Fresh homemade Ricotta Cheese

Yesterday afternoon I decided to make a batch of Ricotta for my Zucchini Lasagna since I had no cottage cheese or Ricotta on hand. 

It's been quite a while since I've made it, but I wanted to make the Lasagna and was inspired to make a batch PLUS it's so EASY! 

Any time I've mentioned having made Ricotta people seem to think I'm crazy, it might sound impressive to some that I made Ricotta cheese but to be honest it's SO easy! 

And you probably have all the ingredients in your fridge! 

Fresh homemade Ricotta Cheese

Ingredients

4 cups whole milk

1 cup half and Half cream

1/2 tsp Sea Salt

5 Tbsp lemon juice (approx two fresh squeezed lemons)

Combine milk, cream and salt into a medium sized pot. Attach candy thermometer to the side. 

If you don't have a Candy thermometer, no worries just let the milk mixture come to a boil slowly, it will all work out!

Stir occasionally while heating. When the temperature reaches 190 (once boiled) remove from the heat and add in the lemon juice. This will cause the curds and the whey to separate.  Stir slightly once and then let it rest for 5 minutes to allow it to separate do not stir at this point.  

You can see how the Curds and Whey are separating 

Line a strainer using either cheese cloth, coffee filter or even a few layers of paper towel.  I've used all 3 and it works either way! 

Pour your Curds and Whey into the lined strainer and leave it to drain until the curds and Whey have completely separated and all the whey is drained away.

This is the makeshift set up I used (I couldn't find my cheese cloth): 

Two strainers lined with coffee filters.  It did the trick!

Store Bought Cost Comparison

Is it cheaper to make Ricotta at home? 

Consider this..... a small tub of Ricotta Cheese will run you about $5 contains about half of what this homemade batch will give you. 

I might have used about 1/4 of my milk which costs me $5.09 which is about $1.27 in milk, and a cup of my cream which is about a 1/3 of the container do that probably cost me another 1.25. And the lemon juice and sea salt are just a few cents. 

So for about $2.55 I made my own Ricotta cheese as opposed to paying $5 and having a bunch of extra ingredients in it.  Plus I got more Ricotta from my homemade batch than I would have with the tub at the store!

I didn't get a good picture but there were a couple unnecessary ingredients listed probably used to preserve it on the grocery store shelves.

The homemade version lasts about 3 days in the fridge but I find that it never lasts that long (because we eat it so quickly)!

What's nice is that if I come across a recipe I want to try that calls for Ricotta, I don't have to run to the store or no make it because I don't have that ingredient because I am able to make up a batch at home if needed!