Making Ricotta Cheese

My daughter, Luna, belongs to an online cooking group called Daring Cook. Each month they are given a cooking challenge, which they try, test, and post. Last month, May 2009, their challenge was making ricotta gnocchi. While they could use store bought ricotta (the challenge was making the gnocchi) they were encouraged to make their owm ricotta since the process is so easy. It sounded like fun and I thought I'd give it a try.


To be honest, I didn't make true ricotta. Ricotta translates as re-cooked. True Italian ricotta is cheese made from the whey after making Mozzarella cheese; the left-over whey is cooked (hence the re-cook) with more acid resulting in the last of any protein remaining in the whey is clotted into ricotta. My ricotta is made from fresh milk and cream. Well, as fresh as one can get from the dairy case at the grocery store (READ: pasturized). I followed the links on Luna's blog plus a little more research finally coming up with my proportion and procedure. Like so many recipes, there are as many variations as there are cooks and cheese makers. But, all-in-all, the procedure is much the same, the variations are what acids are used and when to add them.

This is how I made my ricotta:



Into a stainless steel pot I poured a half gallon (minus one cup) of whole milk plus one cup of heavy cream. This will give me a creamier ricotta.






Over medium flame I heated the milk to 180 degrees F, stirring occasionally so it wouldn't scortch on the bottom.







As the temperature nears 180 degrees F, I measure 3 TBS vinegar and less than 1/4 tsp salt into my measuring cup.






As soon as I stir in the vinegar & salt solution the milk seperates into curds and whey. Success!

Once the curds formed up I turned off the heat. I was also careful not to stir up the curd, which would break them up into pieces so tiny they might drain away with the whey in the next step.

The curd is soft and delicate. The whey is a clear liquid that is slightly yellow-green in color.

The curds and whey are poured into a sieve which I lined with layers of cheese cloth.

After most of the whey drained I gathered up the corners of the cheese cloth into a bag, of sorts. You can see more whey draining. I also gave the bag a gentle squeeze firming up the ball of ricotta.

I tied the bag onto the faucet so that it could finish draining for approximately 30 minutes. Once the whey is drained and any remaining liquid dripping is milky in color, the ricotta can be put in a container.

I prefer drier ricotta; so,I hung it in the refrigerator overnight.

The results was a one pound ball of fresh ricotta. The texture is creamy and smooth. Not as smooth as cream cheese, but much smoother and finer than store bought, which always reminds me of sand. The flavor is delicate.

This morning we (The Mister and I) had some on toast. The process is so easy that I can see myself making this regularly ... varying the recipe each time until I settle upon my favorite(s)