For me the New Year doesn’t start when the ball drops at midnight in Times Square. It begins somewhere around the second or third week in March, when mud takes the place of snow, the robins return, and the cows begin to calve.

Joe and I have what is referred to as a seasonal dairy, meaning we try to get all the cows pregnant at the same time, so we can dry them up at the same time, so we can take two months off while the cows are dry, and so on and so forth.

Getting all the cows pregnant at once is about as realistic as me sticking to my new year’s resolutions. What usually happens is I get two or three cows calving the second or third week in March and the rest a month later. The three cows that are “fresh” (as we call it on the dairy farm), will not produce enough milk to have the milk truck stop every other day for a pick up—so that means until I have more cows freshen, I am stuck with about a hundred and eighty pounds of milk every day. What’s the saying? When life hands you lemons make lemonade? Well, when life hands you a hundred and eighty pounds of milk you make yogurt, fresh mozzarella, pancakes, milkshakes, butter, and you start eating cereal three times a day.

Well, it seems like home cheese making is all the rage, so I decided to try my hand at making whole milk ricotta, and the results were/are delicious.

Fresh Ricotta Cheese
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Ingredients
  1. 1 Gallon of milk
  2. 2/3 Cup fresh squeezed lemon juice or distilled vinegar (vinegar seemed to give the best yield)
  3. Salt to taste
  4. Cheesecloth
  5. Colander
  6. Thermometer
Instructions
  1. Slowly heat milk to 180-185 degrees in a heavy bottom pot, stirring constantly as you increase the heat.
  2. When the milk has reached 180-185 degrees, remove the pot from the heat and gently stir in the lemon juice or vinegar. The milk will begin to coagulate immediately.
  3. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes, then pour slowly into a colander lined with cheesecloth.
  4. Let ricotta drain for as little as 15 minutes or as long as an hour—depending on the consistency you desire. The longer the ricotta drains, the drier it will be.
  5. Season the ricotta to taste with sea salt.
Notes
  1. Ricotta lends itself nicely to flavors like almonds, berries, honey, cinnamon, lemon, herbs, nutmeg, orange, garlic, and chives.
  2. Mix a bit of honey and lemon zest with fresh ricotta and serve on a toasted bread.
  3. You can also season the ricotta with a few teaspoons of herbs and fresh cracked pepper and drizzle with olive oil.
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