes on the web for you to have a look at:

• Keto Farmers Bread – the best bread, which is the closest to the real thing
• Low Carb Chocolate Roulade – Keto yule log or chocolate Swiss roll cake, as some might call it
• Wild Blueberries Keto Cheesecake – No-bake cheesecake with the base you will be craving for
• Farmers Cheese Keto Bundt Cake – Summer cake to go with your morning coffee or taken for that BBQ

Add it to salmon spinach roulade instead of cream cheese.

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