[Sca-cooks] Re: Thoughts on cheesemaking

[Christiane]

>I've made ricotta using both the old-fashioned-method, where it's a  
>by-product of other cheesemaking and you don't get a very high yield,  
>because you've already made mozarella (or whatever) with that milk,  
>and the new method, which is higher-yield, because all you get from  
>your milk is ricotta and whey. It almost sounds, from your  
>description above, that you're describing some kind of fusion of the  
>two methods, and I'm wondering if this is really how your Uncle Tony  
>made ricotta. Of course, he was there and I wasn't, but my experience  
>has been:

Talked with Dad again, and it turns out that Uncle Tony was using milk, and he may have been using rennet. Asked Dad if maybe it was whit vinegar, and he said probably not.

Now the best ricotta comes from sheeps' milk, and ricotta salata is described as a sheep's milk cheese. So I wonder if you can make a proper ricotta salata from cow's milk ...

I think I may start experimenting with store-bought ricotta and trying to press and dry it in my refrigerator. Could be an interesting A&S experiment.

Gianotta