My First Attempt in Cheese Making

Success!  Yup.  That is how I will describe my first try at cheese making.  As I shared in this post,  I have long wanted to try making cheese at home.  There are many who have been successful in their cheese making activities at home and it is a proof that it could be done. You just have to browse the web to find a recipe.

For this recipe, I used a 2% fat milk so I had to increase the amount of the cream that was called for in the recipe.  I also increase the amount of the acid and used vinegar instead of citric acid.  The original recipe can be found here.

Fresh Ricotta

Recipe:


1 Liter Low Fat Milk (2%)
5 Tablespoons Cream
1/2 Tablespoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Vinegar


Mix all ingredients in a sauce pan.
Heat it up over medium heat.  Mix once in a while to avoid scalding the sides.
Wait till the curds separate from the whey.  
When the mixture has separated, turn off the heat and let stand for about 10 to 20 minutes. 
Strain in a cheese cloth lined-colander.  
Let stand for about 10 minutes or longer if you want it dry.
Eat immediately.


Notes: 
I think I would have added the vinegar when the milk mixture was boiling instead of adding it at the beginning.  I did that in the second process and the curds developed faster.
Store in a jar or any clean container and place in the fridge when not going to eat right away.


Some say that the cheese that comes out from the method used in the recipe is not really ricotta because ricotta comes from the left over whey from making mozzarella.  Whatever they say, for me, it is cheese.  =)  Anyhow, since I got a lot of the left over whey from the first processing, I boiled it again and added a tablespoon of vinegar.  It's still cooling in the stove so I have yet to taste the curds that it made.

I can't wait to eat this tomorrow with hot pandesal. Yummy!