This is great to have as a basic spread substitute for butter, and as it is fermented with kefir it does last a bit longer than the ones bought from the shops. It has the added advantage of having some great probiotics and K3 from the kefir to complement the calcium from the dairy products.

In our house it is used as a spread on anything, in preference to butter or cream cheese.

FERMENTED RICOTTA

Ingredients

(makes about 500ml)

  • 1 litre whole milk
  • 1 cup heavy/thickened cream
  • 2 tbs white vinegar or lemon or lime juice or combination of these acids
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Method

  1. Heat the milk, cream, and salt in a heavy saucepan with a digital thermometer resting on the handle and the probe sitting a bit above the base of the pan. Stir occasionally until the mixture reaches 92° (nearly boiling), then remove from the heat.

  2. Stir and then add in the acid and stir once more.

  3. Leave it to rest for 15-20 minutes allowing for curds to form.

  4. Gently ladle the curds into a large bowl (needs to hold about 1 litre of the resulting whey) through a cheesecloth-lined sieve or fine strainer and drain for at least 20 minutes up to several hours, depending on desired firmness.

  5. When drained enough gather the cheesecloth around the curds and squeeze gently to extract any excess liquid. Depending on the intended use it can be squeezed to remove more liquid. I use it as a spread so I like to keep it a bit moist.
  6. Now to get it fermented – simply stir in 2 tablespoons of reasonably thick kefir and leave on the bench for a few hours before storing in the fridge. It appears to last at least a week. I have never had it not used up before a week is out but it has never gone mouldy or smelly in that time.