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Cheesepalooza Round Up Challenge One: Whole Milk Ricotta

August 31, 2012 by Valerie Lugonja 24 Comments

A collection of all Cheesepalooza participant whole milk ricotta making experiences!

Ricotta Boursin by A Canadian Foodie

This is a revealing Cheesepalooza Round Up. Not so visually interesting to some, yet to an artisanal cheesemaker, a delight! Did you notice I called us “artisanal cheesemakers”? Wheee!

Each participant from our first of twelve monthly Cheesepalooza Challenges has selected how to “show off” their first challenge. I find the photos that present the cheese in its “naked” form most revealing to me, as they are easiest to compare, so to speak. I cannot taste them, but I can see the curd. It has been a very gratifying “getting to know you” month, and I think this will continue well into the next two months. Some of our participants were unable to contribute to challenge one for a variety of reasons, but are looking forward to challenge two.

Others will be contributing late, and I will simply add them to the bottom of the round up, so it will be well worth your while to check back in a week or so, and take a look at the bottom of the post for the late entries.

The good news? And there is a lot of it! Every one is having a ball! The discovery of this very simple to make sweet, yet savoury cheese has been as exciting for most as it was for me. There were trials and errors, but each has persevered through to success. Bravo! Our Cheesepalooza Facebook Page tracks conversations and postings in real time, and is well worth stopping by to “like”. Our participants who don’t have websites have been posting their challenges there. I will include them in this round up once I receive the required information from them.

I will also be publishing alternate cheeses done this month in another post, and the “winning” participants for this challenge will be announced mid month. Remember, Addie, Valerie, Deb and Ian are each picking a “winner” from each challenge each month to be presented mid month. More on that in the Challenge Two post, out tomorrow!

I hope you enjoy this parade as much as I did – and please take the time to read, read, read – and get to know your fellow participants as this is just the beginning. We have a year to work together making cheese and communication and collaboration will be key to our success. Comment! Discuss! Enjoy!

Ian at Much To Do About Cheese from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

I have just got to know Ian through our Cheesepalooza Project and what a gift meeting him has been!

Simone at Junglefrog Cooking from The Netherlands

I have followed Simone for a few years and learned a great deal from her over the years. She is an incredible photographer and I am delighted that she decided to join our project!

Jane at The Healthy Beehive from Granby, Colorado, USA

Cheesepalooza has introduced me to Jane and her site. I am enamoured. I will be spending much more time over there!

Alanna at 360 Degrees of Cheese from Sydney, Australia

Ian introduced us to Alanna as they have followed one another. She is an experienced “cheesehead” and I, for one, am thrilled she is back to cheese making and has joined our project!

Valerie at A Canadian Foodie from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Success! Bravo, Valerie. I had a party in the kitchen all by myself!

Laurel at California Laurel in Manteca, CA, USA

Laurel and her mom are making cheese with us. I am sure we have all heard of the 5 degrees of separation, but a project like this really opens ones eyes. How she found out about it, I don’t yet know, but I am thrilled she did. I have had a blast exploring her site and reading her work.

Addie at The Big Cheese Project from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Addie works with me on the Slow Food Edmonton executive, but that isn’t how we met. We met through Twitter at a local party in a restaurant. Meeting Addie has been a gift for me as he is a tenacious scientist into whatever he takes on with a zeal that is hard to match. His reflective and gentle manner makes him my favourite cheese making partner! I have so much fun making cheese with him. He also has a very bright palate and surprises me consistently by what he is able to taste and articulate through tasting.

Ntala at Crazy Mare Ranch from Barrhead, Alberta, Canada

Cheesepalooza also brought Ntala to my attention and she lives 2 hours away! Deb and I had the pleasure to meet her. I will be going to her farm to make cheese with her. She is a hair dresser who farms, makes cheese and so much more. I cannot wait to visit Barrhead and make cheese with her. This is another one of those serendipitous connections made through the magic of social media and technology – and the love of cheese!

