Of all things cheese-related, almost everyone loves to hate cottage cheese. I admit, I was a part of the cottage cheese-hating fan club—and why? What did cottage cheese ever do to me?

Was it the lunch snack mix-up in grade school, when I mistook cottage cheese for rice pudding?

Was it my arachnophobia and the Miss Muffet nursery rhyme convincing me cottage cheese (i.e. curds and whey) must be a spider sentinel?

Or is it because I just fell in with the same boat as everybody else, the “wrinkle your nose without giving ‘ol cottage cheese a chance” cruise line?

Whatever my qualms were, they disappeared once I gave cottage cheese the college try. (Really—it took me until college to try!) Since then, I haven’t gone back.

With the popularity of frozen yogurt, Green yogurt, kefir and anything else wonderfully tart, you should give cottage cheese another chance as well. Trust me on this.