Cottage cheese is a simple fresh cheese curd product with a mild flavor and a creamy, non-homogenous, soupy texture. It is also known as curds and whey. Cottage cheese can be low in calories compared to other types of cheese, making it popular among dieters and some health devotees, similar to yogurt. Cottage cheese recipes can be used with a wide variety of foods such as yogurt, fruit, toast, granola, in salads, as a dip, and as a replacement for mayonnaise.
A popular story on the origin of cheese was taken from Homer’s Odyssey, in which the poet describes how the Cyclops Polyphemus made cheese by storing milk in animal stomachs. Cheese is thought to have originated in the Middle East around 5,000 BC. Evidence of cheese can be found in a band of carvings on the walls of an ancient Mesopotamian temple that date back to 3,000 BC. In late 19th century Minnesota, when milk went sour, farmers sometimes made something they called “Dutch cheese”, which is said to have been similar to modern industrial cottage cheese, in order not to waste the bad milk. The first American cheese factory opened in 1868, beginning the wholesale cheese industry.
World War I poster encouraging U. Cottage cheese was widely promoted in America during the First World War, along with other dairy products, to save meat for infantry rations. This promotion was shown in many war posters, including one which claimed that one pound of cottage cheese contains more protein than a pound of lamb, pork, beef, or chicken. After the First World War, cottage cheese quickly became more popular. In 2016, a Wall Street Journal article theorized that cottage cheese might be ready for a resurgence following the popularity of Greek yogurt due to its high levels of protein and low levels of sugar. Since the 1930s, industrial cottage cheese has been manufactured using pasteurized skim milk, or in more modern processes using concentrated nonfat milk or reconstituted nonfat dry milk. Cottage cheese made with a food-grade acid must be labelled as “Direct Acid set”.