COTTAGE CHEESE — CLOSEST TO HOMEMADE®

Information updated January 2024

Cottage Cheese is generally viewed as a healthy choice and it certainly can be when we’re eating something which is Closest To Homemade >> as close as possible we can get to homemade with a store-bought brand.

Private label store brands are the most popular ones in this dairy category followed by three key leading branded players >> Daisy, Breakstone’s and Knudsen’s.  (Source: Statista 2024)

Homemade cottage cheese is simply made with just a few ingredients >> dairy/some combination of dairy like milk + cream, salt and culture which curdles the dairy. That’s it!

Following is a look at several Cottage Cheese brands.

ORGANIC COTTAGE CHEESES: Often the perception of organic brands is that their ingredients will be held to a higher standard and they are more likely to be Closest To Homemade. Not in the case of these three organic cottage cheeses >> Humboldt Organic, Organic Valley and Clover Sonoma Organic. (Sources for ingredients: Crystal Humboldt Web site 1/24, Organic Valley Web site 1/24 and Clover Sonoma Web site 1/24).

These organic Cottage Cheeses all contain organic Stabilizers/Thickening Agents and Preservatives so they are not featured on the Closest To Homemade chart. As you will see, the Closest To Homemade Cottage Cheeses have none of the ingredients we see here in these organic products.

MANY HOOD PRODUCTS ARE FAR FROM HOMEMADE: Let’s look at the Hood Cottage Cheese with Pineapple & Cherry. There are 15 ingredients in this product which are Not In Kitchen including Added Sugar + Water, four Thickening Agents/Stabilizers and FDA-recognized Chemical Preservatives. (Source for Hood Ingredients: HP Hood Web site 1/24; U.S. FDA 2024) 

Many Hood products are banned at Whole Foods Market for various Far From Homemade commercial ingredients they contain like High Fructose Corn Syrup, Artificial Colors, Artificial Flavors and Chemical Preservatives such as Potassium Sorbate and Sodium Benzoate. (Source: HP Hood Web site 1/24) According to the Hood Web site, they have approximately 2 billion dollars in annual sales.

Shown below, Whole Foods 365 Lowfat Cottage Cheese, Breakstone’s Fat Free Cottage Cheese and Borden Low Fat Cottage Cheese have multiple ingredients Not In Kitchen.

Artificial Color in plain Cottage Cheese? We are eating white color.

PLEASE ALWAYS CHECK FAT FREE INGREDIENT LABELS AND CONSIDER: Although we all applaud any of us making an effort to make better choices, please look closely at fat free products’ ingredients and see that this is food science and may not be a better choice. We are paying for a lot of things which aren’t naturally in (this case Cottage Cheese) products and may be harmful to our bodies >> maybe not just from this one product but it is the daily ongoing accumulation of these things.

FRIENDSHIP DAIRIES FAT FREE COTTAGE CHEESE WITH PINEAPPLE (below) HAS THREE INGREDIENTS BANNED AT WHOLE FOODS MARKET INCLUDING ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR AND ARTIFICIAL COLOR. This Friendship fat free Cottage Cheese with pineapple has 24 ingredients which is an indication in and of itself that it is Far From Homemade. (Source: Saputo Friendship Dairies Web site 1/24; Source for banned ingredients: Amazon Whole Foods Web site 1/24)

Seen below, CLOSEST TO HOMEMADE LOWFAT 2% COTTAGE CHEESES: Organic and certified Kosher Kalona SuperNatural 2% made with dairy from Grass-Fed Cows on Regenerative Farms >> it is verified Land to Market; Good Culture 2%, and Certified Kosher, Organic and Non-GMO Project Verified Nancy’s Probiotic 2% >> Nancy’s contains two probiotic cultures + four strains of lactic cultures. (Sources: Brand Web sites 1/24)

These Closest To Homemade Cottage Cheeses have no Added Sweeteners, no Stabilizers or Thickening Agents, no Added Flavors or Colors, no Fortification and no Chemical Preservatives. It is possible, yay! Here are the Lowfat options and the Whole Milk options are on the following chart:

Shown below, CLOSEST TO HOMEMADE WHOLE MILK COTTAGE CHEESES: Organic and Certified Kosher Kalona SuperNaturall 4% made with dairy from Grass-Fed Cows on Regenerative Farms >> it is verified Land to Market; Good Culture 4%; Organic Clabbered Cottage Cheese from California’s Cowgirl Creamery; Organic and Certified Kosher and Non-GMO Project Verified Nancy’s Probiotic 4% >> Nancy’s contains two probiotic cultures + four strains of lactic cultures, and Daisy 4% Milkfat. (Sources: Brand Web sites 1/24)

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And we leave you with a trio of old print ads for Cottage Cheese . . .