Kesong puti is a Filipino soft, unaged, white cheese made from unskimmed carabao milk and salt curdled with vinegar, citrus juices, or sometimes rennet.

In other parts of the Philippines, Caviteño kesilyo or kasilyo and Cebuano queseo or kiseyo, are all nativized spellings of Spanish quesillo ("little cheese").

[2] Most kesong puti is made by direct acidification, similar to numerous other cheeses like queso blanco, paneer, ricotta, mascarpone.

[4][5] The most common way of making homemade kesong puti is by heating (but not boiling) fresh strained carabao milk with one to four teaspoons of salt for about ten to fifteen minutes while stirring constantly.

The curds are strained with a cheesecloth (katsa) leaving the soft gelatinous-like version of kesong puti.

[4][6][7][8][9] In commercial versions, the salt is usually added after the curdling either through manual mixing or by soaking the cheese in weak brine solutions.

[10] An alternate way of making kesong puti is with rennet dissolved in a small amount of water.

The steps are similar to the vinegar or citrus method but requires that the milk be cooled after it is taken off the heat, ideally to 40 to 45 °C (104 to 113 °F).

The curds are strained then cut into small cubes and left to stand for another 15 minutes to allow more moisture to seep out.

[9][11] Kesong puti made with rennet is similar to the Italian mozzarella di bufala.

[9][11][15] There are four main regions producing variants of kesong puti that probably originated independently: Laguna, Cebu, Cavite, and Bulacan.

[19][20][21] Caviteño quesillo, kesilyo, or kasilyo production is centered in the cities of General Trias and Cavite, and the municipality of Tanza.

[10] Bulacan kesong puti production is centered in the towns of Santa Maria, Meycauayan, and San Miguel.