The food you see in the picture is not quark. It is a lemon cheesecake. Yet it’s made of quark.
‘How come cheesecake is not made of cheese?’ You might wonder. You might also wonder why I chose to draw a lemon cheesecake out of many other types of it. Well, you will discover the answers in a minute.
In my last article, I talked about how to tell if your milk is really raw. With so many upsides raw milk has one major downside: it gets sour much quicker before you usually manage to drink it all up. Yet with some effort, you can turn this disadvantage into an advantage. And I don’t mean you can splash a packet of your sour milk onto your noisy neighbour. You can find a better use for it: you can actually make a quark out of your sour milk.
Especially if it’s hard to find a high-quality quark in your area. Homemade quark oftentimes tastes way better than the one from a local supermarket or even an eco-food store. What’s more, it might cost you even less – in some stores, they sell milk being on the verge of expiring at a discount. And that is a perfect product for you to make quark because in this case, you don’t need to wait for your milk to get sour for too long.
What is ‘quark’ (or ‘quarg’)?
Quark is a dairy product, obviously. When milk curdles it separates into liquid and solid parts. The liquid part is called ‘whey’ and the solid part is called ‘curds’, or ‘quark’, or ‘(cottage) cheese’. This product has a few different names the most common of which are ‘cheese’ or ‘quark’ depending on the language: in some languages, this food is called ‘cheese’, in the others – ‘quark’.
So I expect for speakers of some languages it might be a bit confusing.
-What is quark?
-It is cheese.
-And cheese is quark then?
-No, cheese is not quark.
When I was doing some research I actually found out quite a number of names referring to, basically, the same product. The names, as well as, the types of it may vary depending on the region of the globe, so I decided not to go to in too many details since it can get quite confusing and long.
In English, this food is usually referred to as ‘cottage cheese’.
I, personally, prefer the word ‘quark’ more because it sounds nicer to my ears. It actually sounds similar to my first-language variant (‘tvorog’).
Everyone knows a sweet food called ‘cheesecake’. I think it could also be called ‘quarkcake’ since it contains the ingredient we are talking about. Or do you think ‘quarkcake’ sounds funny?
Would you believe it? It googled and the dessert with such a name actually exists. They say it’s a German version of cheesecake.
I also came across a Dutch version of cheesecake/quarkcake which is called ‘kwarktaart’. ‘Kwarktaart’ sounds really nice, doesn’t it?
Everyone also knows a food called ‘cheeseburger’ but it doesn’t contain the ingredient we are talking about. So I guess therefore you cannot call cheeseburger ‘quarkburger’. Unless you replace the hard cheese in it with quark. But will it be tasty? Or do you think ricotta could be a better replacement for it? If yes, you can call it ‘ricottaburger’ then. That word seems to be a bit of a mouthful though, doesn’t it? Maybe that’s why no one has ever dared to make it.
I also found out that the word ‘quark’ derives from the word ‘create’. Probably because it’s kind of created. So if you want to pay someone a compliment by saying, ‘You are so creative.’ you can also say ‘You are so quarky.’ (joke)
‘Many thanks for your cheesy compliment, mate.’ They might answer.
So let’s move on to the recipe part. How to make quark from your sour milk? In fact, there is a number of recipes for making quark. The recipe I’m gonna be sharing with you here is the one I prefer most since it is the most practical one. It requires the least effort.
Homemade Quark Recipe
To get 200 gr of quark you need 1 l of sour milk.
Step 1
If your milk is fresh, leave it to curdle on the kitchen table or – which is better – in a warm place, it will accelerate the process. Leave it for 2-3 days. When you notice that white parts form a kind of ‘snowball’ and the curds are completely separate from the whey, it’s ready for the next step in the recipe.
Step 2
Now pour the contents of the bottle into a saucepan, squeeze a slice of lemon into it, and heat the mixture until it boils. Then leave the curds-and-whey mixture to get cool.
Step 3
Once it’s cooled, take another container and a fine-mesh strainer and strain your mixture or, to be more exact, leave it to get strained. How long for? It depends on what kind of texture you want your quark to be. The longer the contents are strained, the harder your quark will be. If you want to eat it as it is, then go for the soft texture. Or you can blend the curds with some whey and get a nice, creamy texture that is easy and pleasant to eat.
And that’s one of the reasons I add lemon juice in the second step. Firstly, it accelerates the whole process and, secondly, it gives the quark a nice lemon flavour which, personally, makes it incredibly tasty (for me at least).
You can also add some berries, honey, or whatever other sweetener you prefer.
I mostly prefer to add it to smoothies.
Also, you could possibly spread it on a slice of bread like ricotta. And some recipes suggest that. However, I haven’t tried it yet. So don’t know yet how tasty it is.
‘And what do I do with all the whey that remains?’ You might wonder. In fact, you can drink it as it is. It’s also healthy and nutritious. Or you can use it in recipes in place of milk or water.
I, personally, add it to my quark smoothies and it tastes really amazing.
There you have it.
Lexis
Now let’s have a look at some useful lexis here.
‘curds and whey’
You already know what ‘curds’ mean and what ‘whey’ means. But do you know what ‘curds and whey’ mean? What these 2 words together mean? Have a look at this old nursery rhyme and try to guess,
‘Little Miss Muffet
sat on a tuffet,
eating her curds and whey.
Along came a spider,
who sat down beside her,
and frightened Miss Muffet away.’
(Unknown)
So what does it mean? In fact, the answer is very simple. It’s just another name for quark but, as far as I’m aware, much less common or even outdated.
‘turn a disadvantage into an advantage’
A very useful principle of life. You can also say ‘turn a minus into a plus’.
‘on the verge of smth./doing smth.’
If something is on the verge of smth. or happening, it’s going to happen very soon.
Example:
‘The milk in on the verge of turning sour’
‘The water in the saucepan is on the verge of boiling’
And that also applies to people, not only objects:
‘She is on the verge of laughter’
‘He is on the verge of laughing’
‘strainer’
A useful kitchen tool that helps you separate liquid and solid parts of a mixture. If your strainer can trap very small particles then you have a fine-mesh strainer.
There is also the verb ‘strain’
Example:
‘You don’t have to use a strainer to strain your tea because this teapot is with a built-in strainer already.’
‘spread smth. on a slice of bread’
When you eat bread with soft or creamy products like butter, ricotta, honey, etc. you spread them on your slice of bread, that is, cover the surface of the slice with some butter, or ricotta, or whatever.
Example:
‘This butter is frozen, I cannot spread it on my bun.’
in place of smth = instead of smth.
Example:
‘I prefer to have my quark with whey in place of milk.’
Wrap-Up
‘Which milk should I use to make a good quark?’ You might be asking. Well, you can use either raw milk or pasteurized milk. The higher the quality of your milk is, the better your quark will taste. And to make sure that the milk you are going to buy is tried and tested, you can visit ‘Healthy Food Library’. What is ‘Healthy Food Library’? I suggest you have a look at my last article to find out if you haven’t yet.
I have received a number of messages from you expressing your wish to get connected to ‘Healthy Food Library’. So I’m happy that this idea resonates with you.
And recently I have put my healthy food cathalogue on Google Drive and now you can get connected to it.
Which location does the library refer to?
Russia, especially Moscow.
How much does the subscription cost?
Its price equals the price of 2 mugs of coffee.
How long does the subscription last?
It’s unlimited.
Pay once and benefit from it for ages, look forward to updates and enjoy your morning with a nice and healthy quark smoothie. Or other tried and tested eco-products.
To get access to the cathalogue write to me in private messages.
Have a quarkful day.