easy whole-milk ricotta

Unlike most 'proper' cheeses, ricotta is very forgiving and I'm pretty casual with measurements.

2 quarts very fresh milk, roughly skimmed or cream left on
salt to taste (I'm quite generous)
2.5 tbsp lemon juice

Heat milk to 176f, stirring often to stop it sticking to the pot
Take it off the heat, add juice, swirl pot to mix it in
Milk should istantly curdle and separate
Leave in the pot till warm, then tip into a cheescloth-lined colander to drain to desired consistency.
Gives you about 350g
I've tried makeing 'normal' ricotta by reheating the whey-it doesn't work

Vinegar will also work in place of the lemon juice.

I was going to say the same as John ... vinegar works great.

Just one other comment ... Leila, what you are describing is not ricotta. By definition, Ricotta is "re-cooked" and is made with the whey left over from making other cheese. The cheese you describe is often known as "Farmer Cheese" and it is an easy to make and very tasty soft cheese. I like to mix in either fruit or herbs and dried veggies. One of my favorites is dried tomato and basil ... great to spread on homemade wheat bread.

Have a great day and enjoy your cheese.

-Tom

John Elliott wrote:Vinegar will also work in place of the lemon juice.

Yip, I've used vinegar, but I definitely prefer the flavour of citrus juice in this cheese.

Tom Gauthier wrote:
Leila, what you are describing is not ricotta. By definition, Ricotta is "re-cooked" and is made with the whey left over from making other cheese.

Darn, you called me out Tom
I needed ricotta to make semolina gnocchi and since I didn't have whey I used this instead.
funnily enough, I'm sure I posted basically the same recipe sometime, probably calling it 'farmer's cheese'!