How to make Ricotta Salata
I love Ricotta Salata and had not have thought of making it until Amanda found a recipe and gave it a go. Now it is going to be a staple cheese around here. You can make this with pasteurised milk that you buy at the supermarket. So no excuses about not having a cow!.
I Heat 2 gallons (about 9 litres) of raw milk to the first bubble -about 185F ( 85C ).
Add 2/3rds of a cup of white vinegar and 2 teaspoons of salt. Stir with a light hand until just mixed.
Set aside to curdle for about 2 hours.
No more stirring. Be good now.
After a couple of hours the curds will collect at the top of the pot. Carefully spoon the curds into a muslin lined colander .
Gather the muslin into a bag and hang to strain. I drain it for the afternoon.
In the evening pour the curds into a muslin lined mold and press for an hour, then unwrap, turn, rewrap and press again for 12 hours at about 10 pounds. (basically a cast iron skillet). On the bench.
In the morning you will have a little white cheese brick of ricotta.
Salt all over with non iodised salt.
Place in a container then into your fridge, wipe, re-salt the surfaces and turn every day for seven days. The salt is dragging out the moisture. I place a ring or small stand under the cheese after a few days so the whey will drain away from the cheese.
After the seven days, wrap in cheese paper and allow to age for a month to three months. I have seen people dust it with paprika at this stage and I look forward to trying that.
Ricotta salata is wonderful, mostly I like it sliced thin and tossed in hot oil until brown then thrown into a salad of tomatoes and olives and greens with a lemon dressing. Delicious.
I hope you have a lovely day.
Your friend on the farm
celi
43 Comments on “How to make Ricotta Salata”
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Excellent – very clear instructions too 😉
Oh yum! What’s the texture like? Is it a hard crumb or more like haloumi? I love the idea of this with a salad of fresh tomato, olive oil and basil.
hard and crumbly like feta . c
Thank you 🙂
Sounds scrummy. Thank you for taking the trouble to explain it all so clearly.
How is Boo?
love,
ViV xox
Boo is the same, I will take him to the Vet this afternoon. c
Cheese making is one of the best ways to preserve the protein in milk. I’d like to see more kinds of cheese making if you are into that. Your pictures and instructions were very nicely done. Thanks. Di
Thank you Diann. After a day like yesterday i am reminded why i am not a food blog. But I do grow food and then am happy to show you what I turn the food into. I do a lot of yoghurt and yoghut cheeses like labneh. But I don’t bother with hard cheeses anymore.. they go moldy here – something in the air..c
Exactly that is it what I like of your blog. That it is n o t a food blog. That I can see all around the rural living with your lovely animal mates, all that what you are sharing with us. With your ever great photos / shots. And on top some great recipes from time to time… – I really love that. xoxoxo
What a great recipe. I am not sure mine would come together as easily as you make it sound. 🙂
It is actually that easy! c
Oh yum! I have never found a cheese I didn’t like!!!!!!!!! This morning – I had a cheddar bagel from the Jewish deli and I have to say it is now my favorite….. yum!
That sounds wonderful – and so American.. delightful.. c
Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I’ve never made ricotta so must check – Where do you leave it to age? s it ok in a mostly dark pantry or does it need more air?
Thanks ❤
I age mine in the fridge, (which does make it too hard) but unless it is controlled my cheeses seem to go moldy. The cheese paper will help with air circulation and add a little humidity. c
Thanks Celi! ❤ I shall give it a try!
Sounds fabulous! Thank you so much for the recipe with great instructions and pictures! I will try it for sure! We have two goats milking, so have lots of wonderful fresh milk right now! xo
And Of course it SHOULD be made with goats milk – I look forward to hearing about yours.. c
So many questions from the Lounge today. 🙂 I will be among them—does the salt make the cheese salty? I am not a fan of overly salty cheese (feta) and wonder if this lovely looking cheese will end up tasting similar.
This cheese is in fact very like Feta. I think you may not like it in that case..
