Homemade ricotta cheese

[Chantilly]

I watched Ina Garten make homemade ricotta cheese recently on the Food Network -- it was so easy! Her recipe uses kosher salt, which is less salty than regular salt. I don't know if that will make a difference in the recipe. I know some of you have milk animals, so I thought I'd share the recipe:

Homemade Ricotta

4 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons good white wine vinegar
Set a large sieve over a deep bowl. Dampen 2 layers of cheesecloth with water and line the sieve with the cheesecloth.

Pour the milk and cream into a stainless-steel or enameled pot such as Le Creuset. Stir in the salt. Bring to a full boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Turn off the heat and stir in the vinegar. Allow the mixture to stand for 1 minute until it curdles. It will separate into thick parts (the curds) and milky parts (the whey).

Pour the mixture into the cheesecloth-lined sieve and allow it to drain into the bowl at room temperature for 20 to 25 minutes, occasionally discarding the liquid that collects in the bowl. The longer you let the mixture drain, the thicker the ricotta. (I tend to like mine on the thicker side, but some prefer it moister.) Transfer the ricotta to a bowl, discarding the cheesecloth and any remaining whey. Use immediately or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. The ricotta will keep refrigerated for 4 to 5 days.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

That sounds delicious - thanks for sharing!

 

[ORChick]

Sounds good. Add a bit of cream after draining, and you'll have cottage cheese.

Waste not, want not --- use a slightly sturdier fabric to drain the cheese (I use unbleached muslin - about a dollar/yard at the fabric store) and you can wash it out and use it again. I rinse it immediately after using it (I use it to drain yogurt and kefir), and let it dry. Then it goes in the next "whites" wash load (that's the only time I use hot water for laundry)

By the way -

 

[~gd]

That sounds like a rich mans ricotta! We used to make it from the whey left over after making other cheeses. There are proteins left in the whey that arent solids, we would let the whey ferment for a day to become more acid [done by the white wine vinegar in this recipe] and then heating the whey to just below boiling. The curd would be very fine and flow right through regular cheesecloth. We used what we called press cloths which were used to press hard cheeses.
Looking at the recipe again, the six cups of whole milk and cream must have been used to give a higher yield since six quarts of true whey would yield maybe a pint of real ricotta. And for our members who are concerned with what they eat, real ricotta is low in casein and can be eaten by those that have casein intolerance which can be a problem that prevents the consumption of most milk and cheese products, but this product would still contain the casein ~gd

 

[SSDreamin]

gd - I used the whey to make ricotta too. Didn't get much from my batch, but it was more than I had before I started I am going to jot down this recipe though, because it seems to me you'd get a richer/creamier ricotta this way

Thanks for the recipe Chantilly!

 

[Wannabefree]

That does sound good

 

[Chantilly]

I've read previously that ricotta is generally made from whey -- a way to recover some additional product from the milky fluid left after making other cheeses. But Ina's recipe just looked so simple that I thought I'd share it for those of you who have cows or goats. (I assume you can also make ricotta from goat's milk.) As I've mentioned before, I live in suburbia with a shady yard, so many of the self-sufficient ways of country dwellers just aren't possible for me. But my grandmother was a very self-sufficient women and I greatly admired her and her lifestyle. And I'm fascinated by all that you are able to do for yourselves. Thanks for allowing me to read your forum.

 

[Wannabefree]

Chantilly, you'll find that not everyone here does things the same way. We all have our own way of doing multiple things SS related. I think that is just as good a way to make ricotta as any other. I've made it both ways, when I had too much milk Thanks for the recipe!!

 

[ORChick]

Chantilly, for every person on this forum (I am willing to bet) there is a different goal they have set for themselves, and a different way they are getting there. Wherever you are is a good place to start. I started in the middle of a big city with only a dream - I was newly married, and realized that I needed my mother's herb garden to cook for my new husband . Mother and garden were half way round the world, and I didn't even have a balcony or wide windowsill. I was surprised and gratified to find that it was quite possible to buy herbs at the greengrocer, but it started the dream going. It took a few years, and a move back to the U.S., but I finally got my balcony, and then later my garden, and still later - only 5 years ago - a flock of chickens! But along the way I learned to can and dehydrate and ferment and garden and got better at sewing and knitting, and am learning to spin. I will never be "self sufficient", but I can and will "do for myself" where and when I can. And that is all I ever wanted.

 

[Emerald]

Nice recipe.. I normally use whey but have always added extra cream to bump up the final amount.. Only thing I do different is I add the salt at the end so if I want to use it for cannolli I can omit the salt or limit the amount. Just a personal thing.