Chicken Librarian Makes: Ricotta
Friends! I'm late in posting my latest Chicken Librarian Makes roundup! My apologies. It's almost time for the next one! Life got away from me this week, but that will be for another post. Anyway, here's the video and then the recipe for making ricotta. It didn't go as planned but that's what happens. If you watch the video you'll know what mistake(s) I made. But the important part about making ricotta is to get the temp up to 200°F and to use lots of acid. If you follow the instructions below, you should get ricotta! Happy cheesemaking y'all!
Ingredients:
2 gallons fresh whey
1 quart whole milk, for extra yield, if needed
2/3 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon citric acid
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons heavy cream, if needed
Instructions:
1. Using whey left over from mozzarella and same large pot, add any milk necessary to ensure there is 2 gallons of whey/milk. Heat the mixture to 200°F.
2. While stirring, turn off the heat and add the lemon juice, citric acid, and salt. You will notice tiny white particles of protein.
3. Let sit uncovered, off the heat, for 10 minutes.
4. Carefully ladle the curds into a colander lined with cheesecloth. Allow it to drain for about 15 minutes. Gather sides of cloth and gently squeeze excess whey from cheese in cloth Remove the cheese from the cheesecloth, scraping to get as much as you can.
5. Add cream if desired. The cream will produce a richer, moister cheese.
6. Cover container and refrigerate for up to 1 week.
Recipe adapted from Home Cheese Making by Ricki Carroll
Tips & Tricks:
1. If you haven't made mozzarella yet (it's super easy and how I get the whey for this recipe) see this post.
2. I order all my cheesemaking supplies (rennet, cheesecloth, etc) from cheesemaking.com
3. I get my citric acid here
4. I exclusively make whey ricotta. I discuss my reasoning in the video, but long story short, I find it wasteful to use a gallon or two of milk to make ricotta and then end up with a by-product that I can't use (although now that I'm thinking about it, I guess you could use the milk to make ricotta and then make whey ricotta!).
5. This is worth repeating time and time again: you need to get your whey/milk up to 200°F and use lots of acid to make ricotta. And your yield will not be very much. It takes a lot of milk/whey to make a decent amount of ricotta
That's it! I hope you make cheese soon and if you do, please let me know!! I love seeing your'alls creations! Happy making friends!
'til next time
-k
xoxo