Say Cheese

I was going to try my hand at mozzarella, but I actually need some ricotta for a cake, so I gave ricotta a try first. I noted earlier that Barbara Kingsolver's Animal. Vegetable, Miracle seemed to be jazzing me up in several directions at once. One of those directions was my hitherto dormant, apparently unconscious, mad desire to make cheese.

Most of the things I have wanted to do desperately had been with me, more or less inchoate for a very long time. I was, for example, the frustrated child of two non-gardeners. My parents were heavily into easy care landscape for the front yard, and equally into forgetting entirely about the backyard, with the exception of annually picking our two inherited, unpruned damson plum trees. I wanted to grow flowers and vegetables. From about age five-I kid you not-I would spend a large percentage of my allowance on packets of seeds, which I would plant in thinly scraped areas of packed-clay dirt, sighing over their failure to grow. Eventually, I figured out what I was doing wrong.

Since I was a kid I have always wanted to bake bread. I wanted to learn how to do calligraphy properly and to go to Spain, and I wanted to learn how to do stage sword-fighting (not done yet, that). There are several more. Until quite recently, I did not especially want to make cheese. (Although I have longed unreasonably for a dairy goat from childhood-a sign, perhaps?) Suddenly, making cheese seems both very important and doable. Who knew?

If, as Barbara Kingsolver suggests, you google "cheese queen" you will find the website of Ricky Carroll, who conducts cheesemaking workshops, sells supplies and equipment and has written a book about cheesemaking. I ordered the stuff I used from her, as well as her book. I am sure it is all available elsewhere, but her business and her instructions fit together nicely, and she inspires confidence in the novice.

This is what you need:

1 gallon whole milk -NOT ultrapasturized
1 tsp cheese salt
1 tsp citric acid

Pour milk into a stainless pot, add citric acid and salt, and stir to mix thoroughly. Heat until about 190F, stirring often to prevent sticking or burning; do not boil. The curds will begin to separate from the whey. When all the whey looks blue-ish and very unmilky, turn off the heat, and let it set for 10 minutes, undisturbed.

Line a colander with butter muslin. This resembles cheesecloth, but has a tighter weave. You lose fewer curds with it, and it is washable, too. I bought mine from Ms. Carroll (likewise the cheese salt and citric acid-I've got some vegetable rennet waiting for the mozzarella event). If I didn't have any butter muslin, I'd use several layers of cheese cloth.

Ladle the curds into the cheesecloth, and tie it up to drain- for at least an hour, or until the ricotta is as you like.Isn't it pretty, all round and smooth? Tastes lovely too (there were a few shards that fell off, to sample.) It will keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks. Don't throw out the whey- use it in breadmaking, or for pizza. I used in my personal favorite pizza dough, and was not disappointed. I thought it added a slight, almost imperceptible tang of sourdough flavor, very nice. The peculiar chemistry of this particular pizza dough was not affected.

I'm going to get some little basket molds, and make some ricotta salata, as well as the mozzarella. The ricotta process, simple as it was, produced a highly therapeutic feeling of satisfaction similar to bread-making gloat. Can't understand why I never tried this before. If you haven't- I recommend it highly.

Comments

[Melissa]

Hi Lindy, I agree completely - cheesemaking is not only doable, but lots of fun. Granted, I've only ever made paneer and ricotta, but you gotta start somewhere, right? By the way, ricotta doesn't actually need any specialized ingredients; buttermilk or lemon juice both work just fine as curdling agents. You can read about the technique I used on my post about cannoli (http://www.travelerslunchbox.com/journal/2006/4/16/sicily-campagna-cannoli-and-uninvited-company.html) - I used buttermilk as the souring agent and cream for richness. Yum.

I can't wait to read about your mozzarella adventures!

[lindy]

Absolutely true, Melissa. I actually jumped at the chance to get some citric acid, though, (along with the book and some other stuff), in part because I'm looking forward to canning tomatoes again this year, and I'm always a little uncomfortable with using lemon juice- as the acidity in lemons varies so much.

I guess it used to be that tomatoes were reliably acidic enough to can without any additives, but the acidity (and some flavor) has been systematically bred out of a lot of them. Apparently now,to be safe, you need to add acid, if you don't use a pressure canner. I do this, despite using my CSA farmers lovely San Maranzanos, which taste plenty sharply tomatoey to me. 'Cause I had food poisoning once, and really wished myself dead at the time. In another country, at another time, but definitely very bad...made me a coward a bit.

The citric acid can be easily measured, and is more of a constant-so I'll be going with that for my tomatoes this year. Not at all important for the ricotta, though, as I understand it.

I'm going to make some cannoli cream with mine, to have with berries.

[Lynn D.]

I tried to make goat milk ricotta once (I would, wouldn't I?) and failed utterly. I see now that it is probably because I can only get ultrapasteurized goat milk. Bummer.

[ann]

mmmm... cheese... I think cheesemaking has become the new winemaking in that it's what everyone dreams of doing when they retire. I know I do!

[Tanna]

The ricotta I made was really fantastic so it's very easy for me to see that you would now have the desire to make cheese. I was really overwhelmed by how much different and better it tasted than what I get from the store. Now, I'm really looking forward to see what you do with this and then move onto the mozzarella.

