Home-made ricotta!

[KeenCook2 Profile]

We finally got round to using the cheese making kit DS gave me for my birthday some weeks ago and we made ricotta.

It needed more citric acid than first specified in the recipe - although it did say if the curds don't form, keep adding more bit by bit. A quick look at other recipes made me think that it probably needed more to start with. We were doing half quantities - 2 ltrs instead of 4 and scaled down the ingredients, which is what the booklet said we could do. We got about 400 g of cheese. And a lot of whey! No idea what to do with it, looks like "acid" whey isn't much use for anything else.

On an electric hob it was tricky keeping it at the 76 degrees C required and the whole thing took much longer than we anticipated - but then, the first time for anything like that is bound to take longer.

If I could remember how to shrink photos to the size allowed on here I'd post a pic!

It tastes good, still quite granular. We've got a lot to practise before progressing onto more complicated processes like burrata!

[Earthmaiden Profile]

Whey can be used to replace milk or buttermilk in scones. I think it can
be used in breads too but not sure of the ratio to other ingredients (I.e if it can replace all, or just some of, the liquid).

[KeenCook2 Profile]

I thought I had heard that too, EM, but according to this link https://www.culturesforhealth.com/learn ... -use-whey/ it's not terribly useful. Although we used semi-skimmed milk not whole milk and they specifically mention whole milk ricotta ....

Ah, just found this link https://www.culturesforhealth.com/learn ... ta-cheese/
So the whey can theoretically be used to make more ricotta! Mine has been sitting around since yesterday so it's not fresh. Might try that next time.

[Badger's Mate Profile]

I did a day at Wilde's a couple of years ago, they were great advocates of whey. However, I think all those cheeses were rennet curds. I have made a few acid set cheeses, as EM says you could use the whey in scones or soda bread. There's a soda fruit loaf that a colleague from w*** used to make, Manx recipe called Bonnag or somesuch, it might work in that. I suppose it depends upon how much citric acid you've added to your milk. I've definitely boiled spuds in HM whey but can't remember if it was acid or rennet based.

I made a ricotta tart with a chocolate crust (Tessa Kiros recipe) with mine

[Badger's Mate Profile]

I think that the heat used to make the type of ricotta in these kits probably means that most of the protein is already precipitated and there might not be much left for a reboil. The yield might be very low.

[jeral Profile]

I make a sort of cheese sometimes from yoghurt made at home in a 1L yoghurt maker, using UHT full fat ("whole") milk, simply by straining it in the fridge for about thee days over muslin or decent thick kitchen paper. It also leaves a lot of whey and not much solid, maybe only around 1/3rd of the original milk liquid volume. You might find it less faff.

[Badger's Mate Profile]

I suppose that's not unlike labneh

[KeenCook2 Profile]

I think that the heat used to make the type of ricotta in these kits probably means that most of the protein is already precipitated and there might not be much left for a reboil. The yield might be very low.

Ah, that would make me feel better about chucking the whey if I'm probably not "wasting" it

[scullion Profile]

And a lot of whey! No idea what to do with it, looks like "acid" whey isn't much use for anything else.

can you boil it down to make mysost?

[karadekoolaid Profile]

You can use the whey to cook rice, for example. It´s delicious.

[ZeroCook Profile]

You can use the whey to cook rice, for example. It´s delicious.

That's a great idea. Never have found a good use for whey.

I make Ricotta using whole milk and yoghurt - works really well, beautiful flavour and texture.
https://cnz.to/recipes/basics/homemade-ricotta-recipe/

I also make yoghurt - very simple too - it's all about proportions and temperature.

[KeenCook2 Profile]

You can use the whey to cook rice, for example. It´s delicious.

Arghh I chucked it yesterday evening as no room to store it ... next time I will definitely use it for rice. That's a brilliant idea

ZeroCook, that's a great recipe

[Suffs Profile]

I used to use the whey from cheese making to feed the pigs we were fattening ... great use for it makes wonderful pork.

[Earthmaiden Profile]

I believe that the Melton Mowbray pork pie industry grew as a byproduct because the whey from local cheeses, such as Stilton, was used to feed the pigs.

[Lokelani Profile]

I loved making our own cheese for a while. We bought the stuff from Lakeland years ago & had so much fun. I think we made mozzarella first, I seem to remember using the microwave for that, then ricotta.

I think the problem back then was finding non homogenised milk. Great fun though & so rewarding, as is making anything from scratch.

[miss mouse Profile]

I have trouble finding the point of ricotta, it is as dull as cottage cheese. I did once eat a nice mozzarella years ago, just the once though alas.

[KeenCook2 Profile]

I have trouble finding the point of ricotta, it is as dull as cottage cheese. I did once eat a nice mozzarella years ago, just the once though alas.

I'm looking forward to making the burrata - which I really love - but it's tricky so a bit more practice needed!

We've been eating cottage cheese recently in scrambled eggs/ omelettes, with herbs, wild garlic or whatever, and it's been delicious.

[Pepper Pig Profile]

I adore burrata.

[Amyw Profile]

I don’t like cottage cheese but like ricotta. I’ve had it spread on bruschetta too and I like grilled courgettes with garlic chilli and ricotta .

Burrata and mozzarella are both gorgeous . A caprese salad is one of my favourite summer meals

[karadekoolaid Profile]

I have trouble finding the point of ricotta, it is as dull as cottage cheese.

I´ll concur on that, Miss mouse. Ricotta falls into the same category as tofu and polenta.
However, I think it´s more what you do with it, or what you combine it with, rather than its flavour. Ricotta is great when combined with spinach and used to stuff canneloni and also with pasta sauces.