Making Ricotta Cheese

Yes I said making ricotta cheese.

I'm on a cheese kick. Gotta do it. It's new, its exciting, and full of surprises. It makes me giddy to think about making my own cheese.

I don't know how I actually got on this kick. It has interested me for some time. I would walk into cheese shops and think about making cheese and how satisfying it must be. But it is so easy drive to a store and buy good cheese that the thought of making it might seem a little stupid. Eventually the bug got the better of me and I just had to give it a try. I bought a home cheese making book and sat down and read it cover to cover which only proved to get me even more excited about the prospect of eating cheese that I would make.

In my very short cheese making career here is what I have learned so far. It's a simple act of taking milk and heating it that produces cheese. Seems simple. It is simple in concept. Au contraire. Cheese making is not easy. It is a complicated chemical process, and one misstep can ruin a batch of cheese. You end up with something else entirely, and sometimes it is hard to tell what it is.

But this cheese making event was a success so lets get to the details.

Ingredients and equipment:

• 1 gallon whole milk
• 4 cups cultured buttermilk
• Salt
• Large heavy bottomed stock pot
• Thermometer
• Butter muslin or cheesecloth
  

Put the milk in a large heavy pot and heat it slowly until it reaches 180 degrees, stirring occasionally. This will probably take 35 to 40 minutes, but the temperature is the important item here. Once it has reached 180 remove the pot from the heat and let it sit for 30 minutes. This will allow the curbs to form, see below. Do not stir at this point.

Line a colander with a double layer of butter muslin. Pour the curds into the colander carefully and allow to drain for anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours. The longer it drains and dryer the cheese will be. You decide. It all depends on how wet or dry you want it.

When the ricotta has drained to your satisfaction transfer it to a bowl, break it up, and stir. Add salt to taste. The cheese can be kept in the refrigerator up to on week but I would recommend using it as soon as possible.

There are number of different ways to serve and enjoy this cheese. You can add a variety of fresh chopped herbs to it then serve it on crackers. You could add some sun dried tomatoes. I like to make crostini, put the goat cheese on top, then top with some of the sun dried tomatoes and olive oil. Or you can make lasagna or add it to an omelet.

One thing is for sure. The taste is so much better than stuff you buy in the containers at the supermarket. Now I know that making cheese is not such a stupid idea.