Ricotta – a healthy whey cheese

We have blogged about gouda and feta and if you have made the cheese you will know that only 10 % of the milk becomes cheese with the rest being whey. In other words we get 1 kg cheese from 10 kg ( liters ) milk. Most people throw the whey away or give it to the calves, pigs and dogs. But it is a very healthy food fit for human consumption.

There is a substantial amount of fat and some soluble albumin protein in whey. Although Ricotta is expensive to make as you need a lot of heat to make it with not much return, it does give you a very healthy end product. 10 liters of whey will give you approximately 250 gram of ricotta.

Ricotta is an excellent banting food as it consists of mainly protein and fat, a high percentage of calcium and very little carbohydrate. And of course it contains pro-biotics for gut health. It doesn’t taste like real cheese but has a very pleasant flavour. The Italians use it extensively in ravioli but that defeats the health aspect a little as you will be eating masses of carbs at the same time.

But there are many other possible recipes. Someone once said the following about Ricotta

” Is there anything ricotta can’t do? It’s a topper, a binder, a stuffing, a scholar and a gentleman.”

You can make cheesecake, puddings, ricotta vegie cakes, salad recipes, pancakes and more with ricotta. Just google it.

Finest kind sells special moulds to drain the ricotta in resulting in a beautiful little cheese. Have a look at our recipe to make ricotta here

Until next time
Joan