This is great to have as a basic spread to use instead of butter, and because it is fermented with kefir it lasts a bit longer than the ricotta bought from the shops. It has the added advantage of some great probiotics and vitamin K2 from the kefir to complement the calcium from the dairy. In our house it is used as a spread on anything, in preference to butter or cream cheese.
Drained ricotta – push down well into shaped container
RICOTTA FERMENTED
Ingredients
(makes about 500 ml)
- 1 kg (1 litre) full cream milk
- 250 g (1 cup) thickened cream
- 1 tsp salt, plus more to taste after straining
- 60 ml (3 tbs) white vinegar
- 20 ml (1 tbs) lemon or lime juice
- 2 tbs reasonably thick kefir
Method
- Weigh 1 kg full cream milk and 250 g thickened cream into a heavy saucepan and add 1 tsp salt. Rest a digital thermometer on the handle with the probe sitting a bit above the base of the pan.
- Heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture reaches 92°C (nearly boiling – little bubbles start forming around the edges of the pan), then remove from the heat.
- Stir the milk well, then add 60 ml (3 tbs) white vinegar and 20 ml (1 tbs) lemon or lime juice and stir a few more times.
- Check the whey after a minute or two. It should be clear and yellow-green. If it is still milky, add another 1 tbs white vinegar, stir once and check again, but with the extra creaminess in this ricotta you may have to accept a bit of milkiness.
- Leave the mix to rest for 20–25 minutes to allow the curds to form.
- Line a sieve or fine strainer with cheesecloth and sit it over a large bowl (it needs to hold about 1 litre of whey). Gently ladle just the curds into the cheese cloth, and pour the rest of the whey through a fine sieve, like a tea strainer, and add any extra curds to the cheesecloth. Leave the curds to drain for at least 20 minutes, and up to several hours, depending on how firm you want your ricotta.
- If you want drier ricotta gather the cheesecloth around the curds and squeeze gently to remove excess liquid. Squeeze more for a firmer ricotta for baking. For a spread, keep it a bit moist, and maybe add some of the whey back if needed. Taste and add more salt if it needs it.
- To ferment it, stir in 2 tbs reasonably thick kefir and leave on the bench for a few hours before storing in the fridge.
- Keep the whey – use it making bread or add to smoothies or add some to the dogs dinner or even add when making soups or gravies. It is a good source of protein.
lemon ricotta cake
Notes
The acid can be all white vinegar, all lemon or lime juice, or a combination, to a total of 80 ml. I like the combination of vinegar with a little lemon or lime juice. Too little acid leaves curd behind in the whey, so it is better to go slightly over than under.
It will last at least a week in the fridge and I have the fermented version easily last 2 weeks. I have never had it not used up before two weeks is up, and it has never gone mouldy or smelly in that time.
I had some kefir fermented cream (crème fraiche) that I hadn’t used up, so I added that to the mix. It tasted great and still lasted.
Try these recipes that use ricotta:
Berry Clafoutes