Ricotta

Ricotta di Pecora

 Creamy, sweet and with a touch of salt, this fresh cheese makes my heart melt. And when eaten warm, freshly made, it is heavenly!

Ricotta is a cheese that is actually the secondary product of making anther cheese. So in this case, we will first make Tuma (a Sicilian cheese) and then we will RECOOK the milk to make the ricotta (which means "re-cooked").

Tuma with black peppercorns

So here we go...

Take A LOT of sheep's milk (this day we had 280L) and heat it to 36 C. Stop the heat and stir in the rennet (that has been diluted in some water). Rennet is the stomach lining of baby male cows.

Rennet

Let the milk sit like this for about an hour until it coagulates.

Coagulated!

When there are some masses forming, stir it quickly! Add some hot water (60C) and stir again.

Let the curds settle to the bottom (wait about 5 minutes).

Pour off liquid whey and begin to remove curds from the bottom.

Remove the curds and let them drain in a basket, layering some peppercorns in between layers if you wish. This will become Tuma cheese later.

NOW, for the Ricotta...
With the remaining liquid (whey), heat to 50C and add 10% more sheep milk (it should be cold).

Stir and heat up this mixture until it reaches 80C. Add salt (to taste- he uses 2 large ladles) and a bit of white wine vinegar mixed with some water.

WIth the disc paddle, do one last stir and gently lift it up as the mixture swirls to a stop. Let this sit for 5 minutes. (stop the heat)

Cheese-making tools. 

These are what I call the disk paddle and the whisk paddle. Not sure what they are actually called!

Ladle out the top layer of the "hard" stuff and place into baskets to drain.

TA-DA! Sheep's Milk Ricotta is complete! Now let drain and cool in fridge! On this day, starting with 280L of milk (and then adding in an additional 28L), we ended up with 85 baskets of ricotta that will equal approximately 40kg of final cheese.

The Ricotta di Pecore is also made into other delicious cheeses... 

It can be salted and dried into Ricotta Salata. Younger ricotta salata are on the bottom rack while those that have been aged for a few weeks are on the top.

Franco salting the Ricotta that has sat and drained for a day and is a bit harder now.

Ricotta di Muca

For Cow's Milk Ricotta, the process is slightly different and the taste and texture are very different as well. Cow's milk ricotta is not quite as delicate in texture and is a touch sweeter but less creamy (aka fatty). Personally I prefer the silky, creamy texture and rich savory and slightly sweet taste of the pecora, but both are deliciouso!

OK... so here we go for Cow Ricotta

Heat cow milk to 38C (we started with 240 L of milk this day)

Add the rennet (softened in water) and STIR

Wait 1 hour while the milk and rennet interact (milk is covered at this time)

Once the milk reaches 38 C, stir hard for 5 minutes with the whisk.

Gradually slow down the stirring and let the curds rise to the TOP

Drain the liquid whey (but reserve it) and then "cut" the remaining curd mass.

Remove the curds and place in 2 large baskets to drain.

This will eventually be Cow's Milk TUMA!

Ok... now to RECOOK the milk and make RICOTTA...

Add the whey/milk back into the vat

Heat this to 90 C (this is hotter than the pecora milk because cow milk is more strong and less fat)

At 90 C, skim the scum and stir with the disc paddle'

Add a mix of white wine vinegar and aceto di levito and the liquid whey from the previous day

Stir and swirl and let sit... it will separate on it's own!

Skim the foamy scum and then ladle the hard curd mass into 2 kg baskets and drain. This day we made 12 baskets.

In addition to tuma and ricotta, this farm also makes cacciocavallo, pecorino, provolone and goat cheeses too! YUM!