Look For This Label Every Time You Buy Cottage Cheese

Once upon a time, cottage cheese was a fuddy-duddy ingredient best known for being unusually lumpy and bland. But now? This humble dairy product has been veritably taken under the wing of Gen Z who adore it for its high protein content and versatile nature, which can be used to make anything from cottage cheese bread to satisfyingly creamy dips. However, to get the most out of your cottage cheese there's one phrase you need to look for on the label: the presence of "live and active cultures," which are known to improve the gut microbiome.

The gut microbiome is a term used to describe the trillions of microbes that live in the intestine, such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses. The right balance of these microbes leads to a healthier gut, which improves the body's ability to extract nutrients from food and digest fiber, as well as boost immunity and lower the risk of disease. Cottage cheese that contains live and active cultures benefits the gut microbiome and is therefore described as a probiotic. 

Other fermented milk products, such as yogurt, buttermilk, and kefir are probiotics too because strains of bacteria such as Lactobacillus, L. Casei, and B. bifidum, are added to them during the production process. These live cultures cause some of the milk to be converted to lactic acid, which lends these products their characteristic tang. Cottage cheese isn't as tangy as sour cream and its milder personality means it can be used in sweet and savory dishes alike.

Some cottage cheese brands do not contain probiotics

Not every type of cottage cheese is a probiotic. To guarantee that you're getting the right stuff, it should mention "live and active cultures" or "probiotic cultures" on the label. However, it might also mention cultured milk on the ingredients list. For example, Breakstone's cottage cheese, which was the winner in our list of 8 cottage cheese brands, ranked worst to best, is made with cultured pasteurized skim milk and cream. The runner up in our taste test was Good Culture low-fat classic cottage cheese, which contains the live and active cultures Lactococcus ssp. and Lactobacillus ssp.

One of the best ways to use cottage cheese is to combine it into breakfast recipes. For instance, combine cottage cheese in your morning serving of scrambled eggs to make it creamier and maximize the protein content of your meal. Alternatively, whizz it up with pancake batter to lend your sweet brekkie some extra protein, heft, and a touch of balancing tang. If you're concerned about the lumpy texture of cottage cheese, you can blend it first to make it smoother and add it to a basic béchamel before making mac and cheese or a layered veggie lasagna.

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