Ricotta

[gmi3804]

Growing up in Chicago (in an Italian family), I'd always had ricotta which had a gritty, "curd-like" consistency, not unlike cottage cheese.

When I lived in upstate NY for a few years, I encountered ricotta with the creamy consistency of crème fraîche.

I much prefer the creamy variety, but back in Chicago I've only found the grittier kind. Admittedly, I haven't searched much farther than my local big-chain supermarket. Is there a kind I should be looking for?

[tim]

Hi,

In my experience, a good Italian grocery store will offer creamy fresh ricotta. I always assumed that this ricotta had more butterfat, no preservatives and was very fresh.

Commercial ricotta is always gritty.

Tim

[slkinsey]

One way to make the supermarket ricotta more creamy is to drain it overnight in a fine strainer. I think the gritty consistency comes from too much water. Good quality ricotta has been drained more thoroughly than the supermarket stuff.

[Luckylies]

gritty ricotta comes from when the curds have been "broken" too hot. you get more curds this way but they are tougher. Polly-o etc is shooting for the profit margin and not the texture-I'm sure. A handcrafed ricotta should be soft in the mouth even if it is wet. ddraining it just romves some of the whey which should not be gritty at all.

[gmi3804]

Thanks for all the info.

I still have to wonder why the big chain grocers in upstate NY stock the "creamy" variety (exclusively) while I have to go to a specialty Italian grocer here in Chicago to find it, if at all? One would thing that with FDA regulations there should be a standard if something is labeld as ricotta.

[scubadoo97]

My exposure to ricotta has been supermarket brands. Sorrento and Polly-O are the only two I see in our local stores. Sorrento is the pits. Very waxy. Polly-O is more creamy but could benefit from straining. I'd love to try fresh.

[Carrot Top]

Ricotta is astonishingly easy to make. Here's a recipe.

[Franci]

Ricotta is astonishingly easy to make. Here's a recipe. 

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Ricotta is made with whey. I do sometimes make a "formaggio fresco" with whole milk but it's not ricotta.

[Carrot Top]

Ricotta is astonishingly easy to make. Here's a recipe. 

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Ricotta is made with whey. I do sometimes make a "formaggio fresco" with whole milk but it's not ricotta.

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Well, then, we will call this "formaggio fresco", Franci, or maybe "American home-made ricotta" as similar recipes are all over the internet *and* in published cookbooks by respected authors.

I use it in place of store-bought ricotta in recipes, as did my MIL who was born in Italy. Words. . .difficult things sometimes.

Do you make ricotta at home with whey? If so, would you be so kind as to share the recipe?

[Franci]

Ricotta is astonishingly easy to make. Here's a recipe. 

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Ricotta is made with whey. I do sometimes make a "formaggio fresco" with whole milk but it's not ricotta.

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Well, then, we will call this "formaggio fresco", Franci, or maybe "American home-made ricotta" as similar recipes are all over the internet *and* in published cookbooks by respected authors.

I use it in place of store-bought ricotta in recipes, as did my MIL who was born in Italy. Words. . .difficult things sometimes.

Do you make ricotta at home with whey? If so, would you be so kind as to share the recipe?

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I am not saying that if you use fresh milk to make a kind of fresh cheese is not good, it just calling things with their name. Ricotta is made out of whey.

One day you can make a fresh cacioricotta and with the whey, the day after, make ricotta.

I took these pictures last summer, back home, in a masseria (that's how we call farms in Puglia).

cacioricotta in masseria

I didn't post the pictures for ricotta

Strain the whey after making the fresh cheese, or if you don't mind just lift with a small strainer any residual curd.

Bring it to 60 Celsius and add a very small amount of milk (like a cm of a glass for 2 liters whey). If too much milk is added the ricotta will not form.

When it reaches 80 Celsius add very little salt and stir, skim but stop as soon as you see the ricotta forming

Lower the heat and turn off the stove when you see it is breaking on the surface and big bubble are erupting. Maybe you can see it clearly enough from this picture.

Let it rest of a little bit, about 20 minutes, the more it rests the firmer will get. Drain it with a perforated spoon an leave to drain in a perforated basket.

This ricotta was not perfect but the pour lady, in one morning showed to me so many things and she was striving to finish her orders for the day.

I hope this is helpful.

P.S.: the amount of ricotta you can make from a 2 liter whey is very small, that's why is difficult to make at home. Ideal would be having a source for whey.

Edited February 14, 2007 by Franci (log)

[Luckylies]

P.S.: the amount of ricotta you can make from a 2 liter whey is very small, that's why is difficult to make at home. Ideal would be having a source for whey.

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This is why ricotta made by most companies is made with milk. Cheesemakers on the other hand always have a buttload of whey. It's very nice made with milk, the yield is higher and it has a creamier mouthfeel. Even more so with cream.

[Carrot Top]

I hope this is helpful.

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Yes, that was very kind of you to post pictures of the process. My MIL (who I learned the recipe for what she called "ricotta" from) often used Americanized terms for things that were not *exactly* as she had learned to make them as a young girl in Italy. Times were different then - in Italy they lived on a farm and used the products of the land, directly as they came from the earth or from the animals. Nothing was wasted. . .then in America, she lived in a town, where things came from the grocery stores (though of course she always had a garden and picked wild things, too, to eat ). And of course store products are rather "standard". Pasteurized milk by the gallon is what she bought. . .and with six children to feed and a husband who supported the family (also emigrated as a young boy) who was a barber. . . there was not extra money to obtain specialty items of any sort.

I was reminded by your comment on "ricotta" that we also have something called "pizza" here in the US, too. I daresay *that* is the larger crime.

Ah. To get back on topic, I love pasta with a light tomato sauce served with a big bowl of whipped ricotta in the center of the table to ladle on top of it, to taste the creaminess of the ricotta as it blends into the hot sauce, the coolness of the taste opposed to the spice of the tomato sauce, the bite of the pasta on tongue. Luscious.