The Rural Voice, 1990-06, Page 42RURAL LIVING
Quark...
High in flavour, low in calories
by Rhea Hamilton -Seeger
Have you noticed the wider selec-
tion of cheeses and dairy products in
local supermarkets over the past few
years? One addition I am delighted
to buy is quark. This soft, smooth,
unripened cheese is popular in Europe.
It has the texture of cream cheese and
the tang of sour cream, but when it
comes to calories it has both these
products beat. And you know what
that means for those of us who delight
in cheesecakes but can't face the
scales the next day.
Quark is a German word for curd,
and quark-kase means a soft or cream
cheese. The nomadic Arab tribes of
2,000 years ago carried quark in a dry
form which did not spoil in the hot
climate. Like buttermilk and yogurt,
quark is a cultured product — the
kinds sold here are made with rennet
and bacterial culture — and has more
of a tang than cottage cheese. Making
it involves heating soured milk and
leaving it to curdle, then hanging it in
cheesecloth to dry. Some manufac-
turers use skim milk and add a little
sweet cream to mellow the sourness.
Quark often turns up in recipes
under the name curd cheese. It keeps
for seven weeks in the fridge and can
be frozen. (If it separates when
thawed, simply stir the liquid back in.)
Skim milk quark has about 1 per
cent butterfat and pressed creamed
quark has 11 per cent. By contrast,
cream cheese has from 30 to 36 per
cent, while sour cream is 14 to about
20 per cent. This is why quark is
relatively low in calories.
There is no guarantee that quark
will substitute well in alt your recipes,
so experiment. It does succeed in the
following recipes:
• For a creamy frosting for carrot
cake or other sturdy cakes, beat two
cups of quark with a half cup of sifted
icing sugar. Stir in one tablespoon
grated orange rind and one teaspoon
vanilla. Add two to three tablespoons
plain yogurt or milk until it reaches
the desired consistency. This con-
science -easing icing can be spread
on graham crackers or crispbread as a
snack for kids. Thin it a little more,
and it's a good dip for strawberries or
chunks of apple and bananas.
• For a pungent dip for raw veg-
etables or a spread for crackers and
bread, blend two cups of quark with
enough yogurt or mayonnaise to
moisten. Add chopped fresh herbs,
perhaps some minced garlic, and salt
and pepper to taste. Stuff celery
sticks, hollowed -out cucumbers, and
tomatoes with the mixture.
• Fill baked tart shells with lightly
sweetened quark just before serving
and top with fresh fruit. Use the same
treatment for fresh fruit shortcakes
using flan cases.
• Substitute skim milk quark for
cottage cheese in unbaked cheesecakes
set with gelatin — the texture is
smoother.
To get you started, I tried out the
following cheesecake recipe. I found
it reminiscent of the drier -textured
German cheesecake and was lavish
with 1 1/2 cups of cappuccino yogurt
on top for extra moisture. You can try
the same or slice fresh strawberries on
top too. What a treat!
Mocha Cheesecake
Crumb crust for the bottom only of a
greased, 8 or 9 -inch springform pan.
1 cup real chocolate chips
1 tablespoon instant coffee
1/2 cup boiling water
1 500 g tub or 1 450 pkg. of quark
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 eggs
Heat the chocolate chips over
simmering water until just melted.
Dissolve the coffee in boiling water.
In a mixer, beat the quark and sugar
for two or three minutes. Stir in the
melted chocolate and vanilla.
Beat the eggs, one by one, and
stir in the coffee. The mixture will
be quite runny. Pour slowly and care-
fully into the crumb crust. Bake in a
preheated oven at 350° F for about
1 hour and 20 minutes, or until the
centre is firm when you jiggle the pan.
Turn the oven off and leave the
door ajar for half an hour. Then let
the cake cool on a rack at room temp-
erature. Chill thoroughly before serv-
ing. Run a knife around the edge of
the cake and remove the springform.
I realize we had a chocolate
cheesecake recipe for Valentine's,
and I do apologize — my love for
both cheesecakes and chocolate some-
times wreaks havoc with my choice
of recipes. But for those of you who
want a new muffin recipe that also has
milk in it, here is another goodie, a
recipe given to me by my stepmother.
Pineapple Loaf
This was originally a loaf recipe
and makes two lovely loaves which
are nice to serve when company
comes. I have also made this up as
muffins, and the staff at the Rural
Voice office will tell you it didn't take
long to empty the basket. The recipe
makes 16 to 18 large muffins —
reduce the baking time to 15 to 20
minutes or until nicely golden.
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup crushed pineapple
1 cup raisins
(golden make for a nice flavour)
2 eggs, well beaten
1/2 cup cherries (optional)
2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Cream shortening and sugar and
add the rest of the ingredients in order.
Grease pans and bake 15 minutes at
350° F; then reduce temperature to
325° F until golden.0
38 THE RURAL VOICE