What does it mean if curds form in your ricotta before adding lemon juice?

Question

I am in the process of making ricotta right now using whole milk.  I am heating it and it is around 120 degrees right now and it has started forming curds even before I have added the acid. Does that mean that my milk was sour?  If so, can I just omit the lemon juice and still come up with a nice ricotta?

justpicked · Answer

Thanks Panfusine -- I'll add the juice and see how it goes!

Panfusine · Answer

The milk was most likely, kind of borderline off to begin with. I'm personally wary about making cheese with milk at that stage, (maybe its in my head,), but do add the lemon as well just to ensure that the curdling process goes through completely.

What does it mean if curds form in your ricotta before adding lemon juice?

2 Comments

Popular on Food52