Quark (food)
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For other meanings of the word "Quark" see Quark (disambiguation)
Quark is a fresh creamery cow's milk cheese, commonly used in Germany, Finland and other parts of Europe, somewhat similar to cream cheese. In Austria, it is called Topfen, the German term Quark normally not being understood. It is made by letting certain bacteria ferment milk, with the resulting curd. Some of the whey is removed to standardise the quark to the desired thickness. It is an acid-set cheese like "fresh" or "farmer's" cheeses, not a rennet-set cheese.
The word "Quark" is also used figuratively in German conversation as a word for "nonsense". Quark dazugeben means "to add your two cents worth" with a negative connotation. In this example, "Quark" is synonymous to the (more popular) "Senf" (mustard).
As for etymology, this word comes from mishearing and/or mispronouncing of Polish "twaróg" by German speakers (is pronounced almost like "quark" and means exactly the same thing).
The Austrian word Topfen can also be used figuratively as in the phrase So ein Topfen!, meaning "What nonsense!".de:Quark_(Lebensmittel) eo:Kazeo pl:twaróg fi:Rahka