Whole Milk Ricotta

I recently took at class on local woman cheesemakers at the Astor Wine Center and had a near-religious experience trying the fresh ricotta from the woman from Salvadore Bklyn (http://www.salvatorebklyn.com). The difference between homemade ricotta and the kind you get in the grocery is a vast chasm…worlds apart. The amazing and fantastic thing is that its SUPER easy to make your own ricotta and it can be done in less than an hour. Here is the recipe I follow, loosely based on the recipe I learned at Gramercy Tavern. I use raw milk that I buy from a farmer, which makes it especially delicious AND nutritious. I love to serve it on toasted fresh bread with olive oil and garlic marinated sundried tomatoes.


If you don’t have access to milk like this, look for a good farm that doesn’t homogenize their whole milk, like Ronnybrook in New York.


Whole Milk Ricotta
Yields approximately 2 lbs.


1 gallon milk, non-homogenized
1 tsp citric acid
2 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp lemon zest
2 tablespoons heavy cream

1. Pour milk into a non-reactive pot, add citric acid and salt, stir
2. Heat to 195 degrees on medium heat and stir rarely, only to avoid scorching
3. When the curds and why separeate, turn off the heat and let set for 5-10 minutes
4. Line a colander with butter muslin. Put the colander over a bowl to catch the whey. (see below.) 5.Ladle the curds gently into the cloth
6. After draining to desired consistency, mix in the cream and zest and additional salt if needed.

Cheese will keep for two weeks in refrigerator.

Keep the whey! It can be used in almost any recipe calling for buttermilk, like pancakes, muffins, breads and salad dressings. In my next post, I will include my favorite recipe for using whey called Italian Feather Bread.