Ricotta Cheese

[tigerwoman]

Corona Heights Pork Store near the Lemon Ice King off of 108th Street in Corona makes their own fabulous delicious sweet ricotta. Nothing like the stuff from the supermarket and fairly reasonable too. They also make fab cured and fresh sausages, incredible but slow to make chicken parm sandwiches, great mozzarella., etc. etc. They are nice people and hard working too. Tiny store. Also nearby is Parkside Restaurant and of course the famous Bocce Courts.

The ricotta makes a nice dessert with some fresh raspberries. - no enhancements needed, it is naturally sweet.

[jaybee]

I am lunching at Lupa today and I will give them the third degree about their ricotta.

And maybe, just maybe, Suvir, I'll tell you what they say.

[Suvir Saran]

I am lunching at Lupa today and I will give them the third degree about their ricotta. 

And maybe, just maybe, Suvir,  I'll tell you what they say.  

and???

Or did you mean today as in Tuesday?

[jaybee]

Or did you mean today as in Tuesday?

Yes.

[APPS411]

Jaybee,

If you would like a real soft, fresh ricotta to eat by itself, then I would suggest making your own.

It's really easy and is exceptional to eat simply, as you described w/ a drizzle of honey.

The resulting texture is silky smooth.

The method is simple. You add a small amount of acid (Lemon Juice) and salt to room temperature milk. Let the milk coagulate and pour into a strainer lined w/ cheesecloth. Place the strainer over a bowl in the frig for a few days and thats it.

For best results use a good quality whole milk from a local farm. Ultra pasturized does not yeild the a great texture. And be sure not to add too much salt. I made that mistake the first time I made it and once all the water drained out, the salt quantity was too high.

I don't have the exact recipe in front of me to tell you the exact amount of lemon juice to add per the quantity of milk. But a quick search online should give you some ideas.

Variations in the temperature of the milk at the time you add the acid and the quantity of acid added will yeild different textured results. Some recipes will tell you to squeeze out alot of the remaining liquid. But for a real smooth, creamy, silky end product, I would advise you to just let it drain in the frig w/ a quick stir every few hours.

Enjoy.

[jaybee]

Lupa's ricotta comes from Calabro Cheese Corp. in East Haven CT.

Calabro Cheese Corp.

[rat]

there is also an interesting piece in the lastest "art of eating" in it harold mcgee (of "on food and cooking") describes how a small producer makes his ricotta cheese near palermo. very interesting.