Dr. Johanna Budwig taught how to prepare her special mixture and highlighted important features to consider when choosing the ingredients we use. Although she did not leave a recipe for making cottage cheese or quark, the ingredients are easy to find almost anywhere. However, what options are there for any who may not be able to find the ingredients needed? And what about those who are lactose intolerant?
Here is a recipe for homemade kefir cheese
Ingredients
For each liter of milk (preferably goat) use 3 tablespoons of kefir nodules
No more ingredients are required.
Process
- Heat the milk until just before it reaches boiling point. Then remove it from the stove.
- Add the kefir nodules to the warm milk so that they dissolve.
- Once dissolved, pour the contents of the mixture into a fine cloth (gauze type) that has been placed over a bowl or sink. Form a knot in the cloth and let the liquid drain until there is no more liquid in the cloth.
- Set the mixture left in the cloth in a round glass or ceramic bowl and let ferment the cheese so that it takes that round shape. Leave it covered and keep at room temperature.
- Allow to ferment at room temperature, protecting the container from direct sunlight. Place it in a closet or a dark corner of the pantry. Let it set for 24 to 48 hours; the longer you leave it the more the cheese will have an astringent quality. (Less lactose)
- Upon completing the fermentation process, refrigerate whatever you do not eat.
Here we cannot get got milk instead can we use cow milk
Dear Harish,
Thank you for contacting us with your question. Yes you can use quark or cottage cheese made from cow’s milk. Goat milk products are usually easier to digest but it is rare to be able to find a low fat cottage cheese or quark made from this type of milk. At Budwig Center we use a quark that has 0.2% fat but made from cow’s milk.
Kind regards,
Kathy L.J.
[email protected]
http://www.budwigcenter.com
Budwig Center
Calle Huéscar, 5 Ed. Galaxia 1-11
Málaga 29007, Málaga Spain
Tel. +34 952 577 369
I am lactose intolerant – what can I use to make the oil-protein mix please
Most people that are lactose intolerant can eat kefir cottage cheese.
Here is the recipe: https://budwigcenter.com/budwig-center-made-kefir-cheese/#.WOOi3TuLTIU
Kind regards,
Kathy L.J.
I am in the US. We have low fat kefir available but is a runny liquid consistency,not like cheese. Can this liquid consistency be used? I read in your info you can thin quark with milk.
Dear Jennifer,
Thank you for this question. Dr. Budwig did use a couple tablespoons of low fat milk but this was not only for consistency but actually make the flaxseed oil more available to the cells. Kefir was not used in this recipe so although kefir can be beneficial for one’s digestive system, we would not recommend it when preparing the mixture of flaxseed oil and quark.
Kind regards,
Kathy L.J.
[email protected]
What type of kefir granules are used?
I have made kefir using grains that do not dissolve but do grow in the milk and then are removed when the kefir is finished.
I have also made homemade cottage cheese using rennet tablets that are dissolved in the milk and then allowed to sit overnight until the curds form and then the cheese is strained.
Could you please tell me where you can purchase kefir grains that dissolve ?
Thank you.
Dear Deborah,
Thank you for this observation. We are sorry for the confusion in instructions of step nº 2.
We should specify that the grains are kept inside the gauze for 5 to 10 minutes. Then the liquid is drained but the liquid only is what is left to ferment, not the grains.
Kind regards,
Kathy L. Jenkins
Director of Budwig Center
Certified Naturopath
[email protected]
Hi, I have kefir grains and want to make cottage cheese. I note that in normal recipes there is 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and a pinch of salt is normally used to make the liquid turn to curds. Can I use this method with vinegar for the Budwig protocol or do I just make the kefir into a cream cheese by draining the whey?
Dear Candy,
Thank you for contacting us with your question. It is actually quite difficult to make kefir cottage cheese compared to making homemade cottage cheese. This is why the recipe speaks of having the kefir nodules. The process of fermenting is also a delicate one as you need the right environment. Using a little bit of organic apple cider vinegar and unrefined salt might be another way but we cannot guarantee that it will turn out well. This is not something we have tried.
Kind regards,
Kathy L. Jenkins
Manager of Budwig Center
Certified Naturopath
[email protected]
Hi Kathy,
Thank you for your reply. I do ferment my own kefir, from grains(nodules), but perhaps there is a difference in what we call cottage cheese and cream cheese. The way your instructions are written it sounds like you are making kefir cream cheese, which is a smooth product versus cottage cheese which has a pebbly texture from being curdled. So is your “cottage cheese” very smooth or is it pebble-like texture?
Thank you
Dear Candy,
I’m sorry, we have never heard of and are not familiar with kefir cream cheese. Just cream cheese is not fermented and would have full fat (cream). Kefir is different as it involves fermenting.