Thanks! It’s good to know.
Oh, wonderful, but I’m not sure I can wait that long. 😀 I wonder if this would work with parturised milk. I’ve made chevre before with pasturised goat’s milk and rennet (mushroom rennet). It’s not possible for me to get raw milk in Van, but maybe in E it is. I can go ask the dairy farmer down in the village. Oh, what’s up with Boo’s paw? Any news? Big hugs tired girl. 😀
I am assured that it works just fine with pasteurised milk – even just to make the ricotta for your lasagne.. c
Boo is the same = miserable.. c
Time to make Boo some yogurt for his tummy when he gets put on massive doses of antibiotics to fight his infection.
The ‘wet’ this spring/summer has not been kind to the health of many of your animals. I often wonder how animals and humans in rain forests survive.
I hope we will be able to get a report Boo after the vet visit this afternoon. He is so very special!
Yum, yum and yum! That’s all I have to say! 🙂
Don’t eat it all, I’m hoping to try it! Hope Boo is ok and the calves too.
You and I can make some when you come! Then we will make a ricotta cheesecake or lasagne – whichever you like!! The gardens are very much looking forward to you coming!!. I am is such a mudddle this week.. . c
I have always wanted to make my own ricotta fresca for my Italian food. This sounds intriguing as well. It takes time, it seems, but things that are worth it often do. Thanks for sharing this technique.
There is nothing like it and it is so easy! c
Now here is something to tempt my Elly when she comes to look after me, but she will only be allowed to take notes and try it when she goes home. Fingers crossed for Boo.
Thank you so much for sharing the recipe. You made it so nicely with very well instructions and photos. I like all your answers to the comments too. So lovely. I have to buy sea salt because all of our salts sold in the supermarkets are iodised and enriched with fluor… 😦 Is there a special reason for just taking uniodised salt? – Oh, and great thanks to Amanda, too. Must try that soon.
Our weather has come down after two bad heat waves of nearly 40°C to 15°C. I don’t struggle with the rain, nature needs it so badly, even the trees have been dried out, but it’s cold now! My poor bell peppers…
Again all the best for Boo. Poor guy.
Hi Irmi, you always use non-iodised salt for cheesemaking, as the iodine can kill some of the useful bacteria and cultures that help the cheese form its characteristic taste and texture. It’s the same with making fermented foods like sauerkraut. Kosher salt is an easy solution.
Thank you so much, Kate, for letting me know the backgrounds. Alas I could not get kosher salt here, looked for it for a long time. But now I discovered (with the aid of the Internet) that there is an English shop for food in my town! I will check out asap… 🙂
It’s working… the more I see simple DIY food efforts, cheese, yogurt, bread etc the more my psyche accepts this too is possible-doable. Thanks for the reminder, and inspiration… there is no cheese I do not love 🙂 I’m imagining Boo at the vet’s… oh no not again!
Ooh I loved this – have made it up to the curds and whey stage but never hardened it. Am going to make some!
Big smile on my face ’cause actually asked you about the ‘insalata’ bit when you first wrote about s few days back. Think I’ll try it with half the amount of milk first as busy days do not allow too many houseguests at the moment!! Just seems to require a bit of patience and perseverance 🙂 ! Should you come back onto the blog – what did the Vet say re Boo ??? Poor boy . . . Had the MRSA after my cancer operation and nearly did not make it as no antibiotics work . . .
I am going to walk the road to Home farm where the milking parlor is located. They do the second milking starting at 3:30 pm. Perfect for me to say “please may I borrow two gallons of Milk to make ricotta salata.” Three months later I will have cheese!!!!
I love ricotta .. Must give this a go 😃
Lovely. What did you do with the whey? Sometimes in NZ we used to soak bran or similar in it for chicken feed, but recently in England I saw a place selling whey vodka!
The whey goes to the pigs, but I keep a little back to make creme fraiche.. c
I have made ricotta before and it was absolutely easy as pie, can’t wait to try this too!