It was only this hot yesterday. The coconut oil was only just melted. Some of it is only just not melted. Not too bad at all. 
Here is yesterdays Monterey Jack cheese which is air drying for a few days. (Out of the sun -this positioning was for the artsy shot!) then it will be waxed and sent to the cave without any dinner! 
I have a newish cheese press and I think this was not pressed tight enough but we will see. OK down to business:
How to make ricotta cheese. This is more of a process than a recipe. After the cheesemaking, let your whey sit in your big cheesemaking pot overnight to develop some acidity. It will get a white bloom on the top. This is good. Slowly heat to boiling point. Stir often, make sure it does not boil over ors tick to the bottom of the pot. This will take a while. The bloom will separate until it looks like there are fat clouds floating in whey. This happens right at the end of the process so be patient. 
Turn the heat off and stop stirring. Line your colander with a light cheese cloth. (I use old cut up pillow cases.. well they’re washed!!) Sometimes you can spoon these cloudy delicate curds in, but often you will need to gently pour the liquid through the cloth and leave it to drip. Overnight.
You never get as many curds as you want. As soon as most of the whey has dripped through I place the whole thing in the fridge to finish draining in there. The last of the whey goes to the pigs. One of the other reasons for having pigs is that they are my clean up guys after cheesemaking.
My new buttermilk has started nicely. I shall always have a jar of this in the fridge for the season. So I made cream cheese. Using John’s recipe here. 
My biggest problem was getting everything down to 70F. It was 85 in the kitchen and Daisy’s milk comes in at 101. So instead of heating the milk I had to cool it! Though the cold collected cream helped with this.
Many of you have asked where I will cure the cheeses. And make all these cultures. So I took you down below, and through the basement and then through into the cool cool cave. Into my wondrous cellar. Now you remember don’t you. See those cupboards behind the vinegar? Those have been purpose built for the cheeses. 
I only have one lonely parmesan in the cheese cupboard. So there is an air of expectation down here too. It is dark and cool in here, better for making the buttermilk and cream cheese and other bits and pieces. Upstairs is too hot. Down here is a little too cool but there you are, it works.
Good morning. The lovely people at The Parts Dept where my new broken bucket came from are sending me a new one poste haste without apologies or question, and I am not to bother about sending back the broken one. So they get my vote and my business next time.
Today we are going to make our home made lasagne, using the last of the tomato sauce from last season, the dairy products that are thickening in the cave and pasta made with our eggs. Then onto the cheesecake.
And today I shall try again to get shots of the milking. Milking and taking photographs is harder than I thought. It looks like another beautiful day.
I am off to work. Have a lovely day.
celi
c
The Kitchen's Garden 
65 responses to “How to make Ricotta Cheese from Whey”
There doesn’t seem to be anything you and your John can’t do. How great it must feel to be so self sufficient. I was thinking of making a lemon and poppy seed cake with ricotto but I will have to make do with shop bought ricotto instead. I can’t wait to see how your other cheeses turn out!
That sounds really tasty.. hope you blog it for us! c
Perfect timing – I made a simple goats cheese today and tomorrow I hope to make ricotta! Fantastic post…did I miss how to make buttermilk or is that coming?! The Monterey Jack already looks fantastic…yummy 🙂
I bought a buttermilk starter in the end. You can leave the milk out in a jar and let it clabber and so forth, but mine was not working. Too hot I think. c
Aha – thanks celi!
So good of the company to let you get another without returning the broken one! And I love your cheese cloth made from pillow cases. Was looking for alternative ideas for them!
They are nice and thin and the whey drains right through.. c
“Air of expectation” in the cheese cupboard…love it! I so enjoy reading your posts, and seeing what you’re into each day. Enjoy your lovely dinner, you’ve certainly earned it!
Now I really want some homemade lasagna!
So do I but one more thing to make! no wonder those pioneer women were thin!! c
That looks really good!
How long can you store your cheeses?
months, I have a parmesan that is a year old now.. c
What about soft cheeses like ricotta or cream cheese?
I am longing to try making soft cheese. I even took a class but have not yet taken the initiative. Of course I must locate milk that is not “ultra pasteurized”! At some point I will dive in! Very much enjoying your blog and hearing about your days on the farm.
I have to wonder: did you know how to do all these things when you lived in New Zealand?
Nope! I was a beach girl!! I taught drama and directed plays, just about as far as you can get from a farm!! c
That makes you twice as amazing than I already thought you were. Surely your knowledge wasn’t by trial and error…that would make a great book; “From Theater to Farming.”
Wow, cheese making! I am a huge fan of cheese and this so amazing! 🙂
You amaze me. How I wish I could try your cheeses!
i tried making it from whey but it didnt work. i also used the whey within 2 hours of making my whole milk ricotta. i brought the whey to 200f and added the vinegar but nothing happened.
Oh dear, I have never added vinegar so i do not know about that, did it go cloudy? What did you get when you strained it.. c
[…] you can see how Dr. Fankhauser does it HERE or how our very own Miss Celi does it down on the farmy HERE. While you’re there, if you haven’t already, be sure to check out her blog. It is […]
I love home made ricotta and what’s even more exciting is that you made it from the left overs from something else…that’s a real bonus for me. I made Chgo John’s Ricotta this past spring and it was heavenly. I practically ate the entire bowl standing in front of the fridge, just a taste…