Homemade ricotta cheese

I had been wanting to try making homemade ricotta for a long time, and finally got around to it.

I used this recipe and method from The Kitchn. In short:  1/2 gallon of milk (not skim or ultra-pasteurized), 1/3 C of lemon juice or vinegar, 1 teaspoon salt. Heat milk to 200 degrees F, stir in your acid, let sit for 10 minutes, strain through cheesecloth to remove whey (which can be used in place of water in baking later; haven't tried that myself yet).

Other recipes recommend heating the milk to 180 degrees F, or to "starting to simmer". I found the latter much more useful, as it was a pain to keep checking the milk temperature over and over with the thermometer.

There was also a wide variation in straining times; it depends on how dry you want it to be at the end. If you drain it overnight and press it together, it is basically a farmer's cheese. (You can also get a sort of cheese by straining plain yogurt overnight; may not work as well with low-fat yogurt).

I tried it once with lemon juice, and another time with vinegar. Lemon juice gives it a better flavor, but they both work.

For straining, the first time I used a clean piece of white cotton fabric (and threw it away afterward; not worth the trouble to wash it with the appliances and plumbing that we have) and a colander--actually, the steamer basket of our main stockpot. The second time, I used an unprinted paper towel, which also worked (and didn't seem to shed fibers into the cheese).

The yield comes to about two cups of ricotta, and a quart and a half of whey, for one half-gallon of milk.

My husband approved of the ricotta, but the children didn't like it...so there was more for us!

In terms of time needed to make the cheese, it takes some time, and a bit of hands-on time, so it is not something that I plan on doing often. But it is nice to know about and be able to do.