Little Green Cheese

Cheese making at home with Gavin Webber the Cheeseman

How to make Ricotta Salata

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Ricotta Salata is a great way to use up leftover whey.  Simply make the Ricotta using your favourite recipe, then salt and press, turning a few times and adding some extra salt along the way.

Deliciously firm and creamy at 14 days or hard and able to be grated at 90 days.

Ricotta Salata

Ingredients

Equipment

Method

  1. If you haven’t already, add 1 Tablespoon of cheese salt to the Ricotta and mix thoroughly.
  2. Scoop Ricotta into a cheese cloth lined cheese basket.  Press at 5 kg / 11 lbs for 30 minutes.
  3. Remove from basket, rub over the surface with 1 teaspoon of cheese salt, then turn and rewrap.  Press at 10 kg / 22 lbs for 6 hours.
  4. Remove from basket again, rub over the surface with 1 teaspoon of cheese salt, then turn and rewrap.  Press at 10 kg / 22 lbs for 12 hours.
  5. Take the cheese out of press, unwrap and air dry for 2 to 3 days until touch dry.
  6. Mature at 13C/55F at 80% humidity for 14 to 90 days.  It’s delicious fresh after 14 days, or the longer you mature this cheese, the harder it becomes and is ideal for grating.

Ricotta Salata

You can pick up cheese making supplies and equipment for Ricotta Salata over in our store; Little Green Workshops.  I recommend the Mozzarella and Ricotta Kit, which is perfect for making this cheese.

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Whole Milk Ricotta

By 14 Comments

Whole Milk Ricotta is very easy to make.  However I used a recipe during my latest cheese making workshop that simply amazed me.

Normally, I find that Ricotta made with Whole milk and white vinegar is quite tasteless.  So I looked for a better recipe, which I believe I have found.  When drained this now becomes Ricotta Salata.

whole milk ricotta

The finished Ricotta is creamy, sweet and easy to make.  You only need three ingredients.  Whole milk (obviously), citric acid, and cheese salt.

Here is the method;

Easy Whole Milk Ricotta

 Yield: 4 cups or around 700 gm
Preparation Time: about 1 hour

Ingredients:

  • 4 litres (1 gallon) full cream milk
  • 2 tspns Citric Acid
  • 1 tspn Cheese Salt

Procedure:

1. Add milk to a large stainless steel pot

2.  Add 2 tspn of citric acid per 4 litres of milk (dissolved in 1 cup cool water). Add 1/2 of this Citric Acid solution to the milk (save the rest of the citric acid). Stir briskly for 5-10 seconds.

3. Add 1 tspn salt

4.  Heat the milk slowly on low to medium stirring well to prevent scorching.

5.  At 70-75°C watch for small flakes forming in the milk and the separation of small curds.  If after a few minutes you do not see the flakes forming, add more of the Citric acid until they form (do this in small 1 Tbsp increments to avoid over acid milk).  You will use less for raw milk, and more for pasteurised/homogenised milk.

6.  Continue heating to 90-93°C then turn the heat off. The thermal mass of the whey will hold at this temperature for quite some time.

7.  As the curds rise, use a perforated ladle to gently move them from the sides to the centre of the pot. These clumps of curd will begin to consolidate floating on top of the liquid.  Let the curds rest for 10-15 min.

8.  Ladle the curds gently into draining moulds lined with butter muslin (fine weave cloth). Let the curds drain for 15 min up to several hours.

For a fresh light ricotta, drain it for a short while (until the free whey drainage slows) and chill to below 10°C. For a rich, dense and buttery texture allow it to drain for an extended period of time (several hours), before chilling overnight. Move to a refrigerator. Consume within 10 days
I had to use all of the Citric Acid solution for it to work, however it was fine.
I was simply amazed at the quality of this Ricotta.  I chose to drain it for about an hour, and it formed a solid block of cheese in my Ricotta hoop which when salted and aged for a few weeks becomes Ricotta Salata.  It could even be cut into wedges and lifted, but crumbled easily with a smooth texture.  If you press this cheese with light weights for an hour or two it becomes much firmer.
I could eat it by the spoonful, but it definitely cannot stand alone.  This cheese needs to be added to recipes to get the full benefit from it.  It’s just too bland otherwise.
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