# Quark



## CarolPa (Aug 16, 2014)

From reading another forum, I have become interested in Quark, which I believe is a cross between yogurt and cream cheese.  It is better known in other countries other than the US, and I am interested in making some.  The ingredients needed are milk and buttermilk which contains live active cultures.  Is such a thing sold in the US?  Is that was is called cultured buttermilk?  I'm sorry to sound so stupid, but I admit I am when it comes to such things.  I know if anyone on DC has information regarding this I will get some very informative replies.  

Thanks.


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## Aunt Bea (Aug 16, 2014)

Here is a recipe that you could probably cut down and experiment with.

http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f21/homemade-quark-german-quark-14449.html

and we have our own resident Quark maker!

http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f17/iso-additions-to-cream-cheese-or-quark-68302.html


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## CWS4322 (Aug 16, 2014)

TaxLady makes quark at home.  Love quark--especially on dark German peasant bread topped with sour cherry jam or honey.


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## CarolPa (Aug 16, 2014)

I haven't looked yet, but I was told that real cultured buttermilk with the active cultures is hard to find in the US.  Is that incorrect?  Will I walk into my local grocery store and there it will be?

I don't even know why I want to make this but I'm going through a stage when I like to make unusual things that I hear of.  I make yogurt then pour it through a yogurt cheese maker and make yogurt cheese, but I heard that quark is better.


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## AlisonC (Aug 16, 2014)

You should be able to find it in a local grocery store. If not any "healthy" market like Whole Foods will have it.


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## Mad Cook (Aug 16, 2014)

CarolPa said:


> From reading another forum, I have become interested in Quark, which I believe is a cross between yogurt and cream cheese.  It is better known in other countries other than the US, and I am interested in making some.  The ingredients needed are milk and buttermilk which contains live active cultures.  Is such a thing sold in the US?  Is that was is called cultured buttermilk?  I'm sorry to sound so stupid, but I admit I am when it comes to such things.  I know if anyone on DC has information regarding this I will get some very informative replies.
> 
> Thanks.


Quote from Wikipaedia "_Commercially available cultured buttermilk is milk that has been pasteurized and homogenized (if 1% or 2% fat), and then inoculated with a culture of Lactococcus lactis (formerly known as Streptococcus lactis) plus Leuconostoc citrovorum to simulate the naturally occurring bacteria in the old-fashioned product. _"


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## cara (Aug 17, 2014)

you can't compare yoghurt with quark... completely different..

as far as I know you need rennet for Quark


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## CarolPa (Aug 17, 2014)

Mad Cook said:


> Quote from Wikipaedia "_Commercially available cultured buttermilk is milk that has been pasteurized and homogenized (if 1% or 2% fat), and then* inoculated with a culture of Lactococcus lactis (formerly known as Streptococcus lactis) plus Leuconostoc citrovorum to simulate the naturally occurring bacteria in the old-fashioned product. *_"




I've heard that, but I take it to mean it does not contain the active cultures.


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## CarolPa (Aug 17, 2014)

cara said:


> you can't compare yoghurt with quark... completely different..
> 
> as far as I know you need rennet for Quark




I'm comparing it as far as the fact that both are made by combining milk and active cultures.

I saw some recipes online that said you don't need rennet.  Like I said in my first post, I have no idea what I'm talking about....except for what I have been reading online.


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## GotGarlic (Aug 17, 2014)

Which recipe are you looking at? This page says that using buttermilk is only one of several ways to make quark: http://www.cheesemaking.com/Quark.html


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## taxlady (Aug 17, 2014)

CarolPa said:


> From reading another forum, I have become interested in Quark, which I believe is a cross between yogurt and cream cheese.  It is better known in other countries other than the US, and I am interested in making some.  The ingredients needed are milk and buttermilk which contains live active cultures.  Is such a thing sold in the US?  Is that was is called cultured buttermilk?  I'm sorry to sound so stupid, but I admit I am when it comes to such things.  I know if anyone on DC has information regarding this I will get some very informative replies.
> 
> Thanks.


As far as I know, it is easier to get cultured buttermilk than "real, traditional buttermilk" (the stuff leftover from churning butter) in the US. You can also use sour cream with live culture. You can probably find quark in a health food store.

Here's how I make quark: http://www.discusscooking.com/forum...cream-cheese-or-quark-68302-2.html#post949875


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## Mrs JJJ (Aug 17, 2014)

Is milk with "live active cultures" the same as "raw milk"?  If so, my husband and I wanted to try a recipe for clotted cream that needed raw milk and the only place I was able to find it was in a local health food store. (At great expense, unfortunately!) The owner told me that US food safety regulations have made it increasingly difficult to buy and sell any raw milk products.


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## CarolPa (Aug 17, 2014)

taxlady said:


> As far as I know, it is easier to get cultured buttermilk than "real, traditional buttermilk" (the stuff leftover from churning butter) in the US. You can also use sour cream with live culture. You can probably find quark in a health food store.
> 
> Here's how I make quark: http://www.discusscooking.com/forum...cream-cheese-or-quark-68302-2.html#post949875




I haven't actually looked for Quark.  I wanted to make my own.  I looked at cultured buttermilk today in WalMart but it doesn't say it has the active cultures.  I guess I'll just forget about it since I can't find what I think I need.  I lived this long without it.


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## taxlady (Aug 17, 2014)

CarolPa said:


> I haven't actually looked for Quark.  I wanted to make my own.  I looked at cultured buttermilk today in WalMart but it doesn't say it has the active cultures.  I guess I'll just forget about it since I can't find what I think I need.  I lived this long without it.


