Ricotta

Cheese holds a special place in my heart. I love all kinds of cheese – the stinkier, the better. So when I learned how easy it was to make ricotta cheese I couldn’t wait to give it a try!

I don’t love store-bought ricotta, it tends to be dry and bland, but homemade ricotta is an entirely different cheese. It’s moist, citrusy, spreadable, and delicious on a slice of fresh sour dough bread with a drizzle of high quality olive oil and fresh cracked pepper.

If you are looking to dive deeper into the world of cheesemaking, ricotta is a great first step. The basics are here without the nuances of citric acid, rennet, cheese salt, and all those fun bits. We’ll get into that later.

After checking out a few ricotta recipes and blending them together, here is what I ended up trying out for my test batch of ricotta:

Homemade Ricotta Cheese

1/2 C. Heavy Cream
1 1/2 C. Whole milk
1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
2 Tbsp. Rice vinegar (you can also use white wine vinegar, white vinegar, or lemon juice)

1. Pour the cream, milk, and salt into a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Pay attention to it because it will foam over quickly once it does boil.
2. As soon as it boils, remove it from the heat.
3. Add the vinegar and give it a quick stir.
4. Wait 2-3 minutes (don’t touch it!) you’ll see it separate into curds and whey.
5. Wet a piece of cheese cloth and drape over a sieve. Pour the curdles milk over the cheese cloth to strain.
6. The longer you wait, the more firm your ricotta will be. I waited about 20-30 minutes for a creamy ricotta.

Congratulations! You’re a novice cheesemaker.