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Comment by teetertater | Hacker News Reader

I've tried cheese-making and can highly recommend!

The easiest one to start with is ricotta, and then Mysost[1] with the leftover whey

1. https://www.culturesforhealth.com/learn/recipe/cheese-recipe...

‘Starting’ by making ricotta seems a bit odd in that ricotta (like Mysost, as per link above) is made starting from by-products of making other kinds of cheeses in the first place (fresh/sweet whey).

One would imagine starting from something like paneer would be more practical, no rennet needed etc.

Anyway, second the recommendation on trying cheese-making, if anybody is looking for book recommendations, ‘The art of natural cheesemaking’ (David Asher) seems like a good starting point.

The ricotta meant by the OP is an acid-coagulated cheese, like paneer. If I understand correctly, that's how "ricotta" is made in the States. In Europe, particularly in Italy, "ricotta" is a whey cheese made with the whey left over from rennet-coagulated cheese. The same kind of cheese is called urda in Romania and myzithra/ anthotyro in Greece.

I'm not sure you can really make mysost from the whey left over from acid-coagulated cheese. I used to make cheese by straining milk kefir. I made mysost/ brunost from the leftover whey a couple of times and it was intensely acidic. So much so that I used it as a thickener in soups, rather than eat it on my toast. If you want the silken, slightly tangy tofu butter style of mysost, then I don't think you can get it without whey from rennet cheese.

Thanks for backing me up on this cheese_goddess :)

I wasn't aware there is non-rennet and rennet ricotta. I was using the whey method for Mysost, and even that is pretty inedible without adding a bit of cream, so I linked that recipe.

Agree with the paneer suggestion - the only equipment needed is a pot & muslin; only ingredients are milk & acid (e.g. lemon juice); it's easy; it tastes better than what you can buy (here in the UK anyway); you can have it however soft or firm you like it.

Worth noting though that (afaiu anyway) you can't make ricotta with whey from paneer - since you've already introduced acid to coagulate, there's too little if any protein left. Use it instead in bread, or in place of water in anything that you might also add yoghurt or cream to. e.g. if you make palak paneer or mattar paneer with your paneer, use the whey instead of water to reach the desired consistency.

I mean, you can make ricotta and mozzarella at the same time.

I also agree, paneer is a great start.

Yep, normally this is true and this a good suggestion, but you don't have to if you just want to keep it simple!

Starting with ricotta gives you a higher yield of ricotta :)

Did you have to get a whole new set of pots?

Absolutely not! The only special things I bought were cheese cloth and a food thermometer

But I wouldn't recommend making Mysost in a particularly nice pot, it's hard to clean the caramelized cheese off of it

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