I just made this, and there is almost no curds and tons of whey. What can I do to fix it? When it is resting for 1 hour off the heat, should th...

...e lid be on the pan? I left the lid off, so I wonder if too much heat escaped too quickly? I am currently straining the whey out with a cheesecloth, but after an hour of straining, it is still very thin. It does taste delicious though. I want to use it for ricotta gnocchi, so I need a firm consistency. Thanks

imadok
  • Posted by: imadok
  • February 14, 2012
  • 8811 views
  • 4 Comments
Creamy Homemade Ricotta
Recipe question for: Creamy Homemade Ricotta

4 Comments

Kristy M.
Kristy M. February 14, 2012
My guess is that the milk didn't get hot enough -- did you see the curds bobbing up to the top before you took the pot off the heat? I don't think keeping the lid on or off matters as much as getting that first step right. If you hadn't already strained it, I'd have turned on the heat again and given it another go.
 
Mr_Vittles
Mr_Vittles February 14, 2012
You can put the curds into a cheesecloth, and twist the ends, until the curds are in a little ball, keep twisting until the curds begin to give up the whey, keep doing this until only drops come out, the curds should be pretty dry then. That is odd that your yield was low, maybe you used a milk that was low in fat? In my experience, after adding the acid, the whey and curd separate completely within a minute or two. Also, consider making a lot of cheese requires a ton of milk.
 
imadok
imadok February 14, 2012
What do you mean, "after adding the acid"? In the instructions, it says to combine all ingredients at once. Is this a mistake? Should the buttermilk be added after heating the rest? Most other ricotta recipes say to add the acid last, so I wondered about this, but assumed combining everything at the same time was correct for this version since so many others commented with success. I am going to try reheating, since the squeezing out method yielded no usable curds. I also used whole organic milk.
 
Mr_Vittles
Mr_Vittles February 14, 2012
@imadok Yes, I am used to adding the acid ingredient last too, I suppose adding them together at once should not change the separation, but that is the way I was taught. Maybe the temperature was not high enough, I add the acidic ingredient right as the milk starts to form small bubbles around the sides and wisps of steam come off the center. I very curious instance we have here. I am sorry it did not pan out the first time, please keep us apprised of how round 2 turns out.
 
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