My first cheese!

[Abi]

Not very exciting - just some cottage cheese which I made out of a pint of milk I never used. But still, exciting for me because I've never made cheese before!

One question though. When you buy cottage cheese it's generally quite wet and the lumps are quite big... mine is dry and crumbly... is this a good thing or a bad thing? Or just a thing?

[Green Aura]

Cottage cheese has a little cream added to it after it has formed curds. That's the wet bit bit.

I think the curd size might depend on how long you curdle it before stirring or cutting, but I'm not totally sure about that. It makes some sense though - if you leave it without stirring its forms a thick sheet, which is what gets cut into cubes for pressing. The coagulant will make a difference too.

[Brewtrog]

Simple answer for the good/bad/indifferent question is did you enjoy it? No point getting hung up on what is commercially correct if you preferred what you made

[contadina]

Maggie's right if you want a bit more moisture and creaminess then add cream and using buttermilk will help make a firmer texture. I occasionally make ricotta out of leftover whey from other cheese making endeavours and it tastes so much better than the heat treated tubs that you buy in supermarkets, so my advice would be don't be afraid to experiment a little to get it exactly how you like it.

[Abi]

Thank you for all the advice; it's extremely useful! The cottage cheese tasted fine; next time I'll look at tweaking my method a bit to get the texture more how I'd like it. And try ricotta!