Ricotta is a fine-grained, mild dairy product made from whey. You can just make it yourself. It is versatile and tolerates heating. Just give it a try.
Ricotta, also known as whey protein cheese, tastes slightly sweet. It is low in fat and calories, but high in quality protein, lots of minerals like phosphorus and calcium, and vitamins.
Use of ricotta
The Italian cream cheese is suitable for desserts, for example with fruit or for a low-fat tiramisu, as well as an ingredient or light toppings for cakes, as a filling in pancakes or crepes or as a spread under honey or jam.
As a spicy ingredient, ricotta refines fillings for pasta, sauces, dips or quiches. The cream cheese also tastes great as a topping on pizzas or antipasti.
Difference between ricotta and cottage cheese
Ricotta and cottage cheese taste similar, but have different textures. While ricotta is very fine-grained, cottage cheese is rather coarse-grained. The main difference, however, lies in the preparation.
Cottage cheese is made from milk, making it a cream cheese. Traditionally, ricotta is only made from whey, which is boiled again. Strictly speaking, it’s not cream cheese.
You can also make your ricotta with part milk, which gives it more bulk.
By the way: Lemon juice when preparing makes cream cheese sweet, like ricotta. If you use white vinegar you will get a neutral tasting cream cheese.
storage
If you fill the finished ricotta into an airtight jar, it can be stored in the refrigerator for about 4 to 5 days.
Last update on 03/20/2023 / Affiliate links / Images from the Amazon Product Advertising API
Also try Bremsen, cream cheese or one of the other cream cheese recipes.
Homemade ricotta
Monitor stays on
- 1 liter whey
- 200 ml milk
Or just milk
- 1.2 liter whole milk
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Making whey from milk
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If you don’t have whey, make your own first. Heat the milk until it starts to steam. Now add 3 tablespoons of lemon juice and mix well with a wooden spoon. Remove the pot from the stove, cover it with a towel and let it sit for 1 hour. During this time, the curd separates from the whey.
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The solid part is now cream cheese, which you can use elsewhere. Skim it off, add some sweet cream if you like and let it drain further in a fine-mesh sieve. Wrap it up and keep it in the fridge. Use the remaining whey for the ricotta.
Ricotta from whey
- Put the whey, whole milk and salt in a saucepan and heat to around 80°C over medium heat. It is best to check the temperature with a kitchen thermometer.
- Using a wooden spoon, gently stir in 1 tablespoon of lemon juice until the mixture reaches 90°C. She shouldn’t cook! Stir the bottom of the pot well. After a good 30 seconds, the milk will curdle and flocculate.
- Meanwhile, line a strainer with cheesecloth or a clean dish towel.
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Now skim off the milk flakes from the surface with a slotted spoon and put them in the sieve. When all milk flakes are skimmed off, let stand for 10 minutes. Then pour the ricotta into the ricotta molds and let them cool.
- After 3 hours in the fridge you can eat or process the ricotta.
serving: 100G | Calories: 170kcal
