cottage cheese

American  

noun

1. an extremely soft, or loose, white, mild-flavored cheese made from skim-milk curds, usually without rennet.

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cottage cheese British  

noun

1. a mild loose soft white cheese made from skimmed milk curds

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Regionalisms

Farmer cheese and farmer's cheese are widely used throughout the U.S. as terms for a kind of cottage cheese. This same kind of cheese, with varying curd size and sourness, is also called sour-milk cheese in Eastern New England; curd or curd cheese, chiefly in the Northeastern and Southern U.S.; pot cheese, chiefly in the Hudson Valley; smearcase, chiefly in the North Midland U.S., and sometimes cream cheese in the Gulf States.

Etymology

Origin of cottage cheese

An Americanism dating back to 1840–50

Compare meaning

How does cottage-cheese compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• cottage cheese vs. cream cheese
• ricotta vs. cottage cheese

Example Sentences

He’d eaten extra helpings of cantaloupe and cottage cheese, so it was a colorful and fragrant display.

From Literature

Influencers gleefully showed off their high-protein diets, complete with eggs, cottage cheese, poultry and red meat.

From Salon

Strong demand for yogurt, cottage cheese and butter are helping fuel the growth.

From The Wall Street Journal

Even a dairy-aisle staple like cottage cheese has been in short supply after TikTokers talked up its value as a protein source.

From MarketWatch

Even a dairy-aisle staple like cottage cheese has been in short supply after TikTokers talked up its value as a protein source.

From MarketWatch