Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Ricotta Made at Home

Here are my basic precepts for sustainable food:

1. Make as much of it as you can yourself, from scratch.

2. Use either food you grow yourself, or is grown near you, as much as possible.

3. Use recognizable real food, not mixes or partially prepared mixes. (This is what "from scratch" means.)

So, although it is possible to buy ricotta cheese from the dairy case, I'd rather make it myself.  This has to be the simplest cheese in the world to make.  It can be used in many ways, including cheesecake, macaroni and cheese, and especially in homemade lasagna.

There are two ways ricotta is made.  If you are already a cheesemaker and like to make mozzarella at home, the leftover whey can be made into ricotta.  (This is a different recipe.)  But I like to make it from whole milk.  We don't have it that often, so why not have the best?  It can be made from skim or fat-reduced milk, but we now know that butterfat is actually good for you, containing omega-3 acids.  And whole milk ricotta is so delicious.

We are fortunate here in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to have an old-fashioned family dairy nearby. Not only do they sell milk that is minimally processed and in glass bottles, it is possible to obtain their non-homogenized milk, with a cream head. But if you can't get that, even supermarket homogenized whole milk makes a very nice ricotta.

You need some citric acid.  Ricotta is made by acidifying milk and heating it.  This causes the protein to coagulate and make curds.  Some people use lemon juice or vinegar, but to my taste these impart a flavor.  Citric acid is a simple, pure, crystalline organic acid that can be found in shops who cater to brewmasters or picklemakers (or cheesemakers).

Here are the proportions of citric acid to be used.  Dissolve the powder in water before adding it to the milk.

1 gallon milk            1 teaspoon citric acid         1/4 cup water
1/2 gallon milk        1/2 teaspoon citric acid     2 tablespoons water

Place the milk in a nonreactive pan (stainless steel is good) and mix in the citric acid solution.  Heat the milk, with occasional stirring, to 185-195 F°.  An instant-read thermometer is very useful for this. DO NOT let the milk boil or scorch, but watch it constantly. When it reaches temperature, turn off the heat and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Pour the whey and curds into a colander lined with butter muslin (a fine-textured cheesecloth).  If you don't have the cheesecloth, a clean "flour sack" type tea towel will probably work.  After the whey has drained (a few minutes), the ricotta can be released by folding the cloth gently, and placed into a bowl for refrigeration until used.  It should be used within a few days.

A half gallon of milk makes about 3/4 pound of ricotta.