Can you get sour cream with live culture? That's what I use. I have learned the hard way that ultra-pasteurized milk won't work. Regular pasteurized milk does work.


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## GotGarlic (Aug 18, 2014)

CarolPa said:


> I haven't actually looked for Quark.  I wanted to make my own.  I looked at cultured buttermilk today in WalMart but it doesn't say it has the active cultures.  I guess I'll just forget about it since I can't find what I think I need.  I lived this long without it.



Did you look at the link I posted? There are several ways to make it; you don't necessarily need buttermilk. You can buy active cultures and mix them with any milk except ultra-high pasteurized.


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## CarolPa (Aug 18, 2014)

taxlady said:


> Can you get sour cream with live culture? That's what I use. I have learned the hard way that ultra-pasteurized milk won't work. Regular pasteurized milk does work.




I would have to look at our sour cream to see if it contains the active cultures.  I rarely buy sour cream so I haven't noticed.  

And GG, I know that you don't need the buttermilk, but I don't know where to buy the correct active cultures for Quark.  I figured it would be easier to use buttermilk until I read that it has to contain the active cultures. From what I have read online quark is not very common in the US so the things you need to make it are not readily available.  

When I make yogurt, I just use milk and a couple tablespoons of plain yogurt that contains active cultures.  It's easy.  I expected this to be easy too, but maybe I'm making it harder than it needs to be.  If I find the sour cream with active cultures I'll be set.

EDIT:  While reading online about sour cream that has live active cultures, I found a site that was discussing making sour cream.  Someone said that in the US when they add the cultures back into the pasturized products, the cultures can dissipate during processing, therefore, there's no need to label it as having live active cultures when it's sold because they're probably gone by then.


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## CarolPa (Aug 18, 2014)

Too late to edit again.  I found the culture needed on Amazon, so if I can't find the sour cream labeled with live active cultures, I will order from Amazon.


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## GotGarlic (Aug 18, 2014)

CarolPa said:


> And GG, I know that you don't need the buttermilk, but I don't know where to buy the correct active cultures for Quark.  I figured it would be easier to use buttermilk until I read that it has to contain the active cultures. From what I have read online quark is not very common in the US so the things you need to make it are not readily available.



The recipe section on the link I posted said this: "Our German customers have told us that when they are making their quark they use the C20 (Fromage Blanc) with skimmed milk and to them it is quite authentic to the cheese they remember."

They sell it from the site: Fromage Blanc(DS)-5 pack. It costs about $6 for the five-pack and "each packet will set up to 1 gallon of milk and will yield approximately 2 pounds of fresh cheese."


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## taxlady (Aug 18, 2014)

If you make quark regularly, you can save some of the quark, before heating it, and use that to start the next batch, just like when making yogourt.


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## CarolPa (Aug 18, 2014)

AlisonC, I thought about Whole Foods but they aren't really close to me  and I don't want to make a long drive to go there just for this.  

Taxlady, today, I saw organic sour cream that said it had the live active cultures so I know where I can get they nearby if I decide to go that way.  Do you also add rennet?  Cara said that you need rennet to make it but I saw recipes that didn't call for it, but they might have been recipes that use the cultures that you buy separate and those cultures have the rennet already in it.  I am learning more and more about it from this thread and it seems to be all coming together.  I will be ready to try this once I use up all my yogurt cheese that I have on hand.  I never buy ultra pasturized milk so I won't be making that mistake.  LOL  

My husband thinks I'm crazy.  As soon as he sees this stuff start to curdle he's going to tell me to throw it out.


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## taxlady (Aug 18, 2014)

CarolPa said:


> AlisonC, I thought about Whole Foods but they aren't really close to me  and I don't want to make a long drive to go there just for this.
> 
> Taxlady, today, I saw organic sour cream that said it had the live active cultures so I know where I can get they nearby if I decide to go that way.  Do you also add rennet?  Cara said that you need rennet to make it but I saw recipes that didn't call for it, but they might have been recipes that use the cultures that you buy separate and those cultures have the rennet already in it.  I am learning more and more about it from this thread and it seems to be all coming together.  I will be ready to try this once I use up all my yogurt cheese that I have on hand.  I never buy ultra pasturized milk so I won't be making that mistake.  LOL
> 
> My husband thinks I'm crazy.  As soon as he sees this stuff start to curdle he's going to tell me to throw it out.


No, I don't use any rennet. The only thing I use to curdle the milk for quark is the culture in the sour cream. The only time it didn't work was when I used organic milk, and I found out that it is ultra-high pasteurized. Regular pasteurized milk is fine.


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## CarolPa (Aug 19, 2014)

How much sour cream do you add?


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## taxlady (Aug 19, 2014)

CarolPa said:


> How much sour cream do you add?


Didn't you see the link I posted to my instructions for making quark? Here it is again: http://www.discusscooking.com/forum...cream-cheese-or-quark-68302-2.html#post949875

So, the quick answer is ~2 tablespoons / litre or quart. The amount is approximate. I have read that it will take longer if you add too much.


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## CarolPa (Aug 19, 2014)

I'm sorry.  I did see it and read the whole thread.  I have now saved it to my recipe file and will have it handy when I'm ready to do this.  

Thanks!


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## taxlady (Aug 19, 2014)

I was going to make some quark today, but the danged sour cream had gone mouldy.


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