Ricotta Cheese Recipes and Yogurt Cheese Recipes: Whey to Go

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In a simple manufacturing process, the whey and milk are combined in an open kettle and heated to between 180 and 186 degrees Fahrenheit. Acid — lactic, acetic or citric — is added and the mixture stirred briefly. Under the combined heat and acidification, the lactalbumin, another milk protein, coagulates and floats to the top. This curd is scooped off and drained overnight. Unlike hard cheeses, which must ripen for months, ricotta is a fresh cheese, ready to pack.

Because it's very moist, ricotta is highly perishable. The expiration dates stamped on the cartons are often wildly optimistic; look for a pull date substantially later than the date of purchase. Fresh cheese is snow-white and has virtually no scent; yellowish, sour ricotta is just as unmistakable as sour milk, and just about as appetizing.

What about nutrition? Although whole-milk ricotta is a delicious addition to the menu, it offers little nutritional advantage over your favorite hard cheese. Look for the part-skim, then check out the calories and fat; brands vary markedly. Frequently, an ounce of part-skim has about 30 calories and two grams of fat. One of the leanest on the market is labeled "lite" ricotta; one ounce has 25 calories and one gram of fat. While it's less rich and a little grainier than other part-skim cheeses with higher fat contents, it's still excellent (and gets only 36 percent of its calories from fat).

Strictly speaking, it's unfair to compare ricotta and, say, Cheddar on an ounce-for-ounce basis, since the serving sizes are usually different. Although you might eat an ounce of ricotta in a dip, you're more likely to eat four ounces in a main dish. Still, if you compare a normal two-ounce serving of hard cheese with a normal four-ounce serving of ricotta, the savings remain significant.

Predictably, ricotta is most common in Italian cooking, but it's too good to restrict to one ethnic style. If you're going to try only one or two of the ricotta recipes below, choose the Herbed Ricotta Spread or the Manicotti. If you don't like those, you probably aren't going to like this cheese.

Yogurt Cheese

Yogurt cheese is mildly tart, somewhere between cream cheese and sour cream. For centuries, yogurt cheese has been a staple of Eastern and Mediterranean cooking. At banquets and celebrations in western India, the dessert of choice is shrikhand, sweetened yogurt cheese that's spiced with saffron and cardamom and topped with pistachios. For breakfast, the Lebanese spread the cheese on pita bread and sprinkle it with olive oil. Greek farmers mix it with chopped cucumbers for lunch. Yet, outside of Middle Eastern cookbooks and an occasional newspaper article, it has received little attention in the West.

Glossy white, smooth, rich and creamy, yogurt cheese is the consistency of velvety whipped cream cheese. Its taste is mildly tart, somewhere between cream cheese and sour cream, although that varies with the yogurt from which the cheese is made: Sweet flavors (such as vanilla and lemon) produce sweet cheese. Whatever its base, it looks, tastes and feels as if it's loaded with fat.

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