[Sca-cooks] Re: ricotta as "fresh cheese"?

[Kathleen Madsen]

Greetings, Ruth.  This gentleman sounds like a person
I'd love to talk cheese with!  :)

My opinion:

I feel Ricotta is entirely appropriate as a fresh
cheese, cheese made from whey is still cheese. 
Ricotta, in particular, is actually the remaining bits
of milk fats and protein that were not gotten in the
previous coagulation which are coagulated and strained
out of the whey.  A whey cheese that I would feel is
not fresh cheese is Gjetost, cooked down and
carmelized whey.  Gjetost keeps very well and so is
rarely sold fresh, but it can be made fresh if you
have the time to stand over your pot and stir. <G>  I
did that once and once was enough!

Ricotta must be made from freshly made whey, a
by-product of making a fuller-fat cheese, no more than
one hour old - and it only lasts for a short period of
time.  It was such a widely used cheese in period that
they tried to find ways to preserve it longer.  One
method was by salting and pressing as much of the
moisture out of it, this is Ricotta Salata.  There is
also a smoked version.  Another method was to drain it
further in baskets and to age it, allowing the
moisture to dry out of the cheese.  This is called
Ricotta Stagionata and is used for grating.

Other fresh cheeses that are good choices are cottage
cheese, quark, young slipcoat cheese, straight curds,
neufchatel (french cream cheese), and yogurt.  Also,
cheeses can be eaten at any point in their aging
cycle.  That batch of gouda that you just took out of
the press is considered a young/fresh cheese, until it
begins to form its rind.  There are only a few of the
cheeses that can only be eaten fresh as they do not
age at all due to their high whey content (see those
listed above).  It's the whey that causes a cheese to
go bad as it is a prime breeding ground for mold
spores.

Cheese is a living, breathing creature and has a
life-cycle just as we do.  They begin young and fresh,
age a bit to have a rind and a mild somewhat moist or
elastic paste, then they begin to get a thicker rind
and a dryer paste, and if you can stand to wait for a
year or longer the paste will become grainy and more
and more dried out.  Parmesan is aged for a minimum of
two years before it is released by the affineur
(cheese ager).

So there's my view, anyone else have one?
Eibhlin

--- Ruth Frey <ruthf at uidaho.edu> wrote:

> 
>      Huh!  I redacted Sabina Welserin's "Genovese
> Tart" recipe last 12th Night -- a savory tart with
> spinach, "fresh cheese" (I used ricotta), aged
> cheese (I used parmesan), and olive oil in a pastry
> crust.  It was very yummy, and got a good response
> from everyone who tried it, but our local
> cheesemaking expert really gave me a chewing out for
> using ricotta, since it turns out ricotta is a whey
> product and not actually a cheese at all (or so he
> told me, and I respect his knowledge of the
> subject).  He did admit the dish was tasty as
> redacted, but we worked out that I should try some
> cream cheese or cottage cheese "drip strained" (like
> you do with yogurt for yogurt "cheese") and blended
> for my next attempt, so I would not offend the
> cheese-knowledgeable in the audience.  It was
> actually a very fun discussion . . . :)  But:
> 
>      I'm curious to get responses from this group --
> how appropriate is ricotta as a "fresh cheese"
> substitute in redactions, in your opinion?  Thought
> I might hear from some more cheese-knowledgeable
> folks than myself.  After all, blessed are the
> cheesemakers.  ;)  :)
> 
>               -- Ruth
> 
> 
> 
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