Flaxseed oil with quark or cottage cheese: the German way
Flaxseed oil and cottage cheese, or quark, is an old German pairing: fresh linseed oil over creamy quark with jacket potatoes. Here is how to make it, keep the oil fresh, and what the Budwig claims are worth.
Flaxseed oil and cottage cheese, or its German cousin quark, is an old and simple pairing. In eastern Germany, fresh linseed (flaxseed) oil is poured into a hollow in a bowl of creamy, salted quark and eaten with potatoes boiled in their skins, and the oil is never heated.
The same mix is the base of the Budwig diet, promoted since the 1950s as a cancer diet, and Cancer Research UK says there is no reliable evidence that it can treat or prevent cancer. As food, though, it is one of the simplest ways to enjoy flaxseed oil. With so few ingredients you taste the oil clearly, so it has to be fresh. Here is the custom, and how to recreate the plate in an Indian, British or American kitchen.
At a glance
- Quark is a soft, fresh, unaged cheese made by souring milk and straining it, eaten all over Germany.
- Quark with linseed oil and jacket potatoes is a traditional dish of Lusatia, especially the Spreewald, and is known across Saxony, Brandenburg and Silesia.
- The Budwig diet uses the same mix, but Cancer Research UK says there is no reliable evidence that it can treat or prevent cancer.
- Hung curd, strained yogurt or blended cottage cheese all stand in well for quark.
- Use the oil raw and fresh: good linseed oil tastes nutty and grassy, stale oil tastes bitter.
Quark with linseed oil: how do Germans eat it?
Mostly raw, over fresh dairy and potatoes. Linseed oil is Leinöl in German, and in Lusatia, Saxony and Silesia it has long been poured over quark, the soft fresh cheese that sits somewhere between thick curd and cream cheese.
The best-known plate comes from Lusatia, the region around the Spreewald and the towns of Bautzen and Cottbus, which is also home to the Sorbs, a Slavic-speaking minority. Quark with linseed oil and potatoes is a dish of the old "poor kitchen", cheap and filling, and it still appears on menus there.
Herbed quark with boiled potatoes is eaten all over Germany; the linseed oil version is the eastern classic.
What is Pellkartoffeln mit Quark und Leinöl?
It means potatoes in their jackets with quark and linseed oil. Small, waxy potatoes are boiled in their skins, peeled at the table or eaten skin and all, and dipped into quark that has been loosened with milk, salted and often mixed with chopped chives or onion. A well is pressed into the middle of the quark and filled with a spoonful or two of linseed oil.
How to make it at home
- Boil 500 g of small waxy potatoes in their skins in salted water for 15 to 20 minutes, until a knife slides in easily.
- Stir 250 g of quark, or hung curd, with 2 to 3 tablespoons of milk until smooth and creamy.
- Season with salt and black pepper, and fold in a handful of chopped chives or spring onion, plus a little finely chopped red onion if you like.
- Spoon the quark onto plates and press a hollow into the centre with the back of a spoon.
- Pour 1 to 2 teaspoons (5 to 10 ml) of fresh linseed oil into each hollow just before serving.
- Drag each forkful of potato through the oil and into the quark.
Radishes or sliced cucumber on the side keep the plate fresh.
How do Poles use linseed oil?
In Poland, linseed oil (olej lniany) is linked with the fasting table: in parts of the country, especially the south around Kraków, it was a traditional fat for meatless days, including Wigilia, the Christmas Eve supper. Poland's own fresh cheese, twaróg, is a close relative of quark, and Silesia, which today lies mostly in Poland, shares the quark, potato and linseed oil habit with its German neighbours.
| Where | The dish | How the oil is used |
|---|---|---|
| Lusatia and the Spreewald, Germany | Quark with linseed oil and potatoes, the region's signature plate | Raw, poured into a well in the quark |
| Saxony and wider eastern Germany | Pellkartoffeln mit Quark und Leinöl | Raw, over quark with jacket potatoes |
| Silesia, now mostly Poland | Quark or twaróg with potatoes | Raw, in the same well-in-the-quark style |
| Poland, especially the south | Fasting-day dishes, including the Wigilia supper | A traditional fat for meatless days |
| UK, USA and Canada | Cottage cheese or strained yogurt with jacket potatoes | Raw, poured over just before eating |
| India and the diaspora | Hung curd with boiled potatoes, an easy adaptation | Raw, drizzled just before eating |
Flaxseed oil and cottage cheese: does it work instead of quark?
Yes, with a little help. Quark is smooth, mild and slightly tangy. Cottage cheese has firmer, chewier curds and more salt, so blend it with a spoonful of yogurt until smooth.
