This cheese was a fortuitous accident! By mistake I made a Bloomy Ricotta.
About seven weeks ago, I made normal whey ricotta from the leftover whey from two cheeses, Camembert and Queso Fresco.
The starter culture that I used for both was Sacco MO36R, and I added Penicillium Candidum to make the Camembert.
Once I finished making both the Camembert and Queso Fresco, I heated the remaining whey to 92°C (197.6°F) and recovered the Ricotta with 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar. I drained using butter muslin, and added 2 teaspoons of salt to the cheese.
For those of you after the whey ricotta video tutorial; https://youtu.be/1fdYZ8T45JE
Anyway, it was too salty, so I left it in the kitchen fridge and forgot about it for 7 weeks until my wife found it and questioned me about it.
It appears that the whey still had enough P. Candidum left in it to breed in the conditions that I stored it. I kept the Ricotta in an airtight container in the kitchen fridge at 4°C (39.2°F).
Here’s the quick video I put together to show you this creation.
I believe that the additional salt helped preserve the cheese better for longer. Normally I would only add 1 teaspoon of salt to Ricotta made from 6 litres (1½ gal) of whey, but got distracted and over salted.
I am actually surprised that the P. Candidum imparted a lot of flavour into the cheese and somehow reduced the overall saltiness. It could be my tounge playing tricks on me, but this was certainly an improvement on the original Ricotta!
So all these little events led to the creation of my Bloomy Ricotta. Blooming marvelous I say!
If you are after supplies to recreate this cheese, please visit Little Green Workshops.
Hello Gavin! What was the volume of whey used? It is left over from making two cheeses, and generally you do one gallon at a time, so was it two gallons of whey?
Do you ever go off the beaten path and decide to attempt making your own style of cheese instead of following recipes or trying to recreate a specific type of cheese?
Yes, it was about 6 litres of whey. I have made a few of my own creations. Petit Bleu is one of them, and the other was my version of Halloumi which I figured out myself.
If I wanted to intentionally create a bloomy ricotta, how would you suggest I go about this? I made some ricotta using whey leftover from a batch of triple cremes. Due to the high temperature, would additional P. Candidum need to be added to help promote growth? Thank you!! -Rod
Hi Rod,
Yes, the addition of P. Candidum after the ricotta has been made and salted. You could mould it up in small moulds, allow to drain and form for a day or two, and place in a ripening box to allow to bloom for 10 days. It should be pretty nice!
Gav