[Sca-cooks] Thoughts on cheesemaking

[Elaine Koogler]

Christiane wrote:
> I was talking with my dad the other day about Sicilian food, because we're going to Sicily in October. And we were talking about cheeses, and he mentioned casually that his Uncle Tony made dried, salted ricotta (ricotta salata).
>
> He simply boiled whey, added something to it to make it curdle (rennet?) and then put the curds into a beehive-shaped wicker basket lined with cheesecloth; he'd cover the basket with more cheesecloth, and then put something heavy on the cloth to press the curds. He'd leave it covered in the basement to age and dry.
>
> I flipped open my copy of "Pomp and Sustenance," and found a photo of a dried, salted ricotta turned onto a plate. It held the shape of the cheese-making basket beside it. And I realized I was looking at a cheese like Uncle Tony used to make.
>
> I found this interesting quote about ricotta from a Clifford Wright essay:
>
>    "Two of the earliest mentions or depictions of ricotta are related to Sicily. Professor Santi Correnti, chairman of the history department of the University of Catania and a preeminent historian of Sicily, writes that during the reign of the Sicilian king Frederick II, in the early thirteenth century, the king and his hunting party came across the hut of a dairy farmer making ricotta and, being ravenous, asked for some. Frederick pulled out his bread loaf, poured the hot ricotta and whey on top and advised his retinue that cu' non mancia ccu' so' cucchiaru lassa tutto 'o zammataru (Those who don't eat with a spoon will leave all their ricotta behind)."
>
> Now I want to make ricotta salata. Off to research where to find a local purveyor of whey ...
>
> Gianotta
>   
I'm not an expert in cheesemaking (nor do I play one in real life.....), 
but I do know that ricotta is usually made from the whey left over after 
making mozzarella.  So you could potentially start with making 
mozzarella, then use the whey left over to make your ricotta.

Kiri