Fresh ricotta cheese

I had been wanting to make fresh ricotta cheese for a while. Recently I signed up for HarvardX's massive open online course, the Science of Cooking (it's free for anyone to register!) To my delight, one of the labs is to make ricotta cheese. Super easy and super delicious!

Ingredients

• 4 and 1/4 cups whole milk
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Special equipment: strainer, cheese cloth, cooking thermometer, cooking pot, and 2 large bowls

Directions

1. Prepare a large bowl with ice and water to put the pot in later.
2. Arrange the cheese cloth into four single layers, place it over a strainer, and put the strainer over the second bowl (make sure that there is enough space between the bottom of the strainer and the bowl for the liquid to strain).
3. Pour the milk and salt into a cooking pot or pan. Heat the milk while stirring. When the milk reaches 198˚F/92˚C, remove the pot from the stove, quickly mix in vinegar (no more than a few seconds), and then let sit. If you continue mixing the milk and vinegar mixture, you will prevent the coagulation from happening.
4. Place the pot in the bowl of ice+water to cool down.
5. When the temperature reaches 97˚F/36˚C, pour the contents of the pot onto the strainer covered with cheesecloth. This allows the whey to pass through, while the curds remain in the strainer.
6. Fold the edges of the cheesecloth over the curds, and put everything (strainer+bowl) in the fridge to chill for 20 min or longer.
7. Serve with crackers, or honey and fruit.

Recipe courtesy of HarvardX
Happy and healthy eating!