How to Make German Quark

"Quark is not easily available in most non German countries, and it cannot really substituted by ricotta or creamcheese. But then it's not really difficult to make. This is the way we made it at my friend's house in a tiny village in the Black Forest where I spent my summer vacations when I was 13. 1 litre (1 1/8 quart) milk makes about 300 - 350 g (ca. 8 - 12 ounces) quark."
 
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photo by gemini08 photo by gemini08
photo by gemini08
photo by gemini08 photo by gemini08
Ready In:
28hrs 5mins
Ingredients:
2
Serves:
1
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ingredients

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directions

  • Fill the milk into a bowl, stir in the lemon juice and let stand on the kitchen counter overnight, about 16 hours.
  • After 16 hours, it should have turned into soured milk.
  • Slowly heat the soured milk to no more than 122° F (50° C) until the whey starts to seperate from the solids.
  • Let cool and pour into a sieve lined with a cheesecloth.
  • Let drip for 12 hours, then press out any remaining liquid and strain the quark through a sive (it get smoother then).

Questions & Replies

  1. What kind of milk?? whole, skim.... raw, pasteurized???
     
  2. will raw goats milk work in this recipe?
     
  3. When it is draining does it need to go in the fridge during this process
     
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Reviews

  1. What a great recipe, and sooo easy to make! Our local German Deli only sells Quark at Christmas so I was looking for an authentic recipe for Quark, called Topfen in Austria, which is a staple in Austrian cooking. I started with one gallon of Milk and added the juce of one small lemon, than let it do it's work over night. I followed the instructions for warming the milk, using a thermometer. The final product is a silky smooth, wonderfully creamy quark that tastes slightly tangy. I can't wait to use it in a recipe! Thanks, Mia, for posting! Made and reviewed for the "Not only Sauerkraut and Dumpling" event.<br/>UPDATE:<br/>Since my last review I got interested in cheese making. I bought the book 'Artisan Cheese Making At Home" by Mary Karlin and learned a few important things:<br/>Do NOT use ULTRA - PASTEURIZED milk or cream, it will not work! Pasteurized and homogenized milk can be used but it needs more acid or calcium chloride (available on line - www.cheesemaking.com) for the milk to properly separate into curds. This goes also for yoghurt, ricotta and other cultured milk products.
     
  2. I'm sorry... I really wanted this to work for me. I was excited to make cheese from milk and lemon juice. Sometimes I have been on a yeast/mold free diet and some forms of rennent and culturing is not allowed for that. I saw the review by gemini08 about the milk and but others seemed to have it work. I tried to find not Ultra-pasteurized and was surprised at how prevalent it was. I found some organic milk and didn't see until it was too late that it WAS ultra. Tried it anyways and only ended up with lemony milk. Tried again, this time found milk that was pasteurized but not homogenized so pretty close to the original. I added fresh squeezed lemon. Overnight I couldn't tell if anything was happening so added more lemon. Next day decided to try it, it seemed sour but not curdled at all. Raised temp as directed and no curds were formed. It also didn't taste sour after all so it must not have don the right thing in the beginning. I contacted the chef who said she uses pasteurized milk. Either my lemon wasn't strong enough or I didn't cook it long enough at the right temperature. Someday I may try again.
     
  3. I have never heard of quark, but when I read its uses, I had to make it. Very good, and has so many uses. I am sure I will be making this often.Thanks, Mia!
     
  4. Am looking forward to trying this recipe and comparing the results to another recipe I found on this site. I love learning how to "make at home" things which one usually thinks are impossible to duplicate in the home kitchen - and often find that the homemade version is by far superior. (A very favorite cookbook of mine is "Better than Store-Bought" and I have made many things from that invaluable book - but there's no quark recipe in it.
     
  5. Like many others, I used regular 2% pasteurized milk. I mixed it with lemon juice and left it on the counter over night (pretty close to 18 hours). I heated it to 122 F, but did not form any meaningful chunks. I held the temp for well over an hour and while I did see a small amount of curd form it was obvious it wasn't working well. I turned off the heat and added a teaspoon of citric acid and it immediately set the way it was supposed to. This was my first time trying quark and I'm glad it worked out! I'm sure it would've worked better with buttermilk or whole milk, but I guess if you're having problems with curds not forming, try a little citric acid?
     
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