Yes, Whey: How To Make Fresh Ricotta Cheese At Home

It turns out, Little Miss Muffet was really onto something! The value of whey goes far beyond just protein powders and nursery rhymes - it's actually one of the most multitasking foods around. Get ready to get domestic with our friends at Cultures for Health as they teach us all about this protein (and probiotic) packed superfood and how to turn it into this drool-worthy homemade ricotta cheese! Here's our cultured friend, Rosalyn... Have you ever opened up a container of yogurt or sour cream that’s been sitting in the refrigerator for a few days, and you see a watery liquid on top? That liquid is whey and though it may seem unwelcome in our world of modern foods and their uniform appearance, but whey is simply the part of a cultured milk product that does not contain the milk proteins and fats! It does contain protein, though, called whey proteins, and it is loaded with probiotics. Any time you culture milk, whether you’re making yogurt, milk kefir, buttermilk, sour cream, or cheese, what happens is that the milk becomes more acid, and the acid breaks down the cell membranes in the proteins, making them stick together. That’s why the milk becomes more solid. As the solids start to form, the liquid is left behind, and that’s the whey. The proteins in whey are less likely to clump, so they hang around in the liquid. Whey can be dried, leaving behind just the whey proteins. You often see “whey protein” as an ingredient in processed foods, or protein powders. It’s a very efficient way of adding protein to your diet without a lot of calories! What else can you use whey for? Whey is fairly acid, and it also contains a lot of the bacteria that caused the milk to ferment in the first place. You can use that acid and bacteria to do some extra duty in fermenting other foods! If you heat up the whey, it will turn into a soft cheese. Here is a recipe for making ricotta cheese, using the whey that is strained off from yogurt or cheese-making. [olists num=1] There are lots of other things you can do with the leftover whey! Add it to a protein shake for an extra boost and for a little flavor. Keep feta cheese fresh by storing it in a bath of whey. Use it instead of chicken or vegetable broth in cooking or add whey to hummus or pesto to thin it out. Whey will keep up to six months in the refrigerator, and up to a year in the freezer.



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