cottage cheese

American  

noun

cottage cheeses plural

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.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• cottage cheeses
  plural

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:

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cottage cheese

That cloud of whipped cottage cheese is the secret foundation of what may be the lemoniest pasta salad in the world.

From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026

What makes whipped cottage cheese especially useful is that it behaves less like a “health swap” and more like a base sauce.

From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026

You can also try making cottage cheese mayonnaise, which is significantly easier to make than traditional mayo.

From Salon ● May 24, 2026

I’m talking about cottage cheese, the curd-filled dairy product that sits alongside yogurt, butter and milk in the refrigerated section of your local grocery store.

From Salon ● May 24, 2026

Soon we were inside, coats off, helping to set up tables of sandwiches, cake, beans, and cottage cheese.

From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson