Ricotta

[LindaRacine]

Hi...

Anyone have a recommendation where I can purchase really fresh ricotta? I'm in Oakland, but am willing to travel if necessary.

Thanks!

[Melanie Wong]

I've bought Bellwether's sheep milk ricotta in bulk from Traverso's in Santa Rosa. Call ahead for availability.

[wally]

Bellwether's sheep and jersey ricotta are available at times at the Cheeseboard in Berkeley and both Pasta Shops in Berkeley and Oakland. Cowgirl creamery in the Ferry Building usually has it. Bellwether also has a booth at the Sunday Marin farmer's market at Civic Center in San Rafael.

[casalbore spirit]

I'm from the East Coast and would take Calabro or Polio over Bellwether any day.Bellwether has quality cheeses,but not an Italian sensed product when it comes to the ricotta.
http://www.calabrocheese.com/ Calabro is available at all Bay Area Whole Foods and Cosentinos in the South Bay.During the Christmas holidays,Whole foods also carries Calabro's tender hand dipped ricotta.(Buonissima!)

[potato or yam]

The Whole Foods on Ashby has the Calabro hand dipped ricotta year round. They also used to carry it at the Pasta Shop on College, though I haven't really poked around that much since they redid the cheese section. I also like the Calabro hand dipped more than the Bellwether ricotta.

[farmersdaughter]

It's really fast and easy to make it yourself, if you're so inclined: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/405577

[Robert Lauriston]

The Pasta Shop sometimes has really good fresh sheep's milk ricotta, which is the best I've found. I'm not sure which brand it is, but it's drained in a basket so you can see the pattern. They often run out.

[Melanie Wong]

Bellwether's sheep's milk ricotta has a basket pattern on it. Might be it.

[rworange]

I was at the Pasta Shop in Rockridge today and they had three types - Bellwethers, Calabro's from Connecticut and a type from Wisconsin.

I am still getting over a cold and not fully functioning. I never heard of the Wisconsin brand. So I asked them to write down the name of the Wisconsin cheese because my brain was retaining little. I didn't look at the card and when I just looked at it they wrote "fresh ricotta" ... well, yes, I KNEW that. I wanted the name of the producer.

Anyway, for my taste the Calabro is the best. The Wisconsin brand wasn't bad. It has a lovely texture but was a little blander and lacked the creamy sweetness of the Calabro. The Bellwether was tangier and not a delicate as the other two.

It depends also on what you are making. If it is something sweet like a ricotta pie, the Calabro is the best choice with the mystery Wisconsin brand a second. The Bellwether is just too tangy and should only be used in savory dishes. In fact, I might choose the sheep's milk Bellwether for something like ravioli or lasagna for the extra character.

I am thinking about making something with ricotta for Christmas ... dish to be determined. Anyway, I stopped by A.G. Ferrari for something else and as long as I was thinking ricotta I asked if they had any. The do.

It is made locally in Berkeley though they couldn't remember the name. It came in a sealed plastic tubs, so no sample. Has anyone tried it?

[Robert Lauriston]

Huh. The one local ricotta maker I know is Mozzarella Fresca in Benecia.

[Melanie Wong]

Yeah, that's who I was thinking about. I think the company used to be in Berkeley. The lowfat ricotta is at Grocery outlet now for $1.99, pull date within 30 days or so.

[rworange]

Though he said Berkeley, it might very well be the Benecia company. He said they made the mozzarella also

[Melanie Wong]

Actually just remembered Belfiore is in Berkeley and makes ricotta.
http://www.belfiorecheese.com/pages/1...

[Robert Lauriston]

They're good. I forgot they were local.

[Melanie Wong]

I don't think I've ever had Belfiore's ricotta, just the fresh mozz.

rwo, Bellwether's ricotta makes a nice dessert with honey and fresh fruit. A whole one with the basket pattern looks lovely on the holiday buffet table.

[rworange]

Bingo. He said it began with a "B". I was afraid with my cold-addled brain there were one two many "B's" .

A. G. Ferrari has it packaged using their name though.

[casalbore spirit]

Mozzarella Fresca is okay,better than the,God forbid,Precious at Safeway.I can't encourage the use of Calabro enough.The hand dipped or not,as you referenced (sweet and creamy) are for savory dishes.They are made from cows milk(mucca) not sheep(pecora)like Bellwether that will give your dishes that tangy(I say sour)flavor.In Italy the pecora ricotta is used in the spring when lambs are born,grass is sweet and mothers are nursing.My Mom makes homemade manicotti(skins and all) as the highlight of our Christmas meal.Trust me,a sweet,tender ricotta such as Calabro or Polio will make all the difference in any homemade cheese filled pasta.Of course quality mozzarella and parmigiano reggiano are also in the mix.Good luck.

