Quark Recipe

Simone, a native of Germany, is sharing her quark recipe with us today.  Not only that but she also sent a batch over to the house along with some recipes!  Quark is a cheese but the texture is somewhere between yogurt or sour cream and a very smooth cottage cheese.  

The ingredients available here in the US are different than what is available in Germany.  We were discussing milk purchases last night, pasteurization not being common in her home town.  On her way home from school she would bring her pail to the farmer who would dip it into the large milk tank. Then Simone would walk home, perhaps taking a sip or two along the way. Once home, her mother would boil the milk and store it in the refrigerator for up to a week. Our milk, she commented, is watered down comparatively and doesn't have that good "cow" taste she is familiar with. 

I stirred up the quark a little and put a sample on my spoon.  This is the texture, not completely smooth but with body.

I sampled it right away mixing with some strawberry jam and drizzling it with honey for an English muffin topping.  It was pretty good!  Not too sweet or too tart like a flavored yogurt, much more smooth.

Simone provided her comments below plus a link to some recipes.  I added another link to a site so you can see a yogurt/quark maker if you haven't come across one before.

Simone's comments:

"I used 1 pint of buttermilk with a 1/2 cup of heavy cream for 16 hours in yogurt maker and then drain for 2-3 hours in cheesecloth. It asked for bulgarian buttermilk, but I never could find any here.

I also have tried in the past 1 pint cottage cheese with 1/2 tsp salt in blender for 5 minutes, and used in my cheesecakes if I had no time to make it and it turned out okay."


No Yogurt Maker?  Simone provided a link to make quark in your oven.

"I found THIS on the internet on how to make quark, if you do not have a yogurt maker."

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Here is the basic information, please check the website for details.

• For this method you will need cheesecloth and a pyrex dish with a lid.  
• 1/2 to 1 gallon of buttermilk

Pour the buttermilk into the dish, cover and let sit in a 150 degree (F) oven overnight.  Pour the mixture into a cheesecloth lined colander the next morning (it will be lumpy).  Wrap the cloth around the top of the mixture and let it drain for the next 6 hours.  You will make 1/4 to 1/2 lb of quark.  

http://www.food.com/recipe/german-quark-153126

I don't know anything about this site or the product but it has images of a quark maker plus recipes.
Quarkmaker.com

Simone is not only my neighbor but also the mother to Madison, my granddaughter's friend when she is visiting.  We have been able to sample all sorts of German recipes, my particular favorite is her Rum Pot which is a layering of seasonal fruits covered with rum over the period of several months.  Pineapples, cherries, pears, etc.  Delicious.

I have a print out of some quark recipes which I will add on another post.

Linking The Morris Tribe Homestead Blog Carnival-11
Laura Williams Musings Carnival-of-home-preserving-14-come.html
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