Random Considerations: 2009

Ricotta is Italian for 'recooked' and the name derives from the fact that ricotta is made from the recooked whey that is left over from cheese-making. Therefore the cheese made with this recipe is not exactly ricotta; however the texture and taste is extremely similar and so can be used as a substitute for ricotta in many dishes such as lasagna and desserts. It's extremely easy to make and it's so good that you have to try making this at least once. It's extremely important that you use full fat milk or else you will get a very small yield. You can add some cream to the milk if you want a creamier and larger yield of cheese.

Ingredients

800ml full fat milk
6 teaspoons lemon juice
salt to taste

Supplies

Pan
cheese-cloth (or you can simply use a handkerchief)
Sieve
Bowl

Method

Pour the milk in the pan and put on high heat. Stir continuasly so that the milk does not burn or form a crust. When the milk get slightly foamy around the edges of the pan, take the pan off the burner.

Add the lemon juice to the milk and stir thoroughly. Put the pan on the burner again and stir until the mixture boils. Turn off the burner and you will see that the milk has separated into curds and whey. You can use vinegar instead of lemon but the taste of the actual cheese will be slightly different.

Let the mixture stand for about 15 minutes. In the meantime line the bottom of your sieve with the cheese-cloth (I did not have any cheese cloth so I used a clean handkerchief) and put the sieve in a bowl.

Pour the mixture into the cloth. The curds remain in the cloth while the whey drips into the bowl. This might take a while depending on the type of cloth you're using. I usually let it drip for 5 minutes. Do not throw away the whey; it is full of nutrients. You can use it for boiling pasta or give it to your pets.

Pick up the four corners of the cloth and squeeze the ricotta slightly to get out the extra whey. The drier the ricotta, the firmer it will be.

You can now place the ricotta inside a small container such as a cup and add a pinch of salt. If you are using the ricotta for desserts you can opt out of using salt.