[Sca-cooks] Re: Thoughts on cheesemaking

[Christiane]

<snips huge amount of extremely useful information>

Thank you! I had stumbled across Ricki's site the other day, and I was going to ask today if it was a good one. I am now going to get a cheesemaking kit for my dad for his birthday.

My father grew up in North Bergen, N.J., where a lot of Sicilian and Southern Italian immigrants settled. Before the area was built up, folks kept some small livestock (there's a picture of my dad as a small boy with a goat) and I think there was a dairy farm not too far away.

I'm pretty sure Great-Uncle Tony used cow's milk for his ricotta and vinegar or lemon juice as a coagulant. He could have used goat's milk, but I don't think he or any of his brothers on the street kept a herd.

He may have made cheese in my grandfather's house; Grandpa had built his home into the side of a hill, Calabrian style, so he had a proper cave for aging wine and vinegar and storing cheeses. Tony lived on the "nonhill" side of the street.

Well, now I am really going to try my hand at ricotta and ricotta salata!

Gianotta