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.
Natasha says:
This is a great and very useful post. I like how you show step-by-step with photos. It really helps in cooking. That’s the reason why I love your recipes even more in addition to delicious!😋
Olga in the Kitchen says:
Thank you Natasha for beautiful review 🙂
Julian Williams says:
Oh I so love this post! Fresh cheese is always the best. One time I came across a recipe where you need days to make cheese and I mean who really wants to do that? So I thought all recipes were like that, until I came across your recipe on Pinterest and it changed my world. 2 times in last week I made your farmer’s cheese and I feel like I cannot stop making it =) Thank you so much for sharing this recipe and the photos really help.
Olga in the Kitchen says:
Thank you Julian! I’m so happy you discovered my recipe and loved it so much 🙂
Emily says:
Hi Olga! I have made your cheese successfully before and today making again. This is the first and the quickest homemade tvorog recipe I’ve ever saw and we LOVE IT! Your sirniki recipe turns out amazing with these, every single time. Thank you 🙂
Olga in the Kitchen says:
Thank you Emily 🙂 I’m so happy you enjoy my recipes. Sirniki are my favorite too 🙂
Allie says:
Olga, thank you for the recipe! My first time making it and I enjoyed making cheese following your recipe. It was a huge success =) now your sweet rolls with cheese filling are in the making 🙂
Olga in the Kitchen says:
Thanks Allie! I’m so happy the cheese turned out amazing for you. The sweet rolls are mouth-watering, you won’t be able to stop eating them 🙂
Kristin says:
Do you have any recipes that use farmers cheese??
Thank you for this wonderful post!
Olga in the Kitchen says:
Sorry for such late reply, yes I have few at the moment. Just search “farmer’s cheese” and they will pull. There’s pancakes and sweet rolls. I’m working on more these days because I love farmer’s cheese A LOT! 🙂
Dee says:
THANK YOU,THANK YOU,GOING TO TRY I’m Polish and want to make PEROGI
Olga in the Kitchen says:
You’re welcome! 🙂 Please make sure not to use Costco milk. There’s something about it that doesn’t make the cheese. My mom had the issue and I heard from several ppl as well. 🙂
Jennifer says:
Thank you for including how to fix my no so coagulating cheese. First time maker here. I love cooking from scratch, and my soon to be husband loves farmer’s cheese pierogi
Olga in the Kitchen says:
You’re welcome 🙂 I’m actually planning to make farmer’s cheese buns this week myself..already bought few gallons of milk couple days ago?
Rose says:
My Hungarian Grandmother always made macaroni and cheese with farmers cheese. She would boil elbow noodles, drain them and then melt some butter in the pan, add the macaroni back in with the cheese. Delicious! I now make it for my grandson. Can’t wait to try this recipe to make the cheese myself.
Olga in the Kitchen says:
Thank you, Rose for giving me this idea. I never tried it with macaroni, but I can imagine it would be one delicious meal!:)
Alla says:
where in Wal-Mart can i buy the flour sack towel?
also how much is 100ml??
Thanks girl I love your recipes….
Olga in the Kitchen says:
Hi Alla,
First I want to say thank you 🙂 In my local Walmart, I believe it’s by the kitchen gadgets, bowls etc section (it’s been a while when I bought it, but it’s still sold). They are also on Walmart.com if you cannot locate at your local Walmart. 100 ml is about 3.5 oz (it’s okay if you do tiny bit more than 100 ml), you’ll still get delicious cheese! 🙂
Angie says:
Wow! Love the recipe. Super simple but turned so good. Thanks 🙂
Olga in the Kitchen says:
Angie, I’m glad to hear that. I make it so often probably because it’s just so easy and I just LOVE to enjoy it with cup of tea or coffee. 🙂