Ihave a chef friend who grew up in Watertown, Massachusetts, outside of Boston. Upon meeting, we were immediate oddities to one another. She is Italian American; I am Irish, Scottish and from Atlanta. Yet we found common ground in food, exchanging hours of Proustian memories. I shared about local figs, preserving and pound cakes. She offered tales of her mother’s manicotti and homemade ricotta cheese.

Her family — indeed sometimes the entire neighborhood — made ricotta in a huge pot outside in the garage. I was fascinated and began my informal education of Italian cheeses.

Ricotta is a most interesting soft cheese, a part of a small family of cheeses around the world called “whey cheese.” (The only other truly notable whey cheese is mysost, a Norwegian whey cheese that’s carame

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