Christine at wannafoodie.ca from Calgary, AB, Canada

Christine is just a ray of sunshine. What else can I say. Positive energy exudes from this gal. I met her at Eat Alberta last year, but on Twitter much before that, and cannot wait until we can make sourdough bread and cheese together. She lives 3 hours away, and all is possible.

Serene from Mom Food Project at Oakland, CA, USA
Cheesepalooza also brought Serene to us. She gave me the idea to sell the book through my site and give the money to UNICEF. She has a lot going on over at her site and is one of the busiest gals! Again, I am curious about the trail that brought her to us, but am sure glad we found one another!
Calantha from piecurious at Elora, Ontario, Canada
Calantha is a fellow Canadian. I believe she found Cheesepalooza through Food Bloggers of Canada. Am I right? I am always more than delighted to connect with like minded Canadian Food Bloggers and look forward to getting to know Calantha much better. Look at that dish! Yum!
Nic from Nic Cooks in Sydney, Australia
Nic was one of the first people that signed up for this project and came via Ian as they follow one another. She is another very experienced, from my twig, “Cheesehead” and I have thoroughly enjoyed reading my way through some of her pieces. I am looking forward to more time on her site!
Deb from Simple Pleasures in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
I met Deb, again, through twitter and in person when I sent out a plea earlier this year for help with planning Slow Food Canada’s National Conference in Edmonton. She became one of 5 “wind beneath my wings” gals who worked to support me through that undertaking and I have developed a deep respect for her. I have learned so much for this generous and knowledgeable young gal. I am so thankful for my plea and for her generous time commitment and the development of our friendship through the process.
Heather at Shift Mama from St. Albert, Alberta, Canada
I am looking so forward to meeting Heather. She actually made this cheese with 3 friends, two of which are participants, and the third one, I believe, plans to join. They haven’t sent me their links yet, but Heather’s read is hilarious. We will meet as she practically lives in Edmonton. She has promised to come to the next tasting. They booked their cheese making session on the same date as our tasting, so we have a lot of catching up to do next month!
Stephanie and Lori Anne at Clockwork Lemon from Calgary Alberta Canada
Stephanie and her mom, Lori Anne, are also working together on this project. Christine lives in Calgary, too, as do a couple other participants. I hope they can all get together at some point for a meeting and a tasting. It will enhance the entire experience, and it is also entirely possible that all Calgary participants may come up for a tasting in the Spring. We may be able to do something grand, by then. That would be such fun! I was tickled when Stephanie joined as she is so close and it gives us the opportunity to get to know one another better.
Alanna from Kitchen Parade in St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Alanna has made ricotta many times, so I asked her for a link of her past success and this is it; she will participate next month! I am also curious about how she found us, and have spend a great deal of time on her site. I still cannot find how to leave comments on it, but hope she will help me out with that! There is a lot there that I would love to respond to!
Denise McLaurin at Whole Made Goodness from Haymarket, VA  USA (metropolitan Wash. DC)
Denise started her website when she joined our project! There are about four others who have, as well. I love how we have drawn people from all over though cheese! She is clearly not a novice cheese maker and I am looking so forward to learning from her. I hope she will record all of the cheeses she knows how to make as she makes each one again.
Pam at Domestic Diva On A Dime from Manteca, California, USA
Pam and I have barely gotten to know one another and I am looking so forward to more! Look at her gorgeous ricotta!
Kim at Rhubarb and Honey St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Kim also has a gorgeous website and the name of it made me feel right at home. I always claim rhubarb as Canadian food. 🙂 I have also been to St. Louis and she hails from a gorgeous town steeped in history, as do so many of us. Cannot wait to learn more.

Geniviève at And a Stick of Butter from Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada

Larry at La Bonne Vie from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Qqui on Cheesepalooza Facebook from Puerto Rico

I met Gen through Slow Food Edmonton, as well. I cannot wait to taste her cheese and possibly make cheese with her this year! She lives 30 minutes out of the city, so we will definitely be getting together!

