The 2-Ingredient Cottage Cheese Snack You'll Only Find In Pennsylvania

Central Pennsylvania is home to a large Pennsylvania Dutch community. Roadside stands and small stores sell fresh shoofly pies and hand-rolled butter – items rarely found outside of that part of the country. Another food item you won't find anywhere else is smearcase.

In other parts of the country, smearcase is a cheesecake-like confection, but in central Pennsylvania, it's cottage cheese, where it's mixed with apple butter and often eaten on slices of bread. The name comes from the German word schmierkäse, which means spreadable cheese. Similar sounding smeerkaas is a Dutch spreadable gouda cheese, and can be flavored with cracked pepper, herbs or other seasonings. It's often spread on sandwiches or crackers.

The combination of cottage cheese and fruit has been a dieter's staple for a long time. It's high in protein, low in calories, and an inexpensive and tasty lunch. But, you don't need to be on a diet to enjoy smearcase. 

The Pennsylvania Dutch are well-known for dairy products. Myriad foods are made from the milk of cows, which you can see grazing in the endless fields as you drive through central PA. From cheeses to raw milk, it's a dairy lovers' paradise.

Cottage cheese is having its moment on social media lately, inspiring one man to create cottage cheese ice cream. The company, called Smearcase FroCo (for Frozen Cottage Cheese), is currently distributed in New York and is expected to expand into New England and the mid-Atlantic region soon. 

The apple butter is easy to make, and mixing it into cottage cheese is just as easy. It's like an elevated applesauce that can be used as a pancake topping, as a side dish, or in recipes. If canning is your jam, a jar of apple butter with a pretty bow attached makes a great gift. Cottage cheese is optional.