How to make low-fat cottage cheese at home

Cottage cheese with a minimum fat content is recommended for people who play sports, keep fit or try to lose weight. Proteins contained in the product are involved in the formation of muscle fibers. And calcium strengthens the bone and cardiovascular system, protecting against atherosclerosis and osteoporosis. Dietary cottage cheese is sold in any supermarket, but the home-made option, prepared with your own hands, is much more useful than the purchased one.

Harvesting raw materials

Low-calorie product is obtained from skim milk. In factories, the raw materials undergo heat treatment, and then it is passed through an apparatus with which cream is separated. So get the basis for dietary cottage cheese.

At home, they work differently. If the milk is not store-bought, but natural, bought on the market, it will definitely be pasteurized. The workpiece is heated to 80–90 degrees. Escherichia coli and bacteria die only at high temperatures. A piece of rye bread or cracker is placed in warm milk. The additive starts the fermentation process and speeds up the souring of raw materials.

Homemade kefir is placed in the refrigerator for 8-12 hours. At low temperatures, the cream is separated from the raw materials. A yellowish or creamy crust forms, which is carefully removed with a spoon. Raw materials for the preparation of dietary cottage cheese is ready.

Of course, the process takes from 2 to 4 days. It’s easier to buy ready-made skim milk or kefir. These products do not need to be infused and pasteurized. It is enough to pour into a pan, heat and add the components that separate the whey from the cottage cheese.

Labor-intensive process

People who want to eat only natural products will have to get a pot with a thick bottom. It is in such dishes that it is most convenient to cook low-fat cottage cheese. Skimmed milk, separated from cream, is poured into a container and put on a slow fire. You can use a steam bath. The cottage cheese will turn out tender and crumbly.

How to understand that fermented milk is ready? A large lump of white or cream shade forms, which begins to separate independently from the serum. The billet is put on a slow fire, because at too high a temperature the tender mass curls up and becomes stiff, similar to pieces of rubber.

Homemade kefir is stirred occasionally so that the cottage cheese is better separated from the liquid base. When the whey becomes transparent, and small flakes turn into large lumps, the workpiece is filtered. The colander is covered with clean gauze, folded 3-5 times, and the mass is slowly poured into a container. If whey is needed for cooking okroshka or other dishes, a pan is placed under the net dishes.

The fabric in which the curd is located is tied and hung on a tap or stick, which is placed across the sink. The mass is left for 3-4 hours to drain the remaining liquid. If you need a dry and crumbly product, the workpiece is left in a colander, covered with cling film or a plastic bag, and a press is placed on top.

Quick option

For girls who want to eat only fresh cottage cheese, a microwave is useful. Skimmed skim milk is stored in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days. You can prepare a large pot of natural raw materials and divide it into several parts.

To get a serving of fresh cottage cheese, you need to pour diet kefir into a glass jar, cover it with a lid of the same material and send it to the microwave. Turn on the maximum temperature and set the timer for 2-3 minutes. This is enough to make sour milk curd up and separate from whey.It remains only to strain the cottage cheese using gauze or a colander with small cells, season with pieces of fresh fruit and serve for breakfast or lunch.

Ways to buy milk

It is more difficult to prepare a dietary product from store raw materials than from a natural one. The composition of packaged milk includes additives that increase the shelf life. They inhibit the fermentation and souring process of the workpiece.

There are two ways to get cottage cheese from purchased raw materials. For the first option, you will need a saucepan and a little low-fat yogurt or kefir. The product contains sour milk bacteria that will help break down the mass into whey and cottage cheese.

A pot of milk is placed on a slow fire. When the temperature of the product reaches 60–70 degrees, yogurt or kefir is poured into it. On 1 liter of the base 100-150 ml of starter culture. Some housewives use sour cream, but a fatty supplement increases the calorie content of cottage cheese by 10-15%.

The mass is stirred with a plastic or wooden spoon. Gradually, the milk will begin to curl. The cottage cheese, separated from the whey, is filtered with a colander and gauze. Squeeze in exactly the same way as a product from natural milk.

The second option is suitable for people who, due to constant diets and dryers, lack calcium. You need a base - fresh skim milk. And liquid calcium chloride, which is bought in a pharmacy. A pot of raw materials is placed in a steam bath and waiting for the drink to become hot. The product is stirred with a wooden spoon and the preparation is poured. For 1 liter of pasteurized milk, you need an ampoule of calcium chloride.

The billet is continued to stir until small flakes are gathered in a large lump. The contents of the pan are poured into a colander covered with gauze. Cottage cheese is left under pressure for 2-3 hours. Served with dried fruits, nuts or herbs and vegetables.

Kefir Ferment

Young housewives are not always able to cook tender and crumbly cottage cheese. It is enough to remove the workpiece from the stove 5 minutes later than it should be, and the product will become hard and rubber. Of course, from such an ingredient you can make delicious cottage cheese pancakes or casseroles, but you can’t serve it in pure form for breakfast.

In order not to spoil the cottage cheese, you can use the recipe with kefir or yogurt sourdough. You will need a fat-free component that does not contain sweeteners and flavorings. As well as pasteurized or natural milk.

You can make gentle and airy cheese for sandwiches and healthy desserts from unsweetened yogurt or kefir. Buy a low fat product. It is better that the packaging is cardboard. Kefir is placed in the freezer for 5-6 hours and wait until the workpiece is completely hardened. A pack is cut and sprinkled with a sour-milk lump in gauze. Hang over the sink and leave for 4-7 hours. During this period, kefir will melt, and excess fluid will drain. Only the air mass will remain. It is recommended to add slices of pineapple or grapefruit. Fruits contain substances that trigger metabolism and break down body fat.

Fat-free cottage cheese is prepared from pasteurized and natural milk, as well as kefir. The billet is cooked, mixed with sourdough and frozen. The resulting product is used for the preparation of cheesecakes, diet cakes and casseroles, salads and sandwiches.100 g of home-made fat-free cottage cheese is only 100 kcal, so the dishes from this component are light and are suitable even for people who dream of losing a few pounds.

Video: delicious, low-fat home-made cottage cheese