Homemade Farmer’s Cheese (tvorog)
My mom’s method for Homemade Farmer’s Cheese. So easy, fresh and delicious every time. Takes less than an hour to make and enjoy hours later once cooled and drained. A 2-ingredient recipe that you will always want to make and keep in your fridge!
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Homemade Farmer’s Cheese is very easy to make. It only requires 2 ingredients: milk and vinegar. It’s truly amazing and if you try it, you will want to always have some on hand in your refrigerator. We like to enjoy it for breakfast or as snack with cup of tea or coffee. It’s good idea to always have some already made in refrigerator.
My mom always made this cheese with vinegar and it works magic every time. It’s cheap to make as you don’t need any extra dairy to make it besides milk. It’s a huge time saver as it only takes less than an hour to make and once cooled, you drain it and use it. There is no way I would want to wait days for cheese to form. When I start something, I like to get it done that same day (preferably). I have seen different methods online for homemade farmer’s cheese, but I found my mom’s recipe to always have the best flavor, texture and no unusual aroma to it.
I had never seen farmer’s cheese at my local stores. Probably because not all stores sell it, therefore, I never noticed. Fresh homemade is always better and I know the quality of my cheese. With organic milk and vinegar, I spend $7 maximum to make around 4-5 cups of farmer’s cheese. Most times, I would catch organic milk reduced in price with few days left until expiration date and that would make my cheese about $4. Such a great penny saver!
Farmer’s cheese is one of the easiest and delicious fillings to use for rolls, pastries, cakes and more. Like most Ukrainians, I LOVE farmer’s cheese and I bake a lot with it.
Best Milk for Homemade Farmer’s Cheese:
Try to use good quality milk. How do you know if it’s good quality? You really don’t. But, brands such as Organic Valley or Smith Brothers always were the best and always provide quality cheese. In fact, Organic Valley is the only milk I buy lately.
Use 2% or whole milk. Try avoiding 1% or anything below. Cheese with 1% turns out like sand. The million pieces don’t really connect and it’s hard to work with when baking. It just falls apart. Whole milk creates the best cheese. The cheese turns out thick and rich in flavor. The 2% is a bit thinner and works great as well. I try my best to avoid half & half and heavy cream, even if to add a bit to the rest of the milk. You will have hard time draining the cheese, as the cheese will look more like pudding in your pot and get stuck in the cheese cloth.
Can You Freeze Homemade Farmer’s Cheese?
Yes! I sometimes do it, but not often. To freeze cheese: cool, wrap in plastic food wrap and place into freezer bag. Keep up to 3 months. The frozen cheese texture differs a bit from freshly made cheese and becomes a bit fall-apart, but works great for Cheese Pancakes (sirniki) and other breakfast recipes. Therefore, I do it all the time. I take the cheese out to thaw overnight at room temperature to use in the morning. My family loves sirniki; kids especially.
Important Tips for Making Farmer’s Cheese:
1. Use Heinz distilled white vinegar for best results. My mom has tested different brands and from some of the brands the cheese didn’t want to turn out the way it’s supposed to.
2. Use stainless steel pot if you have one. The nonstick takes forever to bring the milk to bubble and you will most likely end up with milk scorching at the bottom of the pot.
3. Use Flour Sack Towel instead of cheese cloth. I bought it at my local Walmart and cut into 4 squares. It’s thick and works perfect for cheese making. Wash used flour sack towel in hot water with lightly soapy water, dry and re-use. From experience, cheese gets stuck in cheese cloth and usually they are pricier and one time use.
Farmer’s Cheese Ingredients:
- 1 gallon whole milk (I use Organic Valley)
- 1/2 cup Heinz distilled white vinegar
How to Make Farmer’s Cheese:
- Heat milk over medium-low until you see hundreds little bubbles appear, but do not bring to a boil. (it would take 30-40 minutes). Stir occasionally to prevent the milk from scorching at the bottom of the pot.
- Once you see lots of bubbles popping, slowly add distilled white vinegar and give it a gentle stir and wait for 30-60 seconds. Then stir again. The cheese will curdle (become crumbly) and the water should be lime-yellow-ish color. If it doesn’t, add a bit more vinegar until you do see that color of water. Remove from heat to cool to room temperature.
