Homemade Czech Tvaroh Cheese

Tvaroh cheese is a traditional sweet baking ingredient in the Czech Republic and throughout Central Europe. In today's recipe, I will explain what tvaroh is and how you can quickly and easily make it at home!

➜ What is Czech tvaroh?

Tvaroh is a Czech type of unripened curd cheese that is traditionally produced from fresh cow's milk. Tvaroh is created by fermenting milk and separating the whey from the solid components of the cheese. Finally, the curdled fresh cheese is drained through a fine cloth to get the right consistency and crumbly texture.

Making tvaroh cheese the traditional way takes about three days.

➜ Use of tvaroh cheese in the kitchen

Tvaroh is most commonly used to make kolache and sheet cake filling, as a topping for sweet dumplings, or to make cheese dough.

It's also fantastic in savory dishes. Tvaroh is frequently the key component in a variety of popular Czech spreads.

➜ Tvaroh in international cuisines

In the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, it is no problem to buy tvaroh cheese in a regular grocery store. Germans call it Quark; in Polish, it's twaróg.

But even in the US, people looking for tvaroh don't have to worry: a suitable alternative exists in the form of farmer's cheese, which can be bought in the refrigerated dairy aisle at the store.

Good news for those who can't find tvaroh in their local grocery shop: You can easily make this cheese at home, just like Czech grandmothers did back in the day!

➜ Ingredients

➜ Making homemade tvaroh

STEP 1: Pour the milk into a saucepan and stir in the lemon juice. Cover with a lid, leaving about ½ inch of space on the rim. Let stand for two days on the kitchen counter at room temperature.

STEP 2: After about two days, the solid components of the cheese separate from the whey. The solid cheese will float on the surface while the whey sinks to the bottom of the pot.

STEP 3: Now you need to separate the cheese from the liquid whey. Prepare a clean pot and put a sieve over it. Line the sieve with a fine clean cloth. Pour the curdled milk into the lined sieve and allow the whey to drain.

STEP 4: To make sure the tvaroh contains less liquid, twist the cheesecloth gently to get as much whey out of the cheese curds as possible. This will give you a soft tvaroh with a creamy consistency, ready to use in your recipes.

MY TIP: If you want a dryer cheese, weigh the curds down with a small pot of water, for example, and let the whey drip overnight. By the next day, the cheese will acquire a crumbly consistency with no excess whey liquid.

I know there are a lot of recipes on the internet that use fresh warmed milk with lemon juice to make farmers' cheese / Czech tvaroh. I've tried this method too, but the milk never turned sour as well as it did when I let it sit at room temperature for two days.

That is why I advocate a little patience when making homemade tvaroh cheese and recommend letting the milk sour naturally, as was the custom in the past. Although it takes two extra days, the result is guaranteed!

➜ Storage

Store fresh tvaroh in an airtight container in the fridge, where it will keep for up to five days.

In the old days, Czechs used to leave the tvaroh for another two days at room temperature and then use it as a base ingredient for making delicate salty cheeses. Indeed, the world-famous Czech smelly "tvarůžky" is made from aged tvaroh cheese!

Recipes using tvaroh as an ingredient

• Tvaroh filling – for kolache, buchty and other sweet pastry
• Rozhuda – Czech spread with chives
• Puff pastry with sweet cheese filling
• Farmers cheese pancakes – tvarohové placky
• Czech tied kolache – vázané koláče

➜ Useful tips

• The tvaroh cheese has a slightly sour taste and mild flavor and is suitable for both sweet and savory dishes.
• If you want the tvaroh cheese to have a milder taste, add half a cup of heavy cream to the milk before souring.
• Instead of lemon juice, add distilled white vinegar to encourage the milk to sour. Use the same amount of vinegar as the lemon juice specified in the recipe. Another way to boost the fermentation of fresh cow's milk is to add a cup of buttermilk to it.