Ricotta: salted
What a mess, and not very pretty. Tasted Ok, but not entirely a success.
Troubleshooting: possible reasons for failure.
1) I had the wrong kind of milk. Again.
2) I added the citric acid to the milk, rather than adding the milk to the citric acid. This may be similar to adding olive oil to vinegar to make salad dressing, rather than adding vinegar to olive oil. The order of steps may matter.
3) This rennet was too exposed to air, and the result was that it was too weak to do the job.
4) a quarter-tablet of rennet may not be enough to make the curds properly.
5) I didn't let the curds sit long enough. Although, frankly, they got 20 minutes, almost; and it's supposed to take only 5 minutes.
6) Something was in my pan, my measuring cups, my measuring spoons.
Occam's Principle: the simplest explanation may be the best.
Although the milk was local, and labeled as pasteurized, it may have been ultra-pasteurized; but the result would have been that curds would not form at all. I got curds, but imperfectly formed — and not the beautifully smooth curds I got the first time. The citric acid and the rennet may be the problem. Next time, I'll do the steps in the right order.
Ricotta: salted
What a mess, and not very pretty. Tasted Ok, but not entirely a success.
Troubleshooting: possible reasons for failure.
1) I had the wrong kind of milk. Again.
2) I added the citric acid to the milk, rather than adding the milk to the citric acid. This may be similar to adding olive oil to vinegar to make salad dressing, rather than adding vinegar to olive oil. The order of steps may matter.
3) This rennet was too exposed to air, and the result was that it was too weak to do the job.
4) a quarter-tablet of rennet may not be enough to make the curds properly.
5) I didn't let the curds sit long enough. Although, frankly, they got 20 minutes, almost; and it's supposed to take only 5 minutes.
6) Something was in my pan, my measuring cups, my measuring spoons.
Occam's Principle: the simplest explanation may be the best.
Although the milk was local, and labeled as pasteurized, it may have been ultra-pasteurized; but the result would have been that curds would not form at all. I got curds, but imperfectly formed — and not the beautifully smooth curds I got the first time. The citric acid and the rennet may be the problem. Next time, I'll do the steps in the right order.