- Line a sieve or a colander with a flour sack towel. Slowly pour the cheese into the cloth to catch the curds. Gather the cloth around cheese and squeeze it as much as you can to get all the whey out. When you start seeing white-ish liquid coming out instead of lime color, you can stop there. *If saving whey (the lime water), drain the cheese into a bowl. People use whey for bread, different cooking and gardening.
- Refrigerate farmer’s cheese once cooled and keep it in refrigerator for up to a week.
Enjoy These Farmer’s Cheese Recipes:
- Cheese Pancakes (Sirniki) + Video – favorite breakfast
- Crepes With Cheese (nalisniki) – thin and delicate with creamy cheese filling
- Farmer’s Cheese Blueberry Crumb Cake – flaky, buttery and so easy
- Farmer’s Cheese Sweet Rolls (pirozhki) – so fluffy and mouth-watering
Homemade Farmer's Cheese (tvorog)
Ingredients
- 1 gallon whole milk (preferably organic)
- 1/2 cup Heinz distilled white vinegar
Instructions
- Heat 1 gallon milk over medium-low until you see hundreds little bubbles appear, but do not bring to a boil. (it would take 30-40 minutes). Stir occasionally to prevent the milk from scorching at the bottom of the pot.
- Once you see lots of bubbles popping, slowly add 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar, give it a gentle stir and wait for 30-60 seconds. Then stir again. The cheese will curdle (become crumbly) and the water should be lime/yellow-ish color. If it doesn’t, add a bit more vinegar until you do see that color of water. Remove from heat to cool to room temperature.
- Line a sieve or a colander with a flour sack towel. Slowly pour the cheese into the cloth to catch the curds. Gather the cloth around cheese and squeeze it as much as you can to get all the whey out. When you start seeing white-ish liquid coming out instead of lime color, you can stop there. *If saving whey (the lime water), drain the cheese into a bowl. People use whey for bread, different cooking and gardening.
- Refrigerate farmer’s cheese once cooled and keep it in refrigerator for up to a week.
Notes
- Use Heinz distilled white vinegar for best results.
- Use stainless steel pot to less likely end up with scorching at the bottom of the pot.
- Use Flour Sack Towel instead of cheese cloth.
- To freeze farmer's cheese: cool, wrap in plastic food wrap and place into freezer bag. Keep up to 3 months. The frozen cheese texture differs a bit from freshly made cheese and becomes a bit fall-apart, but works great for Cheese Pancakes and other breakfast recipes. Take the cheese out to thaw overnight at room temperature to use in the morning.
Sonia Heidrich says:
Loved it. So easy! But I did use a thermometer to make sure the milk was heated properly to 180F. I added a bit of salt for the only reason that I like it a bit salty, just a teaspoon. 😉 THANKS, this one is a keeper!
Olga in the Kitchen says:
Thank you for sharing that with us! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe, Sonia!
Lena says:
I think mine turned into cheese! I think it overcooked. Maybe I should have turned off milk right before bubbles were forming and then add the vinegar with heat turned off???
Olga in the Kitchen says:
Hi Lena! You do need lots bubbles before adding vinegar, otherwise it will not turn out. Bubbles mean it’s hot enough and steaming, but not overcooked. If you’re not sure when to add vinegar, wait until you start seeing some bubbles, add vinegar and keep on low heat (stirring gently) until you see whey. If you add vinegar before little bubbles and remove from heat (before you see whey), then the cheese won’t turn out. The way to know if you overcooked it, is when milk gets all foamy, starts going up and out of your pot if you don’t catch it in time. Also, make sure to use high quality milk for best results (not genetic or cheap brands); there’s a section about milk within the post above. Hope this helps! 🙂
Lisa Reese says:
Mii in e came out rubbery. I think I might have used too much vinegar?
Olga in the Kitchen says:
More vinegar wouldn’t make it rubbery, instead more dry once water is drained which is perfect for eating or filling in desserts or bread. Was the water lime-ish color (whey?)? What brand of milk you used? Genetic store brands don’t always work for cheese making. The cheese turns out rubbery/slimy and most times you cannot really drain it. There’s a section “Best Milk for Homemade Farmer’s Cheese” in the post that might also help you.
Caryn says:
Never imagined I’d ever attempt tp make cheese but here we are. Turned out really well, looks just like your photos and now we can make my Polish/Russian grandma’s blintz recipe with my grandson, thank you!
