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!
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
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.
Maria says:
Such a great recipe can’t wait to try ! If I wanted to make a smaller batch by only using half the quantity of milk would I need to half the quantity if vinegar also or would successful result still require 1/2 of vinegar ?
Olga in the Kitchen says:
You would halve the vinegar as well. Add the vinegar, wait for 30-60 seconds. If it doesn’t completely curdle, add another tablespoon of vinegar. Even if you decide to use the original amount of vinegar for less milk, it will still turn out. The cheese will just slightly be more harder in texture, rather than smooth and soft.
Elizabeth Benjamin says:
I’m excited to try this! Could I use this as a filling for pelmini? I used sheep’s cheese per the recipe last night and the flavor was a bit funkier than I was used to. I’d love to make my own cheese for it next time!
Olga in the Kitchen says:
Hi Elizabeth! You mean pelmeni or like vareniki (pierogis)? We use it for pierogis all the time. You can freeze the pierogis filled with cheese to cook later. This cheese recipe is very versatile and works amazing in desserts or savory foods.
Marlene Gagacki says:
Mine came out really dry, I followed the recipe? Not sure what I did wrong?
Olga in the Kitchen says:
You might have overworked or overcooked it before adding vinegar. You don’t need it boiling hard before adding vinegar and when you press, press until whey is coming out (light green liquid). Once you see white liquid coming out when pressing, you want to stop or it will make the cheese a bit on the dry side (which works great in most recipes or for snacking).
MrsB says:
Our first batch turned out very crumbly and dry. There were nice sized curds, but it made our pierogi filling sort of grainy. Is that the expected texture? Any troubleshooting ideas?
Olga in the Kitchen says:
You probably cooked a bit too long or squeezed it too much. Usually that’s the case and the cheese is good for snacking, but for pierogi making, you want to squeeze just before the liquid coming out starts turning white, this will give the cheese a more smooth outcome.
annabelle says:
This is an awesome recipe. I got rave reviews from my friends about it. Very easy, love the texture and flavor.
Fae says:
Excellent. THANK YOU ☺️
Kelley D says:
This is amazing, never knew cheese making is so easy and it’s so good by itself.
Olga in the Kitchen says:
So glad you enjoyed it, Kelley!
Kate says:
I made this last night using 1 gallon of organic whole milk. Followed the recipe as written. Used Kroger brand white vinegar because that is what I had on hand. Very happy with results. Yummy farmers cheese. Thank you for sharing the recipe Olga.
Olga in the Kitchen says:
Thank you for sharing that with us, Kate! So happy to hear you enjoyed this cheese recipe 🙂
CYNTHIA says:
Can you tell me what temperature you are looking to reach with the milk?
Thanks in advance!
Olga in the Kitchen says:
Hi Cynthia, I don’t ever go by temperature in this cheese recipe as specific temperature is not crucial in here. Instead when the milk starts coming to a light boil (you will see many little bubbles appear), that’s when we add vinegar. Usually it takes about 30 seconds for cheese to curdle, keep the pot and heat on for another 30-60 seconds if needed until it curdles.
vera karge says:
came out so good! Has a more ricotta cheese taste. My kids loved it and said “Just like Baba’s”. I prefer a slightly more tangy flavor that I get using plain yogurt and milk together. Do you think I can do the same recipe using Milk, Plain yogurt and vinegar? I love how easy and fast it was using the vinegar.
thanks so much for this great recipe!
Olga in the Kitchen says:
Without trying it myself, I wouldn’t know if plain yogurt would work here. I think you need a different process for making farmers cheese out of yogurt. If you like a more tangy flavor, you might try using freshly squeezed lemon juice that would also work (just not sure how much of proportion. Mom mentioned it works, but she cooks ‘by an eye’ so she doesn’t know how much lemon juice she used).
Catherine says:
What other vinegar can you use for the farmers cheese? I am having a difficult time finding the Heinz distilled vinegar where I am.
Olga in the Kitchen says:
I always use the Heinz, but mom mentioned she used lemon juice that also works. She doesn’t recall what other brand of vinegar she used, but she mentioned it had a very ‘interesting’ texture than it’s suppose to. So you might want to try using freshly squeezed lemon juice.
Karen Dawson says:
I’ve used this method before using Rice Wine Vinegar, and its\’s absolutely delicious – it adds a subtle light tang. Curdles very well.
Anastasiya O’Neil says:
Thank you for this recipe! I’ve tried a lot of them before I found yours, and it’s the only one that worked. Tvorog was delicious, I’m making paska from it❤️
Olga in the Kitchen says:
That sounds delicious! Thank you for the great review 🙂