Tvaroh - Soft Cheese Curds

Tvaroh tastes like a very mild quark cheese and has a consistency similar to quark. If you haven't had quark cheese, it's like a firm cottage cheese. Rarely eaten on its own, it's delicious as a filling for pastries and other desserts, or crumbled on french toast in the morning. If you have never made your own cheese before, this is a great place to start.

You will need:

Spoiled Milk
Cheese cloth (I used a handkerchief) and a strainer

That's it. This is really easy.

Not all kinds of milk work. Sometimes, heavily homogenized milk particles are too small for the straining process. I had the most success with organic whole milk. The higher the fat content, the more tvaroh will be rendered (1.5 cups per gallon of whole milk).

Let the milk spoil. You can do this by leaving it on the porch for a few days in the summer heat, or leaving it in the fridge for a couple months.

Now, boil the milk. Be careful, because it might boil over easily, but you want it thoroughly heated to kill any dangerous bacteria.

Let the milk cool or pour it warm into a strainer lined with the cheesecloth. It will take a while for all the whey to filter out. Close the cloth and wring it out. The tighter you wring it, the drier/firmer the cheese will be. Let cool and crumble or mix into other ingredients. This freezes well if you want to use smaller portions at a time.