Cottage cheese

Cottage cheese is a fresh cheese curd product with a mild flavor. It is drained, but not pressed, so some whey remains and the individual curds remain loose. The curd is usually washed to remove acidity, giving sweet curd cheese. It is not aged or colored. Different styles of cottage cheese are made from milks with different fat levels and in small-curd or large-curd preparations. Cottage cheese which is pressed becomes hoop cheese, farmer cheese, pot cheese, or queso blanco.

Cottage cheese can be eaten in a variety of different ways: by itself, with fruit and sugar, with salt and pepper, with fruit puree, on toast, with tomatoes, with granola and cinnamon, as a chip dip, as a replacement for mayonnaise in tuna or chicken salad, in salads, or used as an ingredient in recipes such as jello salad and various desserts. Cottage cheese with fruit such as pears, peaches, or mandarin oranges is a standard side dish in many "home cooking" or meat-and-three restaurants' menus in the United States.