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What Is Curd And Quark? The Important Difference

What are curd and quark? Just use quark for the classic curd cheese strudel, is that possible? We will show you here whether this works and where the difference lies.

Such a curd!

You want to copy the great curd cheese strudel recipe from your last holiday and then the whole thing goes completely soggy just because you used the German version instead of the Austrian white cheese! So what’s the difference? Important information would have been here:

  • Quark contains more liquid
  • Low-fat quark is most similar to the classic from Austria

Already knew?

Quark and curd cheese also belong to the group of cream cheese varieties. They are obtained using modern dairy techniques.

What is potting?

In a figurative sense, both words actually mean the same thing, namely crap or nonsense. Now you might think that it is the same with the name of the food: In southern Germany and Austria, the quark is simply called curd. But that is not quite the case. The main difference: Traditionally, the Austrian cream cheese variant is drained more, so that it has a much drier, almost crumbly consistency. Both are made from acidified milk. In contrast to curd cheese, however, the whey is not completely filtered out with quark.

Important when swapping ingredients

If you want to make a classic curd cheese recipe and don’t have this ingredient at hand, you should definitely use low-fat quark. This is already drier than a cream quark. To allow more liquid to escape, let it drain in a colander in the fridge overnight. You’ll be surprised how much comes out of it.

The best way to drain the quark is as follows:

  1. Place a sieve over a bowl
  2. Line the sieve with a cotton cloth
  3. Fill the cloth with low-fat quark and cover
  4. curd complain
  5. Drain overnight in the fridge

Then the whole thing can be processed according to the recipe.

Tip: Quark and curd cheese also cut a fine figure in the medicine chest. Due to the lactic acid bacteria they contain, the whey products have an anti-inflammatory, cooling, and pain-relieving effect. Quark wraps are therefore a popular and tried and tested household remedy.

Fat makes it creamy

Both cream cheese variants have a creamier consistency due to a higher fat content in the dry matter, are easier to process, and taste all the milder. You can get them in stores in different versions, from low-fat to double-cream. You won’t find classic curd cheese that much in our supermarkets. In Austria, there are also breadcrumbs from which more moisture is squeezed out.

Tip: A little warm milk or cream makes it easier to mix granular curd cheese.

“Quark makes you strong!” Try our delicious quark strudel or treat yourself to a slice of bread with our spicy quark spread.

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Written by John Myers

Professional Chef with 25 years of industry experience at the highest levels. Restaurant owner. Beverage Director with experience creating world-class nationally recognized cocktail programs. Food writer with a distinctive Chef-driven voice and point of view.

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