if you want to ease into cheese making at home, the right place to start is ricotta.
this cheese is easy to make, hard to mess up, and can be used in a multitude of recipes like spaghetti squash, carrot gnocchi, scones, crepes, or even pizza.
making my own cheese appealed to me for a couple different reasons: the sense of accomplishment, the fact that i live in wisconsin, and the idea of a safe and contained science experiment in my own kitchen.
so a half gallon of whole milk and a touch of acid later, and i had some homemade ricotta.
for your acid, you can use vinegar or lemon juice. i went with the vinegar because that’s what i had on hand, but i am curious to try it with lemon juice, and see if there is any difference in texture.
oh the questions i ponder.
- ½ gallon whole milk, not ultra-pasteurized
- 2½ tablespoons white vinegar
- pinch of salt
- Heat whole milk in large pot to 180 degrees. Remove from heat, add vinegar and pinch of salt and stir once or twice. Let the cheese form for 15 minutes in pot. You should see the curds separating from the whey.
- Place four layers of cheesecloth in a mesh sieve and pour contents of pot into the sieve (make sure you have a bowl underneath to catch the whey).
- Discard the whey in the bowl and let the ricotta sit for an hour or so.
- You can store the ricotta in a air-tight container for up to 5 days in the fridge, but I prefer to eat immediately :).
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