How To Make Great Ricotta Cheese From Whey

Step 4 Thats it!

There it is. Told you it was easy. Try it. It should have a slightly sweet taste and boy is it good. As you can see I got about six and a half ounces. it varies ever time.

Enjoy

Comments

[WVSundown]

DON'T THROW OUT THE WHEY!!!! You can make another yummy Norwegian cheese from the whey after making ricotta called gjetost (from cow's milk) or mysost (from goat's milk). It is buttery, cheddar-y flavor, a slight sweet/sour bite, caramel-colored cheese that I think is as good if not better than the ricotta. It is used more like a spread, can be used in sauces and soups, or to flavor veggies.

You cook it down over a several hours until it renders down to about 1/4 (or less) of the original volume, then use a stick blender or hand mixer to fluff it and make it creamy, then pour it into containers to cool. It keeps for a good while in the fridge, too. Check the 'Net for more specific recipes. All I added was about 1/4 cup of heavy cream before I started boiling it down. It is my favorite cheese!

[peacenique]

Thank you WVSundown!
So now I'm going to get a gallon of milk and make queso blanco; then from the whey I'll make this ricotta; THEN I'll use the remainder for that to make this gjetost! This cheese-making experiment is going to be fun! (and incredibly time consuming!)

[WVSundown]

Good luck with your cheeses and I hope you like the gjetost!

[ezekiel88]

Are all wheys the same? Can I use whey drained from yogurt or does it needs to be from making mozzarella?

[jwystup]

I was wondering this too. I make my own "greek" strained yogurt from plain lowfat yogurt. I'm still trying to find a use for the whey. It would be great if I could make ricotta out of it!!

[frogmama]

I do the same thing as you. I use 2% milk and Fage greek yogurt as my starter. I am trying this with my last 2 batches (1 gal + 1/2 gal total - about 6 cups of whey)of whey (my second batch I didn't strain out my "leaked" yogurt.

In the past, I have added it to pancakes with good success, and like it the most in homemade blueberry muffins for my freezer. (though I can't write "blueberry-whey" on the label or my kids won't eat them. Muhaha!

[frogmama]

Ok, I made ricotta with this last batch mentioned above. I got a bit of yogurt in the whey at the end of straining and left it in (2 tablespoons?)

As far as how much ricotta I got - I didn't measure it or anything, but it came out to about 5-6 tablespoons of Ricotta. Not exactly the most efficient use of the whey, but I don't go out and BUY ricotta anyway, so it was fun to throw on our spaghetti. I watered my plants with the leftover liquid and it seems to have not done any harm. It was a fun *experiment* :)

[babelsgp]

I realize this is an old post but in VT, the left over whey from Cabot, is given to nearby farmers as fertilizer. So I imagine your plants loved it!!

[eculp]

I had the same result. I got about 1/4 cup of ricotta, which isn't much, but I'll throw it into the lasagna anyway. My mozzarella didn't turn out that great either. I'm still working on it!

[counterpoint621]

I too was wondering the same thing, but sense cheese is mainly fat, and protean you might need to add powder milk. I'll fact check my self on this, but if anyone else could shine some light on this, it would be a great help.

[Scooter Stuff]

I used about a quart of whey that was strained out of plain whole fat yogurt and got a thin layer on the coffee filter. I don't know if it was ricotta or yogurt that didn't get strained out. Never the less it was a fun experiment. Thanks for the recipe. I will use the left over whey to make the gjetost and let you know how it went.

[ZaneyMama]

Wow, that's amazing! I'll have to try that too! Does it taste sour because of the citric acid?

[mikemwa]

Actually it has a slightly sweet taste. It's very good.