In India, the closest match is hung curd, or chakka: dahi strained in a muslin cloth for three to four hours. In the UAE and across the Middle East, labneh works well, and in the UK and the US, strained Greek-style yogurt is easy to find. German quark comes in grades from skimmed Magerquark to creamy Sahnequark; the richer kinds are closest to a good hung curd.
For an Indian table, season hung curd with salt, roasted cumin and chopped coriander, serve it with boiled potatoes or sweet potatoes, and finish with a teaspoon of flaxseed oil on top.
Why does fresh linseed oil taste nutty and old oil bitter?
Because linseed oil reacts with air faster than almost any other kitchen oil. About half or more of its fat is alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), the plant omega-3, which oxidises very easily; NIH lists about 7.3 g of ALA in a tablespoon. As it does, the fresh, nutty, slightly grassy taste turns bitter and harsh, a little like paint.
That eagerness to react with air is the same property that makes linseed oil useful to painters and woodworkers: spread thin, it hardens. In the kitchen it means three rules. Buy small bottles. Keep an opened bottle in the fridge, tightly capped and away from light. Finish it within a few weeks of opening. Our myth check on whether cold pressed oil goes bad too fast explains how to judge any bottle.
Never use hardware-store linseed oil for food. Boiled linseed oil for wood often contains metal drying agents and is not edible. And never heat the food-grade kind. Our guide to four real ways to use flaxseed oil without heating it has more ideas, and omega-3 and omega-6 in plain language explains what ALA is.
What is the Budwig diet, and is there evidence behind it?
The Budwig mix is flaxseed oil blended with cottage cheese or quark and a little milk, the centrepiece of a diet devised in the 1950s by the German biochemist Johanna Budwig and still promoted online as a cancer diet. The honest answer is that the evidence is not there.
Cancer Research UK says there is no reliable evidence that the Budwig diet can treat or prevent cancer, that no clinical trials of it have been published in peer-reviewed medical journals, and that you could harm your health if you stop cancer treatment for an unproven one. Enjoy quark with linseed oil as food, a simple and satisfying plate, not as medicine. If you or someone you love is facing cancer, talk to the medical team before changing the diet.
Who should be careful
- Health conditions: Cancer Research UK advises people with bowel problems such as inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes or a bleeding disorder to talk to their doctor before taking flaxseed, and notes that it may interact with some medicines.
- Medicines and pregnancy: a teaspoon on your food is ordinary eating, but if you plan to take flaxseed oil by the spoonful every day, check with your doctor first.
- Allergy: flaxseed allergy is uncommon; stop if you notice itching, swelling or a rash.
- Dairy: quark and curd are milk products, so choose a plant yogurt if you avoid dairy.
Using our flaxseed oil
If you want to try it, our Truly Cold Pressed flaxseed oil is pressed slowly in a wooden ghaani and left unrefined and unfiltered, so it may look a little cloudy. We press in small batches and hold about a week's stock. Once opened, keep the bottle in the fridge and finish it within a few weeks, always raw.
The bottom line
In Lusatia and across eastern Germany, linseed oil is a raw finishing oil for quark and jacket potatoes, and in Poland it is an old fasting-day fat. Recreate the plate with quark, hung curd or blended cottage cheese, keep the oil cold and fresh, and enjoy it as food rather than medicine.
Frequently asked questions
How much linseed oil do you put on quark?
About 1 to 2 teaspoons (5 to 10 ml) per plate is typical, poured into a hollow in the quark just before eating. Start with less if you are new to it, because fresh linseed oil has a distinct grassy flavour. Pour it at the table so it stays fresh and does not soak away into the quark.
Can you cook with linseed oil?
No. Linseed oil is rich in an omega-3 fat that breaks down quickly with heat, so it should not be used for frying, tadka or baking. Add it after cooking, once the dish is warm rather than hot, or use it in dressings and dips and over curd, potatoes or dal.
What does linseed oil taste like?
Fresh linseed oil tastes nutty and a little grassy, with a hint of hay, and it has a deep golden colour. Old or badly stored oil tastes bitter and sharp, sometimes like paint. If a bottle tastes harsh, it has been kept too warm, too long or open to the air.
Is linseed oil the same as flaxseed oil?
Yes, for food. Linseed and flaxseed are two names for the seed of the same plant, Linum usitatissimum. British and German speakers tend to say linseed, Americans say flaxseed, and in India it is alsi. The difference that matters is grade: hardware-store linseed oil for wood is not food.
Where can I find quark outside Germany?
Quark is sold in many UK and European supermarkets. If you cannot find it, use hung curd (dahi strained in muslin for three to four hours), labneh, strained Greek-style yogurt, or cottage cheese blended smooth with a spoonful of yogurt. Each gives a slightly different tang, and all work with linseed oil.
