Homemade Ricottta Cheese

Homemade Ricotta Cheese

Ricotta cheese is a versatile, useful product for many applications, including appetizers, entrees, and desserts.  Although ricotta is referred to as a “cheese,” it is actually a cheese by-product; but who wants to think that they are eating a “by-product”.   So, we will follow the cheese path that was forged by our cheese making friends to ease our mental hesitation.  There are many good ricotta products on the market, but it is so easy to make and so much tastier when you make it at home that once you make it, you will have a hard time going back to store bought products.  There are only a few ingredients that are needed to make ricotta cheese, but there are many variations on the basic recipe.  The main ingredients are whole milk, heavy cream, salt and acid (white vinegar or lemon juice).  The equipment you will need is a heavy bottom sauce pan, a bowl, a colander, and cheese cloth. 

Although the active process of making this cheese is very brief, you do need to think ahead as it needs several hours to sit and drain.  Use our trusty friend, the internet, to browse recipes and try different variations, but the basic process is heating your milk, cream, salt and acid to about 180 degrees, using an instant read thermometer to check the temperature.  If you don’t have an instant read thermometer, I recommend purchasing one as they an invaluable tool in the kitchen.  You don’t need to spend more than $20 to get a good, digital thermometer.  The key to a good one, though, is that it is “instant-read”, so that you get a quick, accurate temperature.   This proves especially valuable when making cheese like this and with baking – think crème brulee.  But, I digress; crème brulee will have to wait for another day.  As your milk mixture is heating, remember to occasionally stir it, and prepare a colander by lining it with several layers of cheesecloth and place the colander over a bowl or container.  Pick a bowl that is large enough to capture all the liquid that will drain out.  Early on, as your mixture heats, you will see the milk start to curdle – this is a good thing.  Once you reach your 180 degrees, carefully pour the mixture into the cheesecloth lined colander.  Let this drain for several hours.  Discard the liquid that has drained off; what we want is the curds in the colander.  The amount of draining time is up to you though.  Wait a long time for dryer ricotta, but for a moister product remove the curds early on.  This is often a personal preference, but different applications would require different moisture levels.  I like a moister ricotta for my lasagna, but a dryer ricotta for my cannolis.  When making my ricotta, I have a slight preference for lemon juice over vinegar.  I just like the little extra flavor you get from the juice.  As a general rule of thumb, don’t go over 5% acid to milk; too much acid and it will be acidic, too little acid and it won’t curdle.  And always use whole milk versus skim milk; we want the fat of the whole milk.  To make it a little leaner, omit the heavy cream.  Most of all, have fun!

Happy eating!