Business Insider’s Claudia Romeo is a video journalist by trade, but that doesn’t mean that she can’t appreciate good eating. When she took a trip to the south of Italy and visited the Puglian town of Locorotondo, she did not know what would happen next. She wanted to learn how ricotta cheese is made and we cannot think of a better place for her to learn that lesson than Italy.
Cheesemaker Giovanni Montanaro let the audience in on a little secret. The ricotta cheese is not actually cheese at all. Instead, it is made from curdled whey that formulates while the cheese curing process is underway.
Obviously, this is something that the average person may struggle to understand. Montanaro is more than happy to provide a more detailed explanation.
“Ricotta is a very versatile cheese that can be eaten in very different ways. And, technically speaking, it’s not even really a cheese, because it comes from the liquid whey when the milk is curdled. Bigger dairies that make cheese often consider liquid whey just a leftover product and use it to feed livestock or even discard it,” he explained to Food Insider. The ricotta that is produced here is made to be eaten within the same day.
There is no one set way to prepare the ricotta, either. The preparation techniques will depend on the region of Italy you’re in. “Just like its sisters, mozzarella and burrata, ricotta is a game of time and chemistry. Today, Giovanni is going to show us how he makes ricotta from 100 liters of milk. Out of these 100 liters, only 10 will turn into curds that will then make cheese,” Montanaro continued.
There are not a lot of people who would be willing to give up the Italian secrets like this, so we appreciate his effort. We cannot wait to see what the reactions are when we share this amazing tutorial.
Watch it for yourself: