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

[Kathleen Madsen]

This discussion is getting interesting!

Actually, anytime you add a culture to a cheese it
starts the fermentation process, as the enzymes begin
to transform the liquid milk into a solid mass.  That
would include cottage cheese, quark, and neufchatel. 
If you consider that fresh cheese is only curds that
have been separated from the whey without any form of
fermentation, that pretty much limits it to straight
curds precipitated out of the whey using a form of
acid.

Eibhlin
West Kingdom Cheesemaker's Guild

--- "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
wrote:
> Now that I've had some coffee, I may be a little
> clearer.
> 
> What you consider cheese depends on how tightly you
> adhere to the technical
> definition, which is "a food made from curd of milk
> seperated from the
> whey."  Ricotta made by cooking the whey and
> condensing it, so under the
> technical definition, it isn't a cheese.  It is
> called "cheese" because it
> resembles cheese.  Picky, picky, picky, right?
> 
> Fresh cheese is cheese which has not been fermented,
> which usually means a
> soft, unripened cheese (I can't think of any other
> kind of fresh cheese, but
> I haven't tried them all).  In general, fresh cheese
> will taste sweeter and
> milder than other cheeses.
> 
> Under the strict definition, ricotta (and cream
> cheese) aren't cheese at
> all.  Most people, however, ignore the precise
> differences and consider them
> cheese.  In the latter case, ricotta would be
> considered a fresh cheese.
> 
> When fresh cheese is called for, I tend to use
> drained cottage cheese or
> fresh mozzarella (if I can find it), but I would use
> ricotta if it was what
> I had available.  
> 
> Bear
> 
> 


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