Is cottage cheese as vile as it looks?

[FairyJuice]

I'm trying to cook healthier, cheaper meals and I've come across a few recipes calling for cottage cheese as it supposedly tastes lovely at a fraction of the fat of regular cheese. I've never had it because quite frankly it looks disgusting and is reminiscent of a rampant vaginal infection 🙈

Is it as bad as it looks? And if so, how can I get past how much it grosses me out?

For background, I once tried quark in good faith and haven't been able to look at it without feeling nauseous since.

In a word. Yes.

It's gorgeous.

Oooh I love a bit of cottage cheese! Put some salt and pepper on it

Cottage cheese is a step away from hard cheeses like cheddar. As it's name suggests it's a simply made version of cheese, so it's got a fresh delicate flavour that goes well with garden herbs and salad ingredients .
I like it with salmon or prawns, or with tomatoes and herbs for breakfast as is popular in Poland.

Because it's very mild, it blends well with other flavours. I think it would work well in lasagna type dishes, but you would probably also need some stronger cheese for any depth of cheese flavour.

I love cottage cheese! I don't know when I started eating it as I can't ever remember not having it, but I love it with pickled beetroot. Also like it mixed with fresh chopped up cucumber, cherry tomatoes and basil. Love it on salty wheat crackers or on a jacket potato. I've never cooked with it!

I'm going completely against the grain here and saying I'm not a fan of the Longley Farm stuff. It's too mushy. I've actually found that the supermarket cheapest versions are my favourites. Defined lumps rather than grainy mush.

I want cottage cheese now!

As an aside, full fat dairy is healthier than low fat.

Longley Farm cottage cheese is lovely.

The Longley Farm one is lovely on its own, I've used it in lasagne and it was pretty good.
All others are horrible.

Bloody love cottage cheese. On its own with salt from the pot. Or the pineapple one. Or the crustless quiche my mum used to make and I have no recipe for :(

Gross stuff, as is quark.

Yep. Longley Farm full fat version.
I really like it in a jacket potato. Also good on crispbread.
Has a clean, mild flavour.
I used to occasionally put it in scrambled eggs too.

Yes yes Longley farm! I eat it every day with seeds and berries for breakfast.

I wonder if Canadian cottage cheese is different to UK cottage cheese?

I would never in a million years think it would be a substitute for cheese. My friend used to use it the most delicious lasagne but I didn't think it was substituting anything.

I bring it to work for lunch almost every day. It is really good with chunks of pineapple, watermelon and strawberries. I bring two separate containers, one with cc, one with fruit, then mix them when I eat lunch. As posted above, don't bother with the low fat crap.

No idea, the sight of it immediately makes me lose my appetite. Not just albino sick, albino cat sick. Genuinely looks like there should be a hairball in it.

All cottage cheese is pretty low fat tbh. I use quark in baking (quark cakes). Cottage cheese I'd add to food, like to porridge or soup, just before eating. For both of them, I also like to add fruit, such as pineapple or berries. I only eat at plain ones though. Both are good for fitness: lot of protein. I come from a country where both are very popular 😆

On bagels with strawberry jam or sliced strawberries and black pepper.

I like low fat cottage cheese on a sandwich with cucumber. But I've never used it in a recipe as such.

Yes it is vile.

It is just about manageable if blitzed into cream to go in a lasagne or something. Otherwise I agree with your description!

The zero % fat stuff from the big supermarkets is horrid but the full fat version (still only4% fat) is really rather good imo. Unfortunately most places don't sell it but Lidl do.

Andylion,
Probably it’s different. As is Russian cottage cheese .
I once tried Canadian sour cream and it was completely different to regular sour cream.

Love it with chives. Eat it with a spoon straight from the tub.

Ceebeejeebies - totally with you on this! I was worried i was the only one who loves the stuff on toast.
Plain cottage cheese on toast (seeded brown)

I like it but very rarely buy it. Kind of don’t see the point but perhaps once a year I buy some. I Eat it straight with olive oil and black pepper.
I’ve in the past used it in a bread recipe (dill seed bread) and it works well I’m a tagliatelle casserole type thing. Mixed with cremefreche and chopped green pepper layered between tagliatelle and rich garlicky tomatoes. Holds up just fine in oven oddly.

Cottage cheese with spring onions and beetroot is the food of the gods!

I think it's yummy. But it's its own thing. It's not at all like hard cheese.

Compared to cottage cheese, quark is more sharp, Philadelphia is much creamier, and neither have the distinct curds in cottage cheese.

I eat it in sandwiches, but then I eat just about anything in sandwiches. It's also a nice jacket potato filling, the cool cottage cheese on the warm buttery spud, so good.

And yet another vote for the Longley Farm one as being particularly good.