Kathy L. Jenkins
Manager of Budwig Center
Certified Naturopath
[email protected]
Please can you advise whether coconut milk can be used to produce a vegan kefir cottage cheese for the protocol?
Dear Samantha,
Thank you for contacting us with this question. Although we explain how to follow the Budwig protocol and how to prepare the recipe using quark or cottage cheese, we have not become experts in actually elaborating the quark or cottage cheese so I’m afraid we wouldn’t be able to answer that question. We know that the important part of the cheese is its protein and we can’t know or think that with coconut it will be the same.
Kind regards,
Kathy Jenkins
So I think you are saying that it is not beneficial to use 0.1% organic shop bought Kefir in making up the Budwig mix. What % milk do you recommend instead? I love kefir! and it makes a a very satisfying production
Thanks
Jackie
Kiev
Ukraine.
Could you please reply by email thanks
Hello Jackie
Thank you for your question on using Kefir. Dr. Budwig no doubt knew about Kefir but she did not use it in this specific recipe. Instead she used the Quark and skimmed milk. Although she specified that the quark have no more than 2% fat content, she did not specify which percentage of fat the skimmed milk should have.
We have replied to your email directly so please check your inbox as well as your spam folder.
Kind regards
Kathy Jenkins
Bonjour,
J’ai commencé à manger la crème Budwig depuis un mois; J’ai utilisé du cottage cheese mais c’est trop pâteux; Donc, j’ai continué avec du kefir au lait de vache.Cependant, je ne mange plus de produits laitiers normalement depuis plus de dix ans, par conviction. D’autre part j’ai lu que les cellules cancéreuses se nourrissent en premier de sucre que j’ai donc éliminé, mais elles se nourrissent aussi du mucus créé par toutes sortes de produits laitiers animaux…Je suis du coup surprise que vous préconisiez cela. Puis je attendre les mêmes effets anti cancer avec du kéfir végétal?
merci
Clotilde
Dear Clotilde,
I’m replying in English to this question as it is easier for us to explain this way. Dr. Budwig did not encourage her patients to take dairy products or any animal fat. For the texture of the Budwig muesli to be better, add 2 tablespoons of skimmed or semi-skimmed milk that is not UHT. The milk and quark are only eaten when prepared with flaxseed oil. Combining these ingredients is necessary because our intestinal wall has a negative electric charge and so does flaxseed oil, so one doesn’t absorb flaxseed oil so well when taken on its own. The quark or cottage cheese with milk carry a positive electric charge and combines or adheres well to the flaxseed oil and makes it possible to absorb the benefits of the flaxseed oil which oxygenates the cells. We hope you are able to enjoy the recipe adding 2 tablespoons of milk.
Kind regards,
Kathy Jenkins
DEAR KATHY, WHEN I make salad dressing how long can I keep it, and oak pancate mix can I keep what is left after I fix it for one meal or is it best to cut the recipe in half. Thank You Kathy! Forrest B. Dull
Dear Forest,
Salad dressing might keep for 3 days or so if it has lemon, oil and even unrefined salt because these act as natural preservatives. Usually though, one should try to eat food once it is prepared. Dr. Budwig wasn’t in favour of leftovers as the food doesn’t have the same value once prepared and “sits”. The pancake mix should be prepared in full or cut in half as you suggest if you are not able to use it all.
Kind regards,
Budwig Team
Hi Kathy,
Thank you so much for this recipe. I look forward to trying this out with both skimmed and whole fat milk. I’ve seen positive testimonials shared of people seeming to use regular whole fat kefir without problem, but am interested in seeing how the texture, taste and yield differs if I’m using full fat raw milk, and skimming off the cultured kefir cream from the top, before seeing if it’ll ferment enough to continue on to make the kefir cheese.
Regarding Candy’s question, though, I think the difference between Kefir Cream Cheese and Kefir Cottage Cheese, as far as texture goes, is just based on how long you let it drip, or, if pressing it (as one would when making a Hard Kefir Cheese), you press out enough whey to make it drier (crumbly) vs wetter (smooth). It seems to differ by how much whey is left in the curds. I would imagine the closer to requesón (ricotta) and cottage cheese texture, the better.
Dear TK,
Thank you for this clarification TK. More whey in the curds would be the better option.
Kind regards,
Kathy Jenkins
Hi Kathy,
I so appreciate your sharing that with me – I had no idea, as I thought it’d be better to have the curds be drier, instead of keeping some of the whey in the curds. I will try that from now on instead 🙂
I am sorry to bother you, again, but had a question about a portion of the Budwig Guide. Part of it touches on candida, and I wanted to ask if there is a page on this site going into detail about how to get rid of that while maintaining the budwig protocol? I saw some of the Budwig Center’s medication for it called “Candida Control” (where you take 5 drops 3 times per day on an empty stomach, 5 days on and 2 days off) on another website, but would it be recommended to simply take that medicine to handle the candida, and continue with the flax seed/cottage cheese for anti-cancer? I ask because many sites that only deal with candida so often say to stay away from cottage cheese and other soft cheeses. Have you found that the flax oil/cottage cheese to ever make things worse when trying to get rid of the candida, or does it not seem to have a negative effect at all?