Lydia Guerrini at Absolutely Georgeous from Perth, Western Australia
Lydia was on Master Chefs in Australia! She is clearly a go-getter and a lover of “absolutely gorgeous” food! She recently attended a cheese making course for a day which is a really good read!
 
Heather at Sweet Wood Farm from Mahone Bay Nova Scotia Canada
Heather has just moved to Canada from Europe 10 weeks ago and has plenty of authentic cheese making under her belt. She is headed back over in a couple of weeks for more Cheese making learning. She has engaged several people in Nova Scotia and there are three in her group making the challenge cheeses with her, and 15 currently on their own localized NS Cheesepalooza FB page. You must stop by!
 
There are 52 registered Cheesepalooza participants! YEAH!!!!! Such a celebration of Fresh Whole Milk Ricotta this month. Alternates will be posted next week. Challenge Two will come out tomorrow. If I have missed your post in this round up, sincere apologies, just e-mail me and I will put it up, immediately! Cheese-ON!
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Filed Under: Cheesepalooza, Cheesepalooza Round Up, Fresh Tagged With: Cow Milk, Homemade Cheese, Whole Milk Ricotta

About Valerie Lugonja

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Educator, Writer, Gardener and Traveler who believes in buying and eating locally, and most importantly cooking at home! As a brand new Gramsy, so be prepared to hear a lot about this new role in her life!
Please connect with Valerie to buy a Thermomix Machine!

« Serbian Mousaka
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Comments

  1. Ian says

    August 31, 2012 at 5:27 pm

    Thanks for your hard work on this Valerie. I really appreciate it. It looks like there are lots of Ricotta to choose from.

    Reply
    • Valerie says

      August 31, 2012 at 8:14 pm

      Thank YOU, Ian!
      Hasn’t this been a fun month of getting to know one another and tasting and talking CHEESE! What a blast I have had… and my new favourite “old song”: we have only just begun!
      🙂
      Valerie

      Reply
  2. Genevieve Olivier says

    August 31, 2012 at 5:45 pm

    Looks great! Hope to be more organized this next challenge!

    Reply
    • Valerie says

      August 31, 2012 at 8:15 pm

      Gen!
      You did great!
      I would love to make cheese with you sometime when you are in town – or want company. It would be a BLAST. This next challenge will really lend itself to that, and making others, too! We definitely need to make cheese together, soon!
      🙂
      Valerie

      Reply
  3. Heather says

    August 31, 2012 at 6:28 pm

    Wow! Everyone’s Ricotta looks amazing! I really have to step up my photography to fit in with everyone!
    Loved reading the blogs and seeing where everyone is from! Can’t wait for he next challenge.

    Reply
    • Valerie says

      August 31, 2012 at 8:17 pm

      Heather!
      I cannot wait to meet you! I am very sure we will meet at the next cheese tasting and I can promise you, that you and your three friends will have fun with the next challenge. Can you urge them to send me their links so I can include their posts in this round up?
      🙂
      Valerie

      Reply
  4. alanna says

    August 31, 2012 at 7:32 pm

    Wow, so much lovely cheese! Thanks for all the organising. I’m looking forward to this months challenge.

    Reply
    • Valerie says

      August 31, 2012 at 8:18 pm

      Alanna
      I am enjoying reading through your site and know the next challenge won’t be too challenging for you, but also know you can share a great deal of insight with all of us when you do it.
      🙂
      V

      Reply
  5. Lisa says

    August 31, 2012 at 7:33 pm

    Even though I’ve made ricotta on my blog already..I was going to make a ricotta cheesecake with homemade ricotta..for this month. I don’t know what happened..everything slipped my mind outside of bread..and now it’s the 31st and I plum forgot! That said..I’m definitely IN on the next one! The round-up is fantastic..a ‘scroll’ of beautiful, creamy ricotta!

