Today was cheese making day, and I was due for another cheddar.  As I was about to pour off the whey, I thought to myself, why not make some ricotta?  So that’s what I did.  I found the absolute simplest recipe I could find - very simple indeed.  All I needed to do was heat the whey until it foamed (about 180 deg.), let it set for 5 minutes, then pour it through a cheese cloth lined sieve.  After draining I was left with about a pound of ricotta.  It was yellow ricotta, since I had coloring in the cheddar batch.  A little salt and, voila, very tasty ricotta.

http://fiascofarm.com/dairy/ricotta.html

I used to use it in bread making.

Yep, that’s the whey I make mine.  It looks a bit different, because I had colored the cheddar that they whey came from, so the ricotta is not white.  It would appear as though I’ll be making ravioli in a few days.

Been wanting to make my own pasta for a long time, keep forgetting, was given a pasta maker kit in Dec.

Here’s the cheddar that the ricotta came from.  It really turned out well.  4 gallons of raw milk yielded a 5 lb wheel.  I’ve cut it in half for aging, since it’s hard to use up a 5 lb cheese. 

The inside of my mold is getting rough; and it takes a lot of effort to get the cheese out of it.  I’m going to get some 000 steel wool and try to dress it down to smooth again.  Otherwise, I’m going to have to make a new one, if I can find some 6” PVC somewhere that would be willing to sell it in a small section.

Awesome looking cheeses