Also, if a person has candida, is it still recommended to begin doing the Budwig protocol twice a day for the first 2-3 months, and then move onto once a day afterward, as has been described on the Budwig Center’s youtube channel?
Hello,
We would really prefer not to make a general suggestion. Candida can be a difficult health problem to tackle. There is said remedy at this link: https://www.lifeintegrativemed.net/home/101-candida-control.html Then one could take the mixture only once a day and rely on other aspects of the diet and other personalized remedies that can be found doing a vega test and GSR scan. You can read about this here: https://budwigcenter.com/gsr-scan-vega-test/
I am highly allergic to cow’s milk but we have our own goats. It is very labor intensive to make goat milk lowfat and then make the quark. Is it necessary to be lowfat for the protocol to work?
Dear Lisa,
Yes, for the chemical change to happen and the oil to become homogenous it is important to have low-fat quark.
What do you do when you can’t tolerate casein. I have tried A2 milk and I still cannot tolerate the casein. thanks
Dear Caroline, what happens when you have the muesli, the recipe where you are mixing the flaxseed oil and cottage cheese or quark with honey and ground seeds? What do you mean that you don’t tolerate it. I am also dairy intolerant but I am able to eat this mixture because it changes chemically when blended with this oil. Some have the flaxseeds in their diet and others try preparing it with whey protein and soaked flaxseeds.
Hello Kathy
we live in India , we don’t get cottage cheese, so I make my own cottage cheese with organic cow’s milk using lemon to curdle it , is it right and I am using non pasteurised milk.
Is coffee enema is advisable for a rectal cancer patient.
In India I believe paneer is another option. Also, coffee enemas are ok if a patient isn’t too weak and their liver is not affected. So it should be fine for a patient with rectal cancer as long as the tube is not presseing on the tumor and irritating it.
This page contains a recipe for kefir cheese yet one of the comments made by Kathy Jenkins on July 21, 17 said that kefir cheese is not used for the muesli mixture .
Dear Jutta, I hope I didn’t make a mistake but what I meant to say is that Kefir, even if from goat or sheep, is not the right ingredient to use in to prepare the Budwig muesli. But Kefir cottage cheese is not the same as Kefir and that is the recipe we provided for patients that have trouble with dairy to try and see if they tolerate it better and it would be ok to use for the Budwig muesli mixture.
Hi,
Can I use kefir quark? I am lactose intolerant and have just discovered kefir quark in my local market.
Thank you so much!
Best wishes,
Annabelle
Dear Annabelle, yes, kefir quark should be good for you. Just make sure it is low fat too.
Thank you for the wonderful information. I’m confused that low fat cottage must be used, but the kefir recipe doesn’t state low fat milk, if using cow’s milk. So, is whole milk ok? Also, would dried goat’s milk work in the kefir recipe? Thank you.
Dear Gerri, good point. The cow’s milk should be low fat. Not sure if dried goat’s milk would work. If you try it and it works, let us know!
Hi,i live in israel and cant find organic cottage and there is no goat cottage , only goat cream cheese. I found kefir from cows milk but not organic. What do you recomend me to use for the budwig protocol with these options? I will prefer not to make my on cottage , because the lack of time.
Dear Karen, we understand the difficulty of time. We don’t make our own cottage cheese or quark either, we buy it. The ingredients we are using in the Budwig kitchen are ALL organic except for the quark. It is the only thing we are not able to get organic with the right fat content but it is still giving us great results. Concentrate on finding a cottage cheese that has no more than 2% fat and no added sugars.
I leave in Africa and l cant get cottage cheese over here what can l use to replace the organic cottage cheese.
Dear Afua, we are also not able to get organic cottage cheese and we use quark that isn’t organic. We are considering making our own with organic low fat milk but basically the low-fat product is more important than it being organic or not.
I am in India using following method of preparation of home made kefir cottage cheese : Let me clarify term Kefir means milk converted to curd by adding 3 table spoon Kefir Grains to 1 litre of A2 cow milk.
2% fat A2 Cow milk is boiled and cooled to normal. This milk is kept in refrigirator. Upper cream is removed. Kefir Grains are put in glass bottle in which this milk is added. Mouth of the bottle is covered by cloth and kept in dark place overnight for 20 hours. Milk is converted into Kefir(Curd). Then Kefir grains are taken out from strainer steel pot and only Kefir (Curd) is collected in steel pot. This pot with Kefir(curd) is kept in boiling water for 35 to 40 minutes. Whey and cheese are separated during heating process. Whey is drained out and cheese is kept in a cloth for about 4 to 6 hours. This cheese is kept in refrigerator and is used on next day for mixing with flaxid Oil for budwig protocol. Could get good results for my cancer patient. Kefir grains are reused and grains are grown multiplied and increase in quantity at home.