    Reply
    • Valerie says

      August 31, 2012 at 8:20 pm

      Lisa!
      So glad to hear from you – and would STILL love you to send me the deets when you DO make your cheesecake with fresh ricotta – as I know you will – to include in the round-up, even if late, as this will be a timeless accounting of the progress each of us makes through our year of cheese!
      🙂
      V

      Reply
  6. Sarah Galvin (All Our Fingers in the Pie) says

    August 31, 2012 at 7:41 pm

    How do I post my ricotta? Looking forward to the next challenge.

    Reply
    • Valerie says

      August 31, 2012 at 8:21 pm

      Sarah!
      Thrilled you are on board with this! Please just send me the following and I will add you to the round up!
      name
      blog url (ricotta post)
      where you are from
      ( I have your e-mail, etc)
      I am tickled pink to know you are interested!
      🙂
      V

      Reply
  7. Kathleen says

    August 31, 2012 at 7:43 pm

    Am I ever glad I found your website. How bright and refreshing.

    Reply
    • Valerie says

      August 31, 2012 at 8:22 pm

      Kathleen
      Thank you!
      This is because of all of the wonderful people we have working together making CHEESE!
      🙂
      Valerie

      Reply
  8. Laurel says

    August 31, 2012 at 9:46 pm

    Looks great! Thank you so much for all of your efforts in bringing this together. I am so excited and am greatly anticipating the next challenge!

    Reply
  9. Nic says

    August 31, 2012 at 10:25 pm

    Great round up Valerie, and thanks for the kind comments. I would definitely class myself as a cheesehead, but perhaps not very experienced. I’m here to learn too! And isn’t it amazing that there can be so many different variations of the same cheese!

    Reply
  10. Denise says

    September 1, 2012 at 4:01 am

    What a lot of work to gather everyone’s photos and information together … and so glad you did! It is great fun to see everyone’s efforts. Looking forward to popping in on all the blogs to say hello.

    Reply
  11. Mary Karlin says

    September 1, 2012 at 9:31 am

    These cheeses are terrific! What great accomplishements!
    FYI to all re: ricotta. There are many different styles of ricotta, often driven by the end use; or at least that’s how it works for cooking. If you want a fluffy curd, first heat the milk to 180 degrees and then add the 1 teaspoon citric acid. You’ll get immediate moist curds. Add more citric acid if there’s still cloudly whey (more protein in there to turn to curds). General point to remember: the longer the curds sit in the hot whey, the more moisture they expel. If you want moist curds, drain them asap. Additionally, the amount of time you drain the curds renders moist or drier curds. So, drain less if you want moist.

    Reply
    • Valerie says

      September 1, 2012 at 9:50 am

      Mary!
      This advice makes so much sense. Thank you! What a great help for future Whole Milk Ricotta with Citric Acid. This is the coagulant I prefer for flavour, but I am having difficulty controlling my curd with it! This will help a great deal!
      🙂
      Valerie

      Reply
  12. Kate says

    September 1, 2012 at 10:37 am

    I definitely think it’s visually stunning. All cheese naturally is.

    Reply
  13. Simone says

    September 6, 2012 at 1:52 pm

    Wow what a fantastic roundup Valerie! I’m gonna visit every one and read their notes as that will be interesting I think to compare how everyone did. I just found my goatmilk so am all geared up to make the chevre this weekend! Having a blast!!

    Reply
    • Valerie says

      September 6, 2012 at 3:21 pm

      Simone!
      Glad you found the milk! Mine is sitting on the counter as we speak! Not the milk – the almost cheese. It is sitting for the 12 hours before I strain and hang it.
      🙂
      V

      Reply
  14. christine @ wannafoodie says

    September 13, 2012 at 9:35 am

    I have just made it through all of the posts in this Round Up. What a fantastic group of Cheesepalooza participants! I am truly excited about this year of learning and creating and sharing with one another. 🙂

    Reply
    • Valerie says

      September 13, 2012 at 11:00 am

      Bravo!
      I had almost finished when dad went into the hospital – so I am still not quite done – was, but then others have now finished!
      🙂
      V

      Reply

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