I’m curious as to if it’s worth making your own Ricotta

Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Difficulty: 1/5

Ingredient Availability: 5/5

I know that most people don’t really consider making cheese at home. When they do, I feel like mozzarella is the first option. Now, ricotta may seem like an odd cheese to make from scratch. What exactly would one do with some home made ricotta with honey? Well, the recipe recommends crackers and that’s what I ate with this antipasto from Italian American.

Key ingredients and Omissions:

There isn’t really anything special about the ingredients in this dish. I will say that this is one of the times where the quality of your ingredients really matters. The milk you choose is probably most important as that is where most of the flavor will come from. If you can, you should use locally sourced milk that’s non-pasteurized. I wasn’t able to get that, so I just got some organic grass-fed milk. Lastly, I used greek yogurt instead of labneh.

Tools:

• Bowls

• Blender

• Fine mesh Sieve

• Cheesecloth
  
  

Cooking review:

Blending ingredients: 9 minutes

I combined the milk, cream, greek yogurt, and salt in a bowl. I don’t have a blender large enough to blend that much stuff, so I used an immersion blender to mix it all together until smooth.

Simmering Dairy: 25 minutes

I transferred the dairy to a saucepan over low heat and cooked it, whisking every now and then until it just began to simmer. Once simmering, I let it simmer for 10 minutes, continuing to whisk as curds formed. The cheese was removed from the heat.

Rest and Strain: 14 minutes

After letting the cheese rest for 10 minutes, I strained it though a fine mesh sieve and cheesecloth. I discarded the liquid and put the ricotta into a bowl.

Finishing: 42 minutes

After letting the cheese cool for 30 minutes in the refrigerator, I whipped the remaining heavy cream to stiff peaks (I actually over whipped it slightly). I folded the cream into the ricotta and seasoned with salt. A Before serving, I drizzled the top with honey, flaky sea salt, and olive oil.

Analysis:

I ate this ricotta with Triscuits. The texture is one of the first things that I noticed. It was very light, soft, and airy, which I really enjoyed. The honey and olive oil kind of overpower the flavor of the cheese, which may be because of the milk I used, but once I got past the top layer of  cheese I was able to taste the milk and cream. I think that’s the main problem with this dish. The toppings you choose can easily overpower the cheese itself. Once you get to the cheese itself, it’s good. I won’t penalize it too much, as the toppings are super easy to add or remove. This recipe is going to get a 8/10. If you just make the cheese itself to eat on crackers or sandwiches, I don’t think you’ll be upset at all. Just be careful with the toppings.