Curds and Whey & Quick and Easy Quark Cheese

Spoonfuls of Germany: Culinary Delights of the German Regions in 170 Recipes (Hippocrene Cookbook Library) (Hardcover)

By (author) Nadia Hassani

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Quark is a yummy cultured curd cheese similar to American cottage cheese with a texture between cream cheese and sour cream. It has a tart but mild and creamy taste.

It's super easy to make and, as with all cultured foods, is great for your digestive and immune systems.

Quark makes fabulous desserts such as cheesecakes as it work well in baked dishes; use it as you would ricotta in cooking. It also makes a favorite sandwich and pancakes in its native Germany, Poland and Netherlands. To get the flavor of these countries' cooking, be sure to check out the recipes in the book Spoonfuls of Germany (although the references to quark are too few).

Quark is made with the bacteria mesophilic lactococcus, which is most common in cheesemaking. This culture is not readily available but you can use filmjolk, kefir or buttermilk instead to easily make quark in your electric yogurt maker.

Make Your Own Quark

Since you will not likely find quark in your local grocery store and making your own is always better, follow the recipes below to enjoy this European delight.

You can make it with 2% buttermilk or add a little cream for a thicker, richer version. Quark is often sold flavored with herbs and spices but don't add salt if you want an authentic quark cheese.

Since quark is a non-aged cheese, the milk you use must be pasteurized.

Quark Buttermilk

1 quart buttermilk
Bring the buttermilk to room temperature (68-77°F 20-25°C) on the stove or in the microwave.
Do not over heat or your quark will have a gritty texture.
Incubate in your yogurt maker or other heat source (100°F/38°C) for about 8-9 hours.

Kefir or Filmjolk Quark

1 quarter filmjolk or kefir
Bring the filmjolk or kefir to room temperature (68-77°F 20-25°C) on the counter or partially warm in the microwave and let sit on the counter until it reaches room temperature.
Incubate in your yogurt maker or other heat source (100°F/38°C) for about 4-5 hours.

With using either buttermilk, filmjolk or kefir, you will need to drain the excess whey (which you can add to a smoothie or use in cooking).

Best to strain in the refrigerator so the incubation process stops correctly. The Cuisipro Donvier Yogurt Cheese Maker works perfect for this.

In Europe, cheesecloth is used to drain the whey, which gives quark its distinctive wedge shape. Use the Euro Cuisine Yogurt Cheese Strainer for this method.