How to make quark cheese at home

Quark or curd (Hungarian: túró) is a popular fresh dairy product in the Eastern parts of Europe, in Germany, and some other parts of the world. “In Germany, quark and cottage cheese are considered to be different types of fresh cheese, and quark is often not considered cheese at all, while in Eastern Europe cottage cheese is usually viewed as a type of quark.”¹

Quark (túró) is almost a staple in Hungarian households. Several sweet and salty meals include this fresh dairy product. Some of the most well-known in Hungary are körözött (kind of a sandwich spread), túrós batyu (a sweet pastry), túrós csusza (a savory pasta dish), túrós rétes (strudel filled with sweet quark and raisins). But there are several other well-known recipes around the world with quark.

Quark comes in different fat content options: there is low-fat quark, higher fat options, creamy quark, and “grainy” version. There are different production methods for making quark. In this post, I am going to show a less traditional one, suitable if you have access to french dairy products. I currently reside in France, and here túró is not a staple in shops, perhaps in some Russian stores. But I have yet to find one in my city.

This recipe requires faisselle which is a type of french fresh cheese.

I found this recipe on Chez Sandra’s blog big thanks to her.

Happy baking/cooking! Jó étvágyat!

Let me know if you try this recipe…Use #cutecuisine on Instagram. I would love to see your creations.

How to make túró

Quark Ingredients

1000 g faisselle

How to make quark

You will need 1000 g of faisselle.
Open the packaging and pour the faisselle into a cooking pot.
Over low heat bring it to a gentle simmer, don’t let it boil.
When the whey and the curd are separated it is ready. This takes a few minutes. (Whey is the yellowish liquid.)
Place your cheesecloth or muslin or very thin towel or a clean T-shirt over a container and use a strainer ladle to gently scoop up the curds from the recipe, and place them into the cloth.
After placing in the curd, gather the four corners of the cheesecloth and bring them together.
Gently squeeze the top to allow the whey to drain away from the curds. Be careful because the bag can be hot! You don’t need to use a lot of pressure, just enough so you see liquid leaving the bag.
Tie up the corners of the cloth if you can do a simple secure knot, or just use a short length of kitchen string.
Now grab a wooden spoon or use the kitchen tap (faucet). Suspend the bag from the spoon or tap (faucet) and leave it to drip above a bowl or sink for a couple of hours. This will allow the whey to drain off slowly and completely. Depending on how creamy you want your quark to be. The longer you leave it to drip, the less moist it will be. I usually let it drip for 2-3-4 hours.
Afterward, put the quark into an air-tight container. Remains fresh in the fridge for about 2-3 days.
From 1000 g of faisselle you will get around 250-350 grams of quark.

Enjoy