biondanonima's First Cheeses - Whole Milk Ricotta and Whey Ricotta!

[biondanonima]

Actually, 30-min mozzarella was my first cheese, but since I had a gallon of milk left and a ton of whey after I was done, I figured I'd give whey ricotta a try!  I added 2 cups of whole milk to the whey and followed Ricki Carroll's recipe.  I think my yield was about 3 oz, which doesn't seem like much to me - not sure if I did something wrong or if that's really all you can expect to get from whey ricotta.  Anyway, it was quite tasty but just a tiny bit sour. 

I then used the rest of the gallon of milk to make whole milk ricotta - mixed citric acid into the milk and then heated to around 200 degrees, stirring frequently (per Carroll's recipe), let it sit for 10 mins and drained.  I got a pretty good yield I think (19-20 oz after it had been drained very well).  The whey was a little opaque - I wouldn't have called it milky, but it wasn't quite as translucent as the whey I had after making the mozzarella. 

This version was absolutely delicious, IMHO.  A 1000% improvement over store-bought ricotta, and so inexpensive in comparison!  Around here, a decent store brand of ricotta is almost $5 for a 15 oz tub.  I paid $2.32 for my gallon of milk and got over a pound of ricotta, and much better tasting ricotta to boot!  I used it for the cheese filling in my Italian meatloaf and everyone noticed the improvement.  Can't wait to try ricotta salata!

One question for all you pros, though - where in the process could/should I have added CaCl?  I couldn't find the info in Ricki's book and I didn't want to add it at the wrong time and mess up the cheese.  Would I have gotten a better yield if I used it?

[MrsKK]

When you made mozz, did you use a culture to acidify the milk or did you use citric acid?  If you used the citric acid method, that would probably be why you didn't get a very good yield of ricotta out of it.

Homemade ricotta is wonderful, isn't it?  I've never cared for the store version, so wasn't even sure if I wanted to try it, but also didn't want to throw away all the good that was left in the whey, so I tried it.  Now I'm hooked.

I can't answer your questions about the CaCl, as I use raw milk.  Someone else should chime in soon, I expect.

[biondanonima]

The homemade ricotta is really amazing - I truly didn't think there would be such a difference between the store product and homemade.  I stirred a little cream in it to make it richer and it was divine.  My boyfriend doesn't like ricotta at all, due to the grainy texture of store bought, and he is now a total convert!

[DeejayDebi]

Calcium cloride is always added as a step after the starter cultures and before the rennet.

[biondanonima]

Thanks Debi - this CaCl thing has actually got me quite confused!  I found a couple of recipes that called for it to be added right at the beginning, before warming the milk, then some that called for it to be added directly after the culture.  Can it also be added directly before the rennet?  Or can it basically be added at ANY time before the rennet, per the cheesemaker's preference?  Oy!

[linuxboy]

The role of CaCl2 is to provide Ca++ ions directly into solution. This is to compensate for the ionic loss that happens during pasteurization or during some lactation periods where milk has low Ca++ (such as winter).

Ca++ is vital for the joining of milk protein to create curd. As such, you absolutely must add it, completely dissolved and in a diluted solution, before renneting. I like to add it well in advance of renneting so that the ions have a chance to diffuse and reach equilibrium. I would not add it directly before the rennet because diffusion takes time.

[DeejayDebi]

You will find most recipes will aloow for a period of time 20 mintes or so after you add the Calcium Cloride. I see no reason why you couldn't add it first if you wanted to but when you do give it time before you add the cultures.

I tend to add it after the cultures because that s what has been recommend to me by two highly respected cheese makers Peter Dixon and Margaret Morris.

"Calcium Cloride is added to the milk at the same rate as rennet and is AlWAYS added just before the rennet."

[biondanonima]

Thanks Debi - I guess I will just start doing some experimenting and see what I come up with!