Light and fluffy, homemade ricotta cheese is one of the easiest things you’ll ever make. This recipe was shared with my by Jeff, a member of our Facebook community, when I had more raw milk than I knew what to do with. It’s completely free of additives or chemicals and can be easily made from the items in anyone’s fridge or pantry.
You need milk, lemon juice, salt, and, optionally, herbs. (Since the herbs are optional, I didn’t count them in my “3 ingredients”)
First, bring a half gallon of milk (8 cups) up to 185 degrees.
We used raw milk.
Remove the milk from heat and quickly stir in 1/4 cup of lemon juice. (Vinegar can be used if you don’t have lemon juice.) Curds will begin to form immediately.
Cover and let it sit for 20 minutes.
This is optional – you can add your seasonings before draining. I added some powdered garlic, thyme, pepper, and sea salt because I knew I’d be using this for Italian food the next day and I wanted to really infuse it with flavor. You can wait and add herbs at the end, or just sprinkle it with a little salt. In hindsight, I should have waiting because I couldn’t use the whey in pancakes the next morning because of the garlic flavor.
Now it’s time to drain your cheese. Apparently regular cheesecloth is too porous and I didn’t have it on hand, anyway. I followed a tip from The Prairie Homestead and used a clean cotton pillowcase for my improvised frugal cheesecloth. (She has other great ideas for frugal alternatives to cheesecloth HERE) I popped my pillowcase-lined colander in a pot to catch the whey, put the lid on, and left it in the fridge for a few hours. (A minimum of 2 hours is needed to drain the cheese well.) You can also use a flour sack towel for this.
Scoop your drained ricotta into a bowl. Reserve the whey for other uses.
(Remember that if you already added seasoning the whey will be seasoned.)
Taste it and add more seasonings if desired. I like lots of flavor so I loaded it up.
If you allow it to sit in the fridge with the herbs overnight, it will be a rich and intensely complex addition to your food the next day.
Here’s a recap of the recipe:
Ingredients:
- 1/2 gallon milk
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- sea salt
- Herbs and spices of choice
Directions
- Heat milk to 185 deg in a stainless steel pot.
- Remove from heat, then add the lemon juice and stir it well to incorporate it.
- Cover the pot and let sit for about 20 minutes.
- If desired, at this point you can put in some seasonings for more intense flavor. Keep in mind that if you are using the whey for other purposes, you won’t want to add seasoning at this point.
- When curds have formed drain in colander lined with double layer of fabric (not cheesecloth – it’s too thin)
- Drain in the refrigerator for at least two hours.
- Scoop out the cheese into a bowl and mix in herbs and salt with a fork.
- This can be stored, covered, in the fridge for up to two weeks.
We’ll be using this later in a lasagna made with the last jar of Italian marinara sauce from the previous summer’s tomatoes. Ricotta is incredibly versatile – check out this mouthwatering slideshow and get inspired!
I have made this before, although I didn’t know it was called Ricotta cheese. Mine wasn’t too impressive. lol.
I see you get raw milk. I buy my raw milk from the Amish neighbors, ice cold at two bucks a gallon (yes, I’m bragging since I think it is an incredible price). I put a gallon in a glass sun tea jug with the bottom spout and let it sit in the fridge until it separates the cream. Then you drain the milk out of the bottom and you have the cream left. It makes awesome home made ice cream (esp. if you add some of your berries) and real butter.
I wanted to add that I like the direction you are going with preparing for the future and the impending collapse. Everyone will need to be as self sufficient as possible to survive.
If you are raising chickens purely for eggs, it’s not too hard…as long as you can afford to free range them and access feed for winter. We barter eggs and sell enough to pay for feed, but that may not be possible in the future…who really knows for sure.
If you are also intending to eat your chickens and have never killed or cleaned them before, you may have a mental block to overcome before you can do this. DON’T consider them as pets or name them (as my kids did with hens and rabbits). Best get someone who has done this before to help you or you can help them kill and clean theirs for the experience. It’s not hard but if you weren’t raised around this it may be difficult at first.
I have not made this recipe but now I am intrigued to do so. I love the taste of 1/4 c. of ricotta mixed with 1/4 tsp of vanilla or almond extract and then chilled. I can only imagine that fresh ricotta would make it taste that much better.
Actually, ricotta is made from the whey left over from mozzarella, provelone and even parmesan cheese(or any hard cheese.) IIRC, the word Ricotta means re-cooked and is an apt description. This cheese is really more of a cream cheese. But as I told ya, in France they have over 345 varieties of cheese. So who can really agree on any particular name. We just enjoy it!
Daisy, you did awesome with my criptic recipe! It’s only the beginning of an obsession. You’ll see!
I have always called this pot cheese. This is how paneer can be made as well. I like both. Paneer is chewy and can be cut up into pieces and sauteed. These are the only two cheeses I make as I have yet purchased starter, etc. There is only so much time left in the day.
Milk that is going sour can be used as “butter milk” for pancakes, cakes or biscuits, making them light and fluffy. It is also good for making cheese sauce, a homemade white sauce with cheddar cheese, say for macaroni and cheese. If times were really tough, you could do without the cheddar. It is not for every body, but if times were tough it would work. There is also clabbered milk. Chickens love to eat sour milk. They get it as is. We have large plastic dog dishes for that purpose.
Would this recipe work using almond or rice milk? I have an allergy to the whey in cow’s milk.