icotta has for many centuries been the staple food of the peasants working on farms surrounding Rome. They would simply spread a little bit of ricotta on bread to have for the main meal of the day.
Under the Roman Republic, Marcus Porcius Cato noted that sheep's milk had three distinct uses; as a component in religious and sacrificial rites, as a nutritious drink, or as the main ingredient in the production of fresh or aged cheeses, and therefore, with the whey that is a by-product in cheese making, ricotta.
Preparation of ricotta is quite simple. As can easily be seen in the detailed instructions provided by the Roman author Columella, in his book "De Re Rustica," ricotta production method has remained basically the same for the past two thousand years.
Roman ricotta is begun by heating whey at a temperature between 85C-90C (185F-194F), which makes the proteins in the whey curdle, so that they can spooned and placed into cone-shaped, perforated baskets, from eight to 24 hours, in order for the residual whey to drain off. The ricotta is then briefly kept in a cool place, to dry it a little more before it can be consumed, completely fresh.
Ricotta has always played a major role in the pastoral economy, and has thus become the subject of many legends and myths. One of the most popular claims that ricotta use spread thanks to St. Francis of Assisi, who taught shepherds how to produce this cheese, during a 1223 visit to the areas surrounding Rome.