[casalbore spirit]

Belfiore is okay too,better than the plastic cheese served in most grocery stores,but when the best is available why not go for it?

[Melanie Wong]

I did a search to find the original post on this board where I first heard of Calabro back in 2004.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/32649

I've never purchased it. But reading that it's made in Connecticut, this is what Vivande Porta Via uses for filling cannoli, and yes, it is quite special.

[wally]

Bellwether makes both a sheep's milk and a jersey milk. They are very different.

[casalbore spirit]

If you like the texture and flavor,indeed use it.I'm not a fan.

[cmvan]

I'm very familiar with Bellwether's ricotta, having worked for the Callahans.

I could always tell what time of year it was simply by the flavor/tanginess of the sheep ricotta. After the first lambing in mid-winter and then into spring, the milk has a tangier note, due to the ewes existing almost exclusively on the fresh green grass of the hills between Petaluma and Bodega. Once the grass turns brown coming into summer, their diet is supplemented with sweet hay, which then gives the milk, and subsequently the ricotta,a sweeter note.

Also, keep in mind which of these brands being discussed are artisanal and which are production. There are distinct differences and sometimes variations in flavor/texture when the product is handmade as opposed to computer-calculated and machine-processed.

[casalbore spirit]

Good information.That is why I recommend Calabro's hand dipped artisanal ricotta.While Bellwether and Calabro are both excellent products,I feel Calabro subscribes more to Italian sensibilities and meets my needs.Peoples needs vary though. http://www.calabrocheese.com/

[rworange]

The thing with Calabro is that experience can't be dismissed. I have yet to find one of the trendy, $$$ current generation of sausage makers that comes close to the old-timers like Little City.

I grew up not far from Calabro in an area that had a large population of first generation Italian families like Mr. Calabro, who was born in Sicily.

For all the stuff about spring and winter grass and diet, the minute I tasted that Bellwether, the first thing I thought when tasting it was ... crude.

I can appreciate it, but like so many California cheeses which are still in their infancy, they are very good, but are not at the level of esquisite European cheeses with generations of skill. It is sort of the equivalent of a lot of California wines in the 1970's.

[Robert Lauriston]

Calabro is cow's milk, so to some extent it's apples and oranges.

I believe the texture of Bellwether's ricotta may suffer somewhat because they can't get the breeds of sheep bred for dairy, so the milk is different. Nevertheless, the Bellwether cannoli I've had at Pizzeria Delfina and À Côté came the closest to what I had in Sicily.

[cmvan]

Bellwether typically uses the milk from their own East Friesian sheep (one of the best breeds for milk producing) for the ricotta, San Andreas and Pepato. When they came out with the sheep milk yogurt, they had to source milk from another sheep dairy just to be able to keep up with the demand.

[Robert Lauriston]

They have East Friesians? I stand corrected. I'm pretty sure they were the ones who told me they couldn't get proper dairy sheep due to import bans, but that might have been years ago. That helps explain why it's so good today.

[wolfe]

Sometimes you have to believe what you read on the net.
http://www.bellwethercheese.com/sheep/

[cmvan]

I can guarantee you that what their website says is correct about the sheep. They've had East Friesians for years.
I've walked the fields with them and assisted in making the cheese and ricotta myself. Nothing quite like being up to your elbows in a vat of fresh sheeps' milk, breaking up curds by hand. Amazingly silky...

[rworange]

I was at the 4th St Pasta Shop today and the brand of ricotta from Wisconsin is Grande. That is all that is currently being sold at this location.
http://www.grandecheese.com/Pages/Wel...

Looking at the site, it seems they have four styles of ricotta.It was like pulling teeth just to get the producer from Pasta Shop. I'l bet finding which type isn't going to be easy.

I'm guessing from the descriptions it is the Sopraffina. It could possibly be the dolce, but next to the Calabro, that sweetness didn't come out. However, given the dolce is described as " reminiscent of the traditional hand-dipped ricotta made in the villages and countryside of Italy" one would think Pasta Shop would go for the more artisnal style.

[LindaRacine]

Thanks so much everyone!