Homemade Cottage Cheese

1 gal Milk
1/2 to 1 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 to 3/4 Junket rennet tablet
1 or more gallons of water


Warm milk to room temperature or a little warmer. Do not go over 110 degrees.
Dissolve rennet tablet in a tiny bit of water.

Mix rennet, milk & buttermilk in large bowl. Stir well. Let sit. DO NOT DISTURB until it sets firm. This takes about 8 to 10 hours, so it is great to leave overnight.


Slice set mixture into 1/2 - 1" cubes. Boil 1 gallon water (pretty much same proportion as milk) add slowly to milk & stir constantly. Keep stirring until 2/3 - 3/4 water is added. Test with your finger and if it is too hot to be comfortable it is enough water.


Stir every few minutes to keep curds from sticking together When it stops sticking together and squeaks when you chew it it is done. This took me about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. I think it was because I was a little unsure on what to look for. I thought that the curds still seemed a bit soft; however, the do harden up after they have been rinsed in the cold water.

Drain in colander, or cheese cloth, until well drained. Do not squeeze the cheese cloth or press on the cottage cheese.

Put back in bowl and rinse with cold water. Drain again until most of the water is gone. Toss with salt. Add a little whole milk or cream.

I saved and washed out some cottage cheese containers.

You can also do this with non-instant milk powder.

1/4 - 1/2 rennet tablet
2 qts. warm water
3 cups non-instant milk powder
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp salt

blend 3 cups water with powdered milk in blender and blend. Dissolve the rennet tablet in the remaning water. Mix together and let sit overnight or all day, and continue with recipe directions from above.It's small curd. This is before I added a little whole milk.

Just a little side note about the rennet. It was a little bit hard to find. We found the Junket brand at Macey's for $1.50 and there are 8 tablets in the box. It is located near the gelatin. You can also find it online. It is suppose to store really well in the freezer.

One lady I talked to told me the difference she has found between the animal rennet and the vegetable based rennet. She said the animal based rennet makes for a really strong tasting cottage cheese and she didn't particularly like it. So if you want a really strong animal milk taste, try the animal based stuff.