Quark Cottage Cheese

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The Budwig Protocol/Diet "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food" - Hippocrates http://www.budwig- Quark Cottage Cheese diet.co.uk Buying Quark in the UK Alternatives to Quark Fat Content Recipes to Make Your own Quark Pictures of Making Cottage Cheeses Why Quark Cottage Cheese is needed for the Budwig Diet

Quark is a bland cultured soft, cottage cheese of about 12-14% protein. It is common in Germany and Eastern Europe where until recently it was traditionally made at home.

When Dr Johanna Budwig created the Budwig Protocol, she used quark. Cottage cheese is essential for the Budwig Diet because of its sulphur-rich milk proteins. These combine with the linseed (flax seed) oil to make it water soluble which enables the omega-3 fatty acid to work its magic where it is needed.

The cheese you use should be of 12-14% protein, fat-free or very low fat; a low-fat or virtually fat-free quark is ideal. Quark’s soft texture and mild flavour works well in the recipes on Budwig Diet.

Whether it is actually quark or a similar, preferably low fat/fat-free, soft curd type cheese isn’t essential.

Buying Quark in the UK

Quark in the UK is made from pasteurised heat-treated milk. It is available in UK supermarkets but it is often hard to find. The people who work there often haven’t noticed it and will probably find it as hard to locate on the shelf as you. If you persist you should find some in the larger stores. Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Morrison’s all stock it. For the Budwig Diet you need a low fat or fat-free quark. The quark that comes from Waitrose is less sharp, less yoghurty and goes particulaly well in the Budwig recipes but the others can make a nice change too. If you want organic quark, or unpasteurised, raw milk cheese you will probably have to use an alternative or make your own, which it is fairly simple to do.

1 / 6 The Budwig Protocol/Diet "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food" - Hippocrates Fat Content of Quark for the Budwig Diet http://www.budwig- diet.co.uk The terms non-fat and low fat are quite confusing. Johanna Budwig said that, apart from linseed oil (and the occasional addition of cold-pressed pumpkin seed oil to salads), you should avoid all other fats, especially animal fats. Her books didn’t make a big issue on the matter of the fat content of the cottage cheese but most people feel that as fat free as possible if the best way to go. Don’t go by what the tubs say about “low fat” which can be misleading; the important thing is to look at the actual fat content shown in the nutritional info. It is virtually impossible to remove every last trace but “low fat” quark can be effectively lower in fat compared to milk proteins than skimmed milk as the cottage cheese is more concentrated and there is less water.

Alternatives to Quark.

If you can’t find quark use a good, low-fat/fat-free cottage cheese or you can make do with Greek-style yoghurt – check the protein content, it should be at least 10% and you should not add any extra milk when you mix the linseed oil with it. If you use yoghurt, it must be low fat/fat- free and free of any sugar or flavouring and you may even need to strain it, which means you will need to start with more than 100g. Soya yoghurt is not an option fr the Budwig Diet.

Dairy Free Options. There really are no vegan or non-dairy options but some people have apparently done the diet with tofu but it isn’t as rich in the important sulphur-containing proteins. Oleolux contains onions and garlic which bond with the linseed oil to improve its absorption by the body.

Recipes for Making your own Quark-style Cottage Cheese

If you want to ensure the quality of your the milk that goes into your quark your best option for cottage cheese/quark is to make your own. Making your own soft cheese is incredibly easy and satisfying. It gives you the option to choose what what sort of milk your quark/cottage cheese is made from – organic, raw, goat, even milk from a specific herd. Those with a compromised immune system should consider using pateurised milk or heat milk to destroy unwanted bugs before use.

Making quark/cottage cheese, no matter how you make your curd, always follows the same basics. Try to use glass, ceramic, plastic, wood in preference to metal. Ensure everything is very clean.

First make the curd and then strain.

There are many ways of turning milk into curd for quark. Here are a few:

1. With rennet. Warm two pints of milk to blood temperature 37o C (no more). Add 2 teaspoons of rennet, stir and leave covered and undisturbed for 30 minutes, when you come back to it the milk will have thickened.

2 / 6 The Budwig Protocol/Diet "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food" - Hippocrates http://www.budwig- diet.co.uk

Using rennet to make the curd for soft cheese.

2. With lemon juice or vinegar. Warm two pints of milk to 85 oC, add juice of one lemon, stir and leave covered and undisturbed for at least 10 minutes.

3. From Kefir. This makes a fully live, pro-biotic cheese which benefits the digestion and immune system. First make your kefir (never use metal with kefir) from kefir grains or starter culture. (Kefir starter is a combo of bacteria and good bugs which makes cheese with a lovely fresh creamy flavour). Follow the instructions for making the kefir (which is really just adding kefir culture to milk, which can be raw or not as you wish, and leaving at room temperature). After 2 days it will have become really thick and easily strained (if using kefir grains remove before straining). The strained curd is as close as you can get to the original quark.

4. From Yoghurt. Another way to make an organic cottage cheese/quark is to use organic unflavoured yogurt Shop- bought or home-made yoghurt can be be strained to make cheese. Simply position a sieve or colander over a clean bowl, line with fine muslin, clean cloth (muslin or cloth can be suspended over a bowl without a sieve) or reusable paper towel, pour in the curds and whey from one of the above processes. Tie ends above curds (so as to prevent whey siphoning out) and leave overnight to strain. Your quark/soft cheese is now made.

5. From a cheese starter. These can be bought on the internet, just follow the instructions for the type of milk you are using. Starter cultures for quark style cottage cheese are available from several companies. GN Ltd,, Orchard-Dairy. For others just google, “quark starter culture UK”

6. Raw milk soured naturally. Left out of the fridge raw milk will sour, go “off” and the curds can be separated. However you should be aware of the health risks associated with raw milk and the “souring process” should be done at the correct temperature. Many people consider raw milk a healthy option as the proteins haven’t been damaged by heat and it is thought that the naturally-occurring bacteria can be beneficial for the digestion and immune system.

The steps in making your own quark style cheese:

3 / 6 The Budwig Protocol/Diet "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food" - Hippocrates http://www.budwig- diet.co.uk

Using kefir grains to make quark soft cheese.

Add starter to milk and stir

4 / 6 The Budwig Protocol/Diet "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food" - Hippocrates Cover, leave at room temperature. Give starter culture time to work http://www.budwig- diet.co.uk

After 24-48 hours curds are ready to strain

Strain through folded muslin overnight.

5 / 6 The Budwig Protocol/Diet "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food" - Hippocrates http://www.budwig- diet.co.uk

Raw Milk

Some people prefer to use raw milk to make a quark-style cheese, it is available at some farmers’ markets and some farms supply online. Raw cows’ milk can only be bought direct; this site helps you track it down. Be aware of all the health arguments for and against live milk before you make the decision to use it.

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