Salted ricotta recipe for aging fresh ricotta at home. An ancient recipe belonging to the tradition, especially southern. Salted ricotta is used to enrich the pasta alla Norma timballo or to season macaroni. Excellent on pizza with eggplants, it is the queen of the tables and is used instead of grated cheese. I love making preserves at home, like this homemade garlic oil or homemade red wine vinegar. It brings great satisfaction and is an excellent way to economize in the kitchen.
To make salted ricotta at home, you will only need a nice ricotta and fine salt. 8-10 days of aging and you will have a salted ricotta that will keep for a long time.
Recipes that go well with salted ricotta:
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very economical
- Rest time: 8 Days
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 10
- Cooking methods: No cooking
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 78.00 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 2.05 (g) of which sugars 0.15 (g)
- Proteins 5.66 (g)
- Fat 5.22 (g) of which saturated 3.31 (g)of which unsaturated 1.65 (g)
- Fibers 0.00 (g)
- Sodium 38,804.00 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 25 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for making aged salted ricotta
- 1 mixed ricotta (or cow or sheep – 2 days old)
- 2.6 lbs fine salt
What you need to age ricotta
- 1 Deep plate
How to make salted ricotta at home
Pour about 7 oz of salt into the plate and place the fresh ricotta in the center. Cover it with more salt, pressing it on with your hands.
The next day, the ricotta will have expelled some of its whey, remove it from the wet salt and repeat the process with more dry fine salt.
Place the ricotta to age in a ventilated and dark place for 7 days. You will notice that the salt will turn into a crust and the ricotta inside will lose volume. If during this phase you notice that the salt on the bottom is wet, turn the ricotta, adding more salt.
After the aging time, remove the ricotta from the salt and, with the help of a small knife and absorbent paper, remove the excess salt, without scraping the ricotta and leaving a thin layer of salt around.
Wrap the ricotta with parchment paper or cheese paper, and wrap the whole thing with a sheet of aluminum foil. This way the salted ricotta will breathe and will continue aging.
You can store the salted ricotta in the refrigerator, it will keep for up to 6 months.
Salted ricotta is used to add character even to a simple plate of tomato pasta. You just need to cut a wedge (as in the photo) and grate it with a microplane or a manual grater. Avoid using the mixer.
Rosella Errante’s Tips
Choose fresh ricotta, preferably from a trusted dairy, leave it in its mold, on a plate and in the refrigerator. Cover the surface with a sheet of dampened absorbent paper. This way it will lose some of its whey. Treat the ricotta with salt within a maximum of 2 days.
