Homemade Ricotta Cheese

Last night, Hubby and I made our very first batch of ricotta cheese. Woot!

We had gotten the cheese-making kit a few months ago when visiting Shepherd's Way Farms during an open house. They make really great artisan cheese and are only about 20 minutes away. They had Ricki's Cheesemaking Kit from New England Cheesemaking Supply Company in Massachussetts. All I can say is that it couldn't be easier and the cheese tastes fantastic.

We bought some organic whole milk. We poured the whole gallon into the pot along with a teaspoon of citric acid (from the kit) and a tsp of salt (optional).

The milk in the pot.

Adding the salt.

We heated the milk to 195 degrees F, stirring often to prevent burning. It started to curdle and look like ricotta.

Once it reached 195 degrees, we took it off the heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Then we scooped the ricotta into the cheesecloth-lined colander over another pot to drain for 1/2 hour.

The cheese hanging to drain for 1/2 hour.

The ricotta in the cheesecloth.

The cheese is very tasty. It is a bit sweeter than what you find in the grocery stores. It is nice and light in texture. I am so excited to use it for lemon ricotta pancakes and in homemade lasagna. Additionally, the cheese kit has a recipe to use the whey leftover to make pizza dough or bread - so we've saved the whey to do that later.

Tomorrow we will be doing our first batch of mozzarella using Cedar Summit milk. Look for the post on that in the future.

In summary, I'm very excited to venture into cheese making. The simpleness of some types of cheese I think would lend itself to making a family activity out of it for those with kids. Try it out!