{"id":294,"date":"2026-10-01T16:25:24","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T16:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olivefather.com\/?p=294"},"modified":"2026-10-01T16:25:24","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T16:25:24","slug":"what-is-ricotta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olivefather.com\/?p=294","title":{"rendered":"What Is Ricotta? How Real Italian Ricotta Is Made, the Types Worth Knowing, and How to Eat It"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ricotta is a soft, fresh Italian cheese made by reheating the whey left over after making another cheese. The word means “re-cooked” \u2014 ri-cotta<\/em> \u2014 and that second heating is the whole trick: proteins still floating in the whey clump together into delicate, sweet, milky curds.<\/strong> Technically, many cheesemakers will tell you ricotta is not a cheese at all but a whey product, a by-product turned into something beautiful.<\/p>\n

It is one of the most humble foods in the Italian kitchen and one of the most misunderstood abroad, because what most Americans buy in a plastic tub is often a different product wearing the same name. Here is the real thing.<\/p>\n

How ricotta is made<\/h2>\n

When a cheesemaker makes pecorino or caciotta, rennet sets the casein proteins in milk into curd. What drains away \u2014 the thin, greenish whey \u2014 still carries other proteins, mainly albumins and globulins, which rennet does not catch. Heat the whey to somewhere around 80\u201390\u00b0C, often with a splash of fresh milk and a little acid or salt, and those whey proteins coagulate and float to the surface as fine white flakes. The cheesemaker skims them off and lets them drain in a basket. That is ricotta.<\/p>\n

Nothing is wasted. In the pastoral economy of southern Italy, where shepherds made pecorino in mountain huts, ricotta was the reward of the same day’s milking \u2014 eaten warm, often straight from the basket, with bread. In Calabria and across the South that tradition is still very much alive.<\/p>\n

The milk changes everything<\/h2>\n

Sheep’s milk ricotta<\/h3>\n

The classic of central and southern Italy. Richer, slightly grassy, with a deeper sweetness. Ricotta Romana DOP<\/strong> is made from the whey of sheep’s milk in Lazio and is the ricotta of Roman pastry.<\/p>\n

Cow’s milk ricotta<\/h3>\n

Milder, lighter and the most common in the North and abroad. Good for baking and fillings where you want the ricotta in the background.<\/p>\n

Buffalo milk ricotta<\/h3>\n

Made from the whey of buffalo mozzarella in Campania. Ricotta di Bufala Campana DOP<\/strong> is creamy, rich and quite rare outside Italy \u2014 the sister of burrata<\/a> and mozzarella in the same dairies.<\/p>\n

Goat’s milk ricotta<\/h3>\n

Found locally, especially in the South; brighter, with a gentle tang.<\/p>\n

Ricotta beyond the fresh tub<\/h2>\n