Home Made Cheese 1: Paneer & Ricotta

Hilary Elmer
May 16
5 min read

Updated: 2 days ago

Cheese making is the art of removing whey from curd. There are a million ways to do that, which is why there are a million types of cheese.

This is the first in a series on home made cheeses! We will start with the easiest ways to make cheese and work up to more complex ones. We will finish with a grand finale of aged alpine cheese.

Paneer curd wrapped tightly in cheese cloth.

Paneer & Ricotta

If you can bring milk to a boil and add vinegar, you can make paneer and ricotta!

I am pairing paneer with ricotta because the two are made almost identically, with a small difference in technique that yields one or the other.

Paneer is a super simple cheese from India. It is unique in that you can cook it like tofu and it does not melt.

I love to put cubes of paneer in curry where it absorbs all the good flavors.

Ricotta is a soft cheese that is super versatile. It is mild and a little bit like cream cheese.

Use this whole milk ricotta in desserts like cheese cake, lemon ricotta pancakes, with fresh fruit and honey for a nutritious breakfast, or use as a filling in lasagna or stuffed manicotti.

(Traditional Italian ricotta is made by heating the whey left over from making hard aged cheeses, because there is still the albumin protein left in that whey which can be turned into a soft curd by heating it to 195F. "Ricotta" actually means "recooked". This whole milk ricotta is a variation on that.)

A Word About Milk: Grocery store milk is notoriously bad for making cheese because most of it has been ultra heat treated (UHT) or ultra pasteurized (UP). These types of treatment heat the milk to around 280F, which denatures the protein and causes it to not form decent curds. (This is also one of the reasons that so many people think that they are lactose intolerant, because these proteins are hard to digest.) Additionally, the cows that make grocery store milk are fed huge amounts of corn and soy, and are pushed to make more milk than their bodies can handle which causes them to be chronically unhealthy. They are pumped full of pharmaceuticals to keep them going.

It is worth using raw grass fed milk to make these cheeses. Even though the milk for paneer and ricotta is heated, it does not get hotter than boiling so the proteins are not denatured like they are in UHT or UP milk. I feed my cows grass (plus supplements), NO corn or soy. The milk from my cows is much healthier for you, even when it's cooked!

Ingredients:

1 gallon milk

1/2 cup or more of vinegar

1/2 tsp salt

Equipment:

heavy bottomed pot

optional double boiler

large spoon for stirring and scooping

colander

cheese cloth*

thermometer (for ricotta)

dish gloves (for paneer)

*There are several options for cheese cloth, but the "cheese cloth" that you can buy at the grocery or hardware store is not good enough. Cheese cloth for making cheese needs to be tightly woven. You can buy cheese cloth or butter muslin from cheese making suppliers. Both cheese cloth and butter muslin will work for this, but butter muslin has an even tighter weave and so is preferred for soft cheeses like this. Also, a clean large tea towel or pillow case turned inside out will work.

Process for Paneer:

1. Pour milk into a heavy bottomed pot and heat on the stove till it reaches a gentle rolling boil. Stir frequently to avoid scorching, and watch that it doesn't boil over. If you are able to use a double boiler for this, it will be much quicker and won't try to stick to the bottom.

2. Reduce heat to low and add the vinegar. Stir for 10 seconds.

3. The curds should form quickly out of the liquid whey. The whey should be yellow. If the whey is milky colored, add more vinegar until the whey turns yellow and all of the curd had formed.

4. Turn off the heat and let it set for 10 minutes.

5. Line the colander with the cheese cloth and ladle the curds into the cloth.

6. Put on dish gloves to protect your hands from the heat. Gather the corners of the cheese cloth and twist the extra fabric tight to squeeze the curds as tightly as possible. The goal is to remove every last drop of whey. Keeping the twist in the neck of the cheese cloth, tuck the ends of the cloth under the curd mass and place it back in the colander. Find something that weighs about 5 pounds and place it on top of the curd mass. Let it sit like this for a couple of hours to firm up.

7. When it is done, unwrap the paneer from the cloth. Add salt to the outside if desired. Whatever you don't use immediately, store in the fridge. Be sure to try paneer in your favorite curry recipe!

8. Troubleshooting: if your paneer melts when you cook it, it means that you didn't remove sufficient whey. Make sure you squeeze it really tight and press it for a while before cooking.

Process for Ricotta:

Pour milk into a heavy bottomed pot and heat on the stove till it reaches 195F. (This is one difference between paneer and ricotta, you don't bring ricotta quite to a boil.) Stir frequently to avoid scorching. If you are able to use a double boiler for this, it will be much quicker and less likely to stick to the bottom.
Reduce heat to low and add the vinegar. Stir for 10 seconds.
The curds should form quickly out of the liquid whey. The whey should be yellow. If the whey is milky colored, add more vinegar until the whey turns yellow and all of the curd had formed.
Turn off the heat and let it set for 10 minutes.
Line the colander with the cheese cloth and ladle the curds into the cloth. Tie the corners of the cloth together and hang by the knot to let the cheese drain. Alternately, you may just leave the cheese in the cloth in the colander to drain without hanging it. Allow it to drain for 30 minutes. (The other difference between paneer and ricotta is that ricotta does not get pressed, so it retains more moisture.)
Stir in salt and store in the fridge. Have fun experimenting--try ricotta in cheese cake, mixed with fruit and honey, or combine with egg and bake in an Italian pasta or eggplant parmasan.