Here is the final post in my mini series “What I Can Squeeze out of Two Gallons of Milk”. If you recall…with two gallons of raw milk, I was able to make mozzarella cheese…fresh butter…and now…ricotta cheese!
Ricotta cheese is made with the leftover whey from your cheese making process. It is SO easy. I am so amazed that after I’ve finished making mozzarella cheese…there’s still ricotta cheese lurking in the whey! (What smart person discovered that…I want to know?)
To make Ricotta Cheese:
Pour all of the whey left from making your mozzarella cheese into a large stock pot. Heat it to 170°. Try to keep it right around that tempurature for a minute or so…then remove it from the heat. It looks something like this:
I apologize for the quality of this picture. It’s…yucky looking. That’s what happens when you stick your camera inside a pot of almost boiling whey. Look closely to TRY to see that the whey is bubbly with a thick layer of white froth on the top. Can you see it? Ah well…thanks for trying.
Pour your bubbling whey into a strainer lined with a tea towel. (You will put something under your strainer to catch the liquid, right?) Allow the liquid to strain through the tea towel. This takes a little manuevering because the ricotta starts to line the bottom of the tea towel and doesn’t allow the liquid to go through as easily.
Use a spoon and scrape all the ricotta off of the tea towel.
Place your ricotta cheese into a jar for storage. Stuffed Manicotti anyone?
So, what do you think? Not too hard, huh?
What recipes do you like making with ricotta cheese?
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Here’s what I need you to do now. Tell me what you’d like for me to talk about next in the Feeding the Family series! Thanks!
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This post is linked to Frugal Fridays.