Homemade Ricotta

I had a rather wonderful week-and actually found myself skipping along the streets of Berlin on a couple of occasions (Yes, I am a HUGE child)!

In between my working on my desk and heading off to my meetings, I decided to treat myself to a dose of chocolate at a near-by chocolate store. As I walked-I mean skipped ( and I do mean literally skipped) into the chocolate store on this particular afternoon-my senses were immediately stimulated by the magical smell of the various chocolates within the shop. They had everything a chocoholic could ever desire!!!

I was honestly overwhelmed by this experience . After a couple of minutes, I ended up just standing in the middle of the shop, trying to gather my composure when a beautiful little girl tapped on my hand. As I looked down and caught the gaze of her gorgeous eyes, it suddenly downed on me that she was begging. I have no idea why I the first thing to come out of my mouth to ask her why she was not in school (ok, that’s the educator in me-oh dear!)-and she actually responded that she could can’t because she had to make money- She then turned her head in the direction of a lady who was standing next to her. I had not even noticed her before, and then asked her if that was her mother and she said-yes-

We continued speaking a bit-and I kept on pushing the learning issue (as I said-do not ask me why?) So, during our perhaps 3-4-mintues conversation, I was able to get from her that she was 10 years old, and well, like all members of gypsy communities-moves from place to place begging and earning money for her family-or whoever had organised this. She spoke a rather broken-German and, as such I was not able to understand everything that she was telling me. But I got enough-Her mother-or the lady standing beside her was not able to understand but became seemingly restless at our exchange and urged the little girl to leave.

The little girl and I decided that she should have the most wonderful piece of cake she could find in the shop. Her eyes widened and her smile became even larger, greater and brighter as she scanned through the shelves of the shop. She ordered the creamy ricotta-mandarin cheese cake and gave me the gift of her wonderful smile-which truly truly warmed my heart-She wanted to say something else to me when her mother grabbed her and she ran off-turning back to look at me as she was running off.

This is indeed my own interpretation-but I really felt as if this girl was not happy, and trying to tell me  something. I watched her run off as far as my eyes could see-

After this interaction, I wasn’t skipping anymore-but felt rather terribly disturbed –disturbed that I was not able to do more-something-anything!!! I cannot seem to get this little girl and who knows how many more such girls and children in such circumstances out of my head.

If all the food I made could be turned into money and given to their comunity, such that children would no longer have to spend their days begging in the streets?

If these children could somehow be paid to go to school-and taken off the streets to beg-could this begin to break their cycle?

FOOD FOR THOUGHT!

For about 1 cup of Ricotta, you will need:

• 1 liter (or 4 cups) of fresh goat’s milk
• 1/3 cups of buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
• Salt to taste
• Cheesecloth or a loosely woven cotton napkin
• Equiptment:
• Heavy Pot
• Wooden spoon
• Colander
• Deep bowl wide enough to place a colander on top of it.

Place the goats’ milk and buttermilk into a heavy pot and turn on the heat to medium. Once the milk begins to steam, stir gently using a wooden spoon. Continue to cook the mixture until tiny bubbles begin to develop.  Continue to keep the mixture at the lightly bubbling point for about 5 minutes and add the lemon juice.

Stir gently and you will notice that the mixture will begin to curdle. Stir gently, slightly turn down the heat and cook until the curds will begin to separate from the whey. This took me about 3 minutes-

Take the pot off the burner and let it sit for about a minute.

Now line the colander with the cloth and place the colander over a deep bowl. You are ready to pour the mixture slowly into the lined colander. You will catch the whey in the bowl and the curds will be left in the cloth. Once the entire mixture had been poured into the colander-Let it sit until the whey is drained out of the curd. Now, the longer you drain the curd, the drier your ricotta will be. I drained my own for about an hour yielding a rather creamy ricotta.

Lift the cheesecloth up by each corner and twist it ever-so-gently. If the whey comes out clear, squeeze it a little more. If the whey is milky, then there is no more need to squeeze and you are done!. Place the ricotta into a tightly sealed container-and refrigerate. It will last for about 5 days!

You know have your ricotta!!!