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Ricotta Cheese (D, KLP)
Source: part of an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer
Yield: 1 pound

1/2 gallon milk
3 tbsp. plain white vinegar OR 1/4 cup strained fresh lemon juice

Warm milk in pot. Drizzle in acid, stirring slowly. Lemon juice gives your cheese a faint lemon flavor, very good. Heat on medium to simmering: bubbles form around the edge and the top looks foamy. Do not boil.

Put pot, covered, in oven for 6 hours. Curds will have formed on top of milk.

Line a colander with a pillowcase, skim off curds gently and put in pillowcase. In 4 or 5 hours you will have soft, fresh, lightly lemony ricotta.

If you don't like the lemony flavor, run it under cold water while in pillowcase, for about 30 seconds.

Put a pot under colander to drain off whey. Save it, since it is full of vitamins, and use it for dairy soups or cooking vegetables for dairy use.

Refrigerate cheese in a container with a tight lid and a paper towel on the bottom.

Poster's Notes:
The oven was mentioned with no degrees given: "Ricotta needs to be incubated at around 100ºF degrees. If you have a gas oven with a pilot light, it is a perfect incubator. If you don't have a pilot, use your oven anyhow and wrap the cheese container in 4 or 5 bath towels to keep in the heat."

I would assume you could flavor these but I would try it plain first to see how that goes.

Posted by Marcia Goldberg, Z'L

Nutritional Info Per Serving: N/A