Thank you for sharing this recipe and what you are doing. Many of our readers have told us they end up making their own cottage chese or kefir cottage cheese.
May I know which type of deseases are cured , controlled or prevented by budwig protocol apart from cancer. How it boost immunity in those deseases.
Hello, yes, Dr. Budwig wrote a book with 50 other illnesses she found were helped with this protocol. This is because it involves an integrative approach, treating the mind, body and spirit. We can gladly help you on a more individual basis depending on what you are looking for. Please email us: [email protected]
Hello Cathy
Is it absolutely neccesssary to mix the oil and quark with an electric mixer.? I did this but then started mixing by hand which gives much better rythymn to the mixing. I could it see any difference as no oil was visible. Can we have some research results about this. It must have been researched about the fusion between milk protein and oil and how it becomes water soluable. And did Johanna Budwig always use an electric mixer?
Dear Paul, we have heard of ones using only a utensil like spoon or fork but one would have to mix with practically the same intensity used to turn cream into whipped cream, so to be on the safe side it is best to use an electric hand blender.
The answers. To the kefir cheese are more confusing each time I read an answer!!!
My questions are: why if you are using kefir grains do you need to heat the mixture at all??
If you leave it to over ferment it will thicken and separate on its own without heat or a separator like lemon juice. All you need to do is strain the whey.
I think a previous comment was about that particular process of making a cottage style kefir cheese by just overfermenting -?then straining the whey without heating anything. – which has a smooth consistency – not the lumpy consistency of cottage cheese.
My concern is this : Introducing heat actually KILLS the kefir grains.
Also kefir grains do not like low fat milk – they decline and won’t grow properly.
Also is goats milk naturally higher protein/lower fat and or sugars?
Was doctor Budwig talking about industrially processed skimmed milk – or just a cheese made with lower fat content milk ?
Dear Andrea, sorry for the confusion, I think Annie’s explanation you will prove very helpful. The only thing needed to clarify is that she say “blood heat”. I have a feeling she ment low heat.
Hi,
I hope I do not cause offence, but making kefir with kefir grains and goat milk, and then making various kefir cheeses, which I did for years as a vegetarian before becoming vegan, is actually a slightly different process. The kefir grains go into blood heat, room temperature or cold milk and it is left at room temperature whilst covered with fine cheese cloth or a loose lid. It is then left for 12 to 24 hours, depending on how tart you like it and how warm the room is. In the summer, it will ferment more quickly. The longer it ferments, the less lactose. A far slower ferment can be done in the fridge but the grains won’t be as active. When it is fermented to your taste, strain the kefir grains and put into fresh milk, and put the fermented kefir into fine cheese cloth or a fine clean t towel to drain as much as you like to make kefir cheese. The kefir whey can be saved for smoothies, baking or is very soothing in the bath. I also like kefir made from real milk from coconuts. Dairy milk, however, is their natural medium and they do best with organic sheep or goat milk. The kefir grains will multiply and can be shared with others. Hope that helps someone.
That does look helpful Annie. Did you mean to say “blood heat” on the 3rd line? or did you mean something else?
Dear Kathy
I know you only recommend kefir cheese as a substitute. Many other sources allow tofu cheese as a substitute as well. Could you please give a comment on this?
Thank you
Peter
Dear Piotr, tofu being made from soy would not be encouraged. Fermetted soy is ok, like natto and miso, but I wouldn’t necessarily trust that the tofu cheese is an acceptable substitute for this recipe.
Dear Kathy
Some sources also allow tofu cheese as a substitute.
Could you please give a comment on that?
I think it would be better to have these “sources” explain or defend their reason for saying that it is an acceptable substitue.
Buenos dias
Si mi informacion es buena, el queso quark (llamado asi en Alemania) es el cottage (Francia),La Ricotta (Italia) y en España es el requeson.
Es un queso hecho del suero de la leche con niveles de grasa casi al 0% y con altas cantidades de proteinas sulfuradas.
Por tanto deduzco que cualquier producto lacteo derivado de la leche entera como kefir o el mismo Quark hecho de leche entera (todos los quesos Quark que encuentro son hechos asi) no servirian, no?
Atentamente
Gracias por enviarnos su pregunta Javier. El quark que usaba la Dra Budwig era bajo en grasa, no más de 2% m.g.
Otros productos lácteos no tendrán necesariamente las mismas cantidades de proteínas sulfuradas. Y si tienen demasiado grasa, no tendrá el mismo efecto al mezclar lo con el aceite de lino. Por eso hay que elegir bien este ingrediente. En España lo encontramos en el Aldi y en Carrefour.