[farmgirl]

This is too weird. I've had your earlier post about Animal, Vegetable, Mineral open for days but hadn't commented yet. Had to shut down the computer today, reopened your blog, and poof! there was your cheese post. What's weird is that between first reading your AVM post (and realizing that THANK GOODNESS I don't have any desire to make homemade cheese) and now, I've made cheese! Entirely by accident, as I was trying to make yogurt, which I've successfully made for years. I have no idea what I did wrong, and after reading your cheesemaking instructions to heat the milk to just 190F, I have no idea how I was able to previously make yogurt and not cheese, as I've often made it with milk that had boiled all over the stove (well, not with that milk obviously, but with what remained in the pot). Anyway, after doing a bit of online research, I figured out that I'd probably made ricotta. All I know is that it tasted fantastic when sprinkled with some salt. Didn't look beautiful like yours, though, was shaped more like cottage cheese but drier, if that makes sense. I'm thinking that I've inadvertantly become a cheesemaker, but what I really want to know is if I'll ever be able to make yogurt again! : )

P.S. You know you can grind up some Vitamin C tablets with a mortar and pestle anytime you need ascorbic acid--which I believe can be used like citric acid? Though I might be remembering this wrong. Anyway, I use it when canning tomatoes, and I also have my butcher put it into the all -atural lamb summer sausage they make for me in place of nitrates.

[farmgirl]

Ack. That would of course be all-natural lamb summer sausage. . .

[Kimberly]

What fun! It's hard to find cheese that's low enough in sodium for my husband to eat, so making our own would be perfect. There are a couple of local dairies around here that sell raw milk at the farmers markets; now we just need to get the other supplies...

Can't wait to see your mozzerella!

[lindy]

Lynn-The cheese queen says that you can make very satisfactory ricotta using powdered milk.(She suggests this for people who cannot get milk except for the ultra stuff.)-I wonder if goat milk could be ordered in powdered form and would work similarly?

Farmgirl-Thanks for the vitamin c tip.At the moment I feel as if I will never run out of citric acid powder, but if I really get going with the cheese, who knows? Regards to Whitey's brood. I like the look of the speckly one especially.

Kimberly- According to the aforementioned royalty, it is absolutely unnecessary to use salt if you don't want to, so you could definitely do that.

[Kate]

Hi Lindy,
I too just finished reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and was inspired to try my hand at making cheese. I am going to order supplies from the cheese lady and can't wait to see, uh taste, the results!
Kate

[Nupur]

This is the exact same way we make paneer in India :) Your cheese looks very inviting, Lindy! If you like, you could use it to make some Indian dishes :) like paneer pilaf, tandoori paneer kebabs or spinach paneer.
You are inspiring me to try making other types of cheeses...

[lindy]

Kate-I'm going with the ricotta salata next, I think. the ricotta is just so good, I've made it several times now.

Nupur-The spinach paneer is a particularly timely suggestion, as my farmbox is over-flowing with beautiful spinach of late.

[Becky]

As a longtime reader who passionately shares your jamming, pickling, and charcuterie obsessions, I'm thrilled that you have started cheesemaking. I find it to be completely satisfying, especially as the cheese quality of ricotta and mascarpone and other "fresh" cheese is vastly superior to what can be found at the standard market. I must recommend the mascarpone with tartic acid recipe, as it's divine. The bonus is that you can find the tartaric acid (and citric acid, if you so desire) as any homebrew/winemaking shop, which is always a fun area to play around with. Also, if you are quite a cheese person, the Queen sells some nifty cheese wrapping paper for mold-ripened soft cheese and waxed cheese that keep the cheese tasty and fresh for weeks (unless I eat it first) that I recommend getting.

[lindy]

Becky-I'm so glad to hear from you. Mascarpone! Sounds totally wonderful. I haven't done anything charcuterie-wise for a while, you've got me thinking about it again.
My next cheese project-which I have started on-is the ricotta salata. I am thrilled with the whole milk ricotta-I've made it several times. I like to drain it thoroughly, and have a slice on top of some whole grain bread, with salt, pepper and sliced radishes. Yum.
I like the sound of the cheese paper,-I'm trying to restrain myself from buying too much in the way of gear and supplies at first, because I have a tendency to want to go overboard. but I might need to get some anyway.

[Tomi]

How wonderful to read all these examples of culinary experimentation and enjoyment. I've been baking break since I was 10 (I'm now 44) and continue to find new and exciting ways in which to prepare my favorite food.

Today was my first endeavor in the cheese making process. I made mozzarella which turned out fantasitc, and tried to make ricotta but the yield was small, nicely smooth, but small. I let it sit after brining it to 190 for about 15 minutes. I wonder if my whey was too acidic, would that make the curds very small? What do y'all think? Any thoughts would be appreciated!

[Kathryn Arnold]

I realize you haven't posted here in a bit but I wanted to tell you what lovely, simple and straightforward directions you give! I must have watched a dozen videos and read another dozen recipes before I chose ricotta as the easiest for a first attempt at cheesemaking. While it's unfortunate that I found your blog while searching for troubleshooting on my FAILED attempt....it's lovely that my failure led me to your blog. I also enjoyed a post about your cooking class holiday to Chicago. Sweet! Thank you.