Whiteley Creek Homestead

Tonight, I completed Lesson 8 Traditional Ricotta Cheese in my 16-week Cultured Dairy and Basic Cheesemaking eCourse. This is what the ricotta cheese solids look like after heating the whey… 

 
and here's the ricotta cheese after straining the solids through a dishtowel.

 
You need a lot of whey to make ricotta. I had accumulated only one quart of whey by straining my homemade yogurt (solely for this purpose) when I decided to give the ricotta cheesemaking a whirl. The bottom photo shows the miniscule amount of ricotta that resulted from a quart of whey, but it was a successful initial attempt. The ricotta is so tasty… so fresh! It's not recommended to use whey to make ricotta on a regular basis because heating the whey destroys its probiotic goodness. However, cheesemaking produces an abundance of whey, so, if after using the whey in smoothies, for soaking grains, nuts, and seeds, drinking it straight, feeding it to your chickens, or consuming homemade yogurt without draining the whey off, you still have whey that you are wondering what to do with, then make ricotta just because it tastes so wonderful and it's a nice addition to Italian dishes. To learn how to make ricotta as well as buttermilk, yogurt, kefir, and many kinds of cheeses, I highly recommend Wardeh Harmon's eCourse. Each skill is broken down into bite-size pieces… manageable chunks that can fit into busy schedules.