Ricotta Cheese 

Cecilia Compton  Ingredients 

● Half Gallon Non-Homogenized Milk 
● Refined Sea-Salt 
● Citric Acid 
● Lemon Juice 
● Distilled White Vinegar  

Preparation 
1. Separate a half gallon of milk in to 3 equal 
portions , each will be about 2 ⅔ cups. 
2. Pour one of the milk portions into a pan 
and put on a low heat (stir continuously 
to avoid burning the milk) 
3. When milk reaches 150​o​ put a pinch of 
salt in and continue to stir 
4. When milk reaches 190​o ​turn heat off 
and put citric acid in then stir milk 2-3 
times 
5. Let this sit for a few minutes then check 
 
for separation of whey and cheese  
6. If the whey and cheese have not visibly 
Materials  separated add more citric acid and stir 
again 
● 3 Sections of cheese cloth 
● 3 medium sized bowls   7. After whey and cheese has separated 
● Thermometer  pour the mixture over the cheese cloth 
covered bowl 
Tips  
8. Let this sit for about 30-40 minutes so 
● When acid is poured into heated milk  the residual why can separate fully from 
try to stir the solution only a few  the cheese   
times so cheese is able to separate 
9. Repeat all steps but replace citric acid 
from whey 
with lemon juice then distilled white 
    vinegar   
 
The Science 
Proteins and Peptide bonds  
Proteins are large biomolecules that are 

Behind… 
made up of long lines of amino acids. These 
“strings” are held together by peptide bonds. 
These chains are called polypeptide. 
Acids and pH 
pH is a numerical scale used to measure the 
acidity or basicity of a solution. A solution 
with a pH of less than 7 is considered acidic. 
Solutions with a pH of more than 7 are 
considered basic. The pH of a solution is 
measured by the concentration of protons in   
that substance. So acidity is based on how 
many protons are in a substance. (pH,  Coagulation  
Wikipedia)  Coagulation is how milk becomes ricotta 
Amino Acids  cheese. Coagulation is the process of protein 
structures breaking down or denaturing, in 
Amino acids are organic compounds that are  this case when heat is applied, into linear 
made up of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and  amino acid chains. Once the proteins are 
nitrogen. Every amino acid also has a fifth  denatured they have a chance to 
component called R. The R component is  restructure themselves as the positively and 
specific to each amino acid, there are 22  negatively charged molecules are attracted 
different amino acids. A basic amino acid  to each other. This process creates solid or 
looks like this.    semi-solid clumps, and in this experiment 
curds of ricotta cheese. 
Coagulation in Terms of Whole Milk 
The two main proteins in milk are called 
albumin and casein. Ricotta is usually made 
from whey, a byproduct of cheese 
  production, which is mainly made up of 
Amino acids differ based on their R and the  albumin. In this experiment the ricotta was 
amount of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and  made from whole milk. The main protein in 
nitrogen. (Amino Acid, Wikipedia)  whole milk is casein. Casein is a large micelle 
and when in milk and is surrounded by a 
 
negative charge. This negative charge 
  prevents these molecules from bonding. 
  When hydrogen is introduced these micelles 
are neutralized and bond with each other. In  from this experiment that the more 
this experiment, the different acids  acidic the ricotta cheese is the fluffier the 
introduced the hydrogen and caused the  texture will be. This is clear because the 
bonding of the casein micelles. The proteins  most acidic cheese, with citric acid, was 
are also denatured during the heating of the  the fluffiest cheese and the densest 
milk, allowing for coagulation to occur once  cheese was the least acidic of the three. I 
the hydrogen is introduced into the  believe this is because the more acidic 
substance  the acid is the more hydrogen it 
Results  introduces to the casein micelles and 
therefore the more these micelles can 
separate. 
 
 

 
  Citric Acid  Lemon  Distilled 
  Juice  White 
  Vinegar 

pH  4.74  5.86  5.92 

Consistenc Grainy &  Creamy &  Thick & 

y   Fluffy  medium  dense  
weight 

Amount of  ½  1 teaspoon  1 teaspoon  

Acid  teaspoons 
 
My dependent variable in this 
experiment was the final pH and 
consistency of the cheese and the 
independent variable was the type of 
acid used in the cheese. I can conclude