Thankyou Pat! Again, a new recipe for me for something i have made all my life, but with so much new knowledge! I did not know about the heat making the ricotta firmer! I usually use figleaves to make my curds but then ofcourse, i cant make it in winter so i am so happy to use vinegar because using lemonjuice has never really worked for me….now knowing the 5% i am thinking my lemons may not be acidic enough or i have not used enough. So thankyou so much, Pat! Lisa
Oh you are so lucky to have fig trees- we struggle with keeping them alive here. The vinegar is nice because it gives consistent results. We will make the brined ricotta video- we keep making ricotta to do it but it keeps getting eaten before we get to it! It’s so good when it’s fresh😁
I must tell you the story of our fig tree….my Aunt bought it for us when we lived in Kurrajong, a rural area near the Blue Mountains of Sydney. Initially my husband planted it in our huge chickencoop so it could benefit from their gifts, but they kept eating it down to the geound so he replanted the roots justnoutside the coop and our black lab, Cilla, kept chewing it to the ground. When we moved to Victroia, he checked the roots and they were still healthy so he bagged them up and planted it here (again, just outside the coop) and on the 2nd year it was 2 m tall and we got our first 14 figs. Year 3 and it was over 3m tall and we got at least 100 figs. Now he trims it after it has fiven us fruit and keeps it around 2m but i cannot count the fruit it has on it, over 1000 for sure (its year 8 here, and year 17 since it was gifted to us)
@@lisaflower5994 That is fantastic that you are getting so many figs now! I have heard they are incredibly tough plants- you will see them growing out of a crack in the cobblestones in really dry climates. We have really wet winters here and if we dig down about a foot we hit water so I think the figs die because their roots rot. We have one in a big pot and it's still alive (fingers crossed it survives). Chickens can be murderous on plants- we had some bark a couple of blueberry plants. Do you know what variety of fig it is?
@@riversedgechevre no, I don’t, only that they”re black! When they ripen, I will try to find out and get back to you. Our soil is pure clay, just awful, so we get someone to come and dig a huge hole for each tree and then Paul fills it with our compost and some bought soil. He also puts some slow dissolving fertiliser in, and runs a tube from the roots to the surface so we can water the roots easily and feed them occasionally. The fig was planted in a slightly risen bed that was full of our compost and the hen offerings. I think it grew strong in that environment before it had to break its’ way into the clay
In the summer when we have fresh tomatoes and basil from the garden we make caprese salads with it. Sometimes just taking a slice of it and sprinkling salt on it and eating it as a snack, putting it in lasagna, brining it and using it like a feta on salads. We have used the softer version in desserts that call for ricotta like in cakes. There's a ton of different ways we use it- lot of Italian recipes use it as an ingredient.
Thank you! I wish you much success with your channel. 🌸V
Thank you ☺
Thank you! We buy a lot of ricotta and I have never thought to make our own. Great video.
Thank you! Definitely try making it- fresh warm ricotta is sooo good!
Thankyou Pat!
Again, a new recipe for me for something i have made all my life, but with so much new knowledge! I did not know about the heat making the ricotta firmer! I usually use figleaves to make my curds but then ofcourse, i cant make it in winter so i am so happy to use vinegar because using lemonjuice has never really worked for me….now knowing the 5% i am thinking my lemons may not be acidic enough or i have not used enough.
So thankyou so much, Pat!
Lisa
I would love to watch you make the secondary, feta type cheese, please teach me!
Oh you are so lucky to have fig trees- we struggle with keeping them alive here. The vinegar is nice because it gives consistent results. We will make the brined ricotta video- we keep making ricotta to do it but it keeps getting eaten before we get to it! It’s so good when it’s fresh😁
I must tell you the story of our fig tree….my Aunt bought it for us when we lived in Kurrajong, a rural area near the Blue Mountains of Sydney. Initially my husband planted it in our huge chickencoop so it could benefit from their gifts, but they kept eating it down to the geound so he replanted the roots justnoutside the coop and our black lab, Cilla, kept chewing it to the ground. When we moved to Victroia, he checked the roots and they were still healthy so he bagged them up and planted it here (again, just outside the coop) and on the 2nd year it was 2 m tall and we got our first 14 figs. Year 3 and it was over 3m tall and we got at least 100 figs. Now he trims it after it has fiven us fruit and keeps it around 2m but i cannot count the fruit it has on it, over 1000 for sure (its year 8 here, and year 17 since it was gifted to us)
@@lisaflower5994 That is fantastic that you are getting so many figs now! I have heard they are incredibly tough plants- you will see them growing out of a crack in the cobblestones in really dry climates. We have really wet winters here and if we dig down about a foot we hit water so I think the figs die because their roots rot. We have one in a big pot and it's still alive (fingers crossed it survives). Chickens can be murderous on plants- we had some bark a couple of blueberry plants. Do you know what variety of fig it is?
@@riversedgechevre no, I don’t, only that they”re black! When they ripen, I will try to find out and get back to you.
Our soil is pure clay, just awful, so we get someone to come and dig a huge hole for each tree and then Paul fills it with our compost and some bought soil. He also puts some slow dissolving fertiliser in, and runs a tube from the roots to the surface so we can water the roots easily and feed them occasionally. The fig was planted in a slightly risen bed that was full of our compost and the hen offerings. I think it grew strong in that environment before it had to break its’ way into the clay
🙏
What do you do with the ricotta?
In the summer when we have fresh tomatoes and basil from the garden we make caprese salads with it. Sometimes just taking a slice of it and sprinkling salt on it and eating it as a snack, putting it in lasagna, brining it and using it like a feta on salads. We have used the softer version in desserts that call for ricotta like in cakes. There's a ton of different ways we use it- lot of Italian recipes use it as an ingredient.