Quark

What is Quark Cheese?

Quark is traditional across European cuisines, from Germanic to Slavic and Baltic kitchens. Tacitus may have described it in Germania as lac concretum, or thick milk, eaten by Germanic peoples, though that phrase could just as easily mean soured milk. The German word has been documented since the 14th century and traces back to a West Slavic source such as Polish twaróg or Czech tvaroh, with cognates in Russian tvorog, Hungarian túró, Danish kvark and Dutch kwark. The Old Church Slavonic root points to form, so the name reads as milk that solidified and took a shape.

Production starts with pasteurized skim milk and mesophilic Lactococcus starter cultures. Most dairies now add a small amount of rennet while the mix is still near pH 6.1, then let acidity build to about 4.6, the point where casein begins to precipitate. Whey is drained off to reach the thickness wanted, traditionally by hanging the curd in a muslin bag or cheesecloth, industrially by centrifuge. In the 19th century there was no factory quark at all; milk was left to sour on its own at home.

German quark is stirred continuously so it never hardens, which leaves it thick and creamy with the firmness of sour cream and a slightly crumbly edge. Legally, German fresh cheeses must hold at least 73 percent water in the fat-free component. Fat ranges from 1 to 40 percent of the dry mass; the rest is mostly protein, 80 percent of that casein, plus calcium and phosphate. Higher fat versions get cream added after cooling and taste faintly sweet. Schichtkäse, a firmer type with a cream layer between two quark layers, is the baking choice. Austrian and Central European versions carry less whey and come out drier and more solid.

Germany sells it in cubic plastic tubs as skimmed Magerquark, regular quark at 20 percent fat in dry mass, and Sahnequark at 40 percent. Magerquark goes into baking or breakfast with fruit and muesli, while Sahnequark forms the base of quark desserts. Cheesecake is the best known use: Käsekuchen in Germany, Topfenkuchen in Austria, Quarktorte in Switzerland, and the unbaked kwarktaart in the Netherlands. Quark also makes Quarkölteig, a quick baking powder dough that needs no rising, and Kräuterquark, mixed with onions, parsley and chives and eaten with boiled potatoes. Quark with linseed oil and potatoes is the national dish of the Sorbs in Lusatia.

Slavic and Baltic cooks lean on it just as hard. Poland mixes twaróg with mashed potatoes for pierogi filling and shapes leniwe pierogi from it; sernik, tvarožník and syrnyk are the regional cheesecakes. In Ukraine, Belarus and Poland nearly every family buys or makes it, eaten with sour cream, jam or sugar, stuffed into blinchiki, blended with eggs, sugar, raisins and nuts for the Easter paskha, or fried as syrniki. Latvians eat it savory with sour cream and scallions on rye bread, bake it into biezpiena plātsmaize, and dip sweetened blocks in chocolate. Finnish rahka is stocked plain and flavored in supermarkets.