Homemade Ricotta Recipe. Make Cheese at Home!
photo credit: foodthought.org
Want to make lasagna, but forgot to buy some ricotta? Don't worry about it, it's easy to make your own, and you'll never notice the difference!
Cheese making can be quite difficult. There are bacteria, and fermentations, and ripening, and critical temperatures required etc. etc.
This recipe is an exception and is really dead easy. All cheese begins through a process that increases the acidity of milk. Most cheese will use a bacterial starter culture to naturally acidify the milk. The differing stain of bacteria used will determine the kind of cheese that you end up with.
This recipe doesn't make cheese through bacterial acidification, but rather you add the acid in the form of vinegar. This acidification of the milk will separate the curds and the whey, and leave you with cheese!
This recipe doesn't make true ricotta, but most people can't tell the difference. This method will save you money, and can be finished in about ten minutes...so why not give it a try.
Ricotta Cheese Recipe
- 1/2 gallon of milk
- 2 Tbls of ordinary white vinegar (lemon or lime juice can be substitute, but you'll have to add a bit more)
Whew, there sure are a lot of ingredients huh?
- What you do is, add the milk to a large saucepan and turn the heat on medium low. If the heat is too high you can easily scorch the milk.
- Wait until the milk is almost boiling (small bubbles are starting to come quickly to the surface) and then add your vinegar.
- Stir it up, and you will see the white milk separate into greenish liquid (the whey) and white solid lumps (the curds)
- If you don't see this happening, either your heat is too low, or you need to add more vinegar. Wait a minute and let the milk really approach a boil, if it's still not happening, keep adding more vinegar teaspoon by teaspoon until it does.
- Strain the liquid and reserve the curds. Add salt to taste and you are done. This will work great in any recipe calling for ricotta
A good video on making cheese
- Fias Farm
This is a good beginner site for anyone who wants to learn more about cheesemaking.
Comments
I need to try this one... It is so difficult to get riccota in my small town!
- AUTHOR
Sounds good. Do you do citric acid or bacterial mozzarella? I always have such a hard time getting a clean break in the curds with bacterial starters...but I really prefer the complexity of taste with a starter.
It is quite high... 0.9 grams per oz +/- . Cows milk is 1.0 grams per oz. The difference is that the structure of goats milk is different so that the fat is naturally suspended in the milk, a natual homogenation so it results in a creamie product when you use it. Puddings are thicker, you can make ice cream without half and half or cream added...
The store bought goats milk is nasty but handled carefully, fresh and cold noone can tell the difference or they like it better.
- AUTHOR
Thanks Marye...what's the fat content of goat's milk?
I have been making my own ricotta and mozzerella for years..it does make a great difference in the finished lasagne or whatever.. for the past few years I have been using goat's milk as we raise dairy goats now...good Hub!
No any milk will work, though whole milk makes a richer cheese.
Does it matter what kind of milk you are using? Does it have to be whole milk?
- AUTHOR
A quick search will lead you to lots of good cheese making sites. The ricotta is pretty easy to make, other cheeses can be tricky!
Seems simple enough. Thanks for the reference to the cheese making Web site.
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