Making ricotta cheese is my new obsession. I had heard how much tastier homemade ricotta was however I always thought it would be too tricky to make. Anything that involves a thermometer and waiting until an exact temperature measurement before adding ingredients just seemed too fussy. But oh how wrong I was! This is so easy and tasty!

Materials needed:

1) Cooking thermometer

2) Cheese cloth (if you don't have a cheesecloth you can get creative- tights/pantyhose, tea towels or pillowcases would do the trick. Just make sure they are clean!)

Ingredients:

1/2 gallon whole milk. (You can also use low fat, I just wouldn't go below 2% as you need some fat in the milk for this to work)

1/3 cup of lemon juice

1 teaspoon salt

Directions

Place milk in a saucepan and heat, stirring occasionally until its temperature reaches 195 degrees F. Remove from heat and immediately add the lemon juice and salt. Stir slightly and then leave to sit for 10 minutes. By this time the whey should be separate from the curds. Pour into the cheesecloth and then hang this over a bowl or over the sink.

Leave hanging for 10-40 minutes depending on the texture of the cheese you desire (10 minutes will be soft and 40 minutes will be firm).