Olga in the Kitchen says:
That’s so awesome, Caryn! I’m happy to hear this recipe worked out so well for you. Blintz do sound yum! 🙂
Cheryl says:
SUPER EASY!!!! All of our local stores have stopped carrying farmers cheese (also known as dry cottage cheese) so I was thrilled to find this receipe. My Italian mother-in-law also used this in her signature cheesecake, plus regular cottage cheese and cream. So thank you very much for publishing this.
Olga in the Kitchen says:
That’s awesome, Cheryl! Thank you for sharing that with us and you’re very welcome 🙂
Ali P. says:
I love this! Can you help me troubleshoot? I used a gallon of whole, raw milk. Added vinegar when I saw the bubbles. Not very much curdle and not the right color, so I added more vinegar. Got more curdle, but not a ton, and was too afraid to add more vinegar 😂 so I got a little cheese and a lot of whey. Did I not heat long enough? Or should I have kept adding vinegar?
Thank you so much!
Olga in the Kitchen says:
If the cheese doesn’t cuddle right away, keep it on low heat until it does, gently stir once or twice. Stirring it constantly will prevent it from making large cheese curdles. It usually takes a minute to minute and half if you add vinegar a tad bit early. Adding more vinegar will not ruin the cheese, it will help curdle it and cheese will be a bit more harder in texture as opposed to the vinegar amount in the recipe. There will be a lot of whey. Once you drain the cheese, you should have a ball that’s about 3×6-inch in size (also depends on how you shape it), and 4 cups if you were to crumble the drained cheese into a measuring cup.
Miri says:
Hi. Love farmer cheese. How much does this recipe yield? Wanted to know if I can make 1/2 or 1/4 of the recipe at a time? I like having it fresh but don’t want it to go bad.
Olga in the Kitchen says:
Hi Miri! If using whole milk, I usually have 4 cups if you were to crumble into measuring cup (not packed). A 2% milk will yield slightly less and 1% even less. Just keep in mind that with 1% milk, the cheese will have very small crumbles and it’s a little complicated to use in baking as filling as it falls apart. You can definitely make a smaller serving and follow same instructions. Cheese stays good for a week in refrigerator.
Maya says:
Thank you! Just made my first batch and it is amazing!
Do you have any recipes with whey! There is a lot of it.
Olga in the Kitchen says:
I usually throw away the whey unless it’s summer and I use it for treating my garden vegetables. I don’t have any recipes for whey, sorry, but I will keep that in mind and maybe try to come out with few :).
Kristin says:
I just got back from a trip to Holland where we saw them making cheese. It looked so easy so I decided to google if I could make it myself and came across this recipe. It was easy, everything went well except maybe I squeezed out too much whey. I’ll remember that for next time. I’d like to try adding some herbs too for a bit more flavor. Would this work?
Olga in the Kitchen says:
Hi Kristin! I’ve never tried adding herbs into this cheese. If you do experiment, please share with us how it turned out 🙂
Francis Border says:
I stumbled across this recipe and could not be more delighted. I never knew farmer’s cheese was something that could be made at home. My mom used to buy it when my family was stationed in Chile in the 1980s. It became a staple at breakfast every morning with French bread. I loved it so much. When I moved back to the USA, I never saw it in any of the supermarkets, so I guess I figured “queso fresco” or “quesillo,” as it was called, was a South American thing and just a beautiful memory from my adolescence. I just made it this morning with your recipe, formed it into a long roll, have chilled it, and I just sliced some and had it on a piece of baguette. I did add a tiny pinch of salt, though. . Gracious! It brought back every sort of wholesome memory! Thank you. I can’t wait for the next time my family are over. I will set it out and wait for what they say.
Olga in the Kitchen says:
That’s so awesome, Francis! Thank you for sharing that with us and I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe!
Francis Bordet says:
I stumbled across this recipe and could not be more delighted. I never knew farmer’s cheese was something that could be made at home. My mom used to buy it when my family was stationed in Chile in the 1980s. It became a staple at breakfast every morning with French bread. I loved it so much. When I moved back to the USA, I never saw it in any of the supermarkets, so I guess I figured “queso fresco” or “quesillo,” as it was called, was a South American thing and just a beautiful memory from my adolescence. I just made it this morning with your recipe, formed it into a long roll, have chilled it, and I just sliced some and had it on a piece of baguette. I did add a tiny pinch of salt, though. . Gracious! It brought back every sort of wholesome memory! Thank you. I can’t wait for the next time my family are over. I will set it out and wait for what they say.