No, because of its dry texture, it will not melt well, unlike fresh ricotta. What do you do with ricotta salata? Baked Ricotta Salata It’s common to bake it in Sicily, as I’ve experienced when we were in Siracusa. The result is a more complex combination of smokiness and saltiness — deeper flavors in every bite.
But its dry texture won’t melt well or make a creamy sauce like you might with fresh ricotta. Ricotta salata is a great cheese for salads or for crumbling, though. Use it as a finisher over pasta or vegetables, much like you might use feta.
Because it is aged, it has a much longer shelf life than fresh ricotta. But its dry texture won’t melt well or make a creamy sauce like you might with fresh ricotta. Ricotta salata is a great cheese for salads or for crumbling, though.
Ricotta salata (salted ricotta) is an Italian cheese with a crumbly texture. It is made by salting, aging, and pressing fresh ricotta cheese. Sometimes called the Italian feta cheese, ricotta salata has a semi-firm texture and can be sliced, grated, or crumbled.
Try using Feta cheese instead. Although feta is saltier and tangier, the texture is very similar to Ricotta Salata. If you’d like to stick with an Italian cheese, Pecorino Romano can also be used in place of Ricotta Salata. The Greek cheese Mizithra is also a decent substitute for Ricotta Salata.
With the addition of salt (hence, “salata”), two months of age, and some pressing, ricotta looses moisture and becomes crumbly. Ricotta Salata maintains a unique freshness, perhaps that milky quality of ricotta, but changes in texture, becoming dry and spongy, almost like an aged feta.
Instead of blending with moisture and breaking down into a smooth melted goo, ricotta remains rigid in structure with solid protein and little resulting moisture when heated. Other cheeses that exhibit these non-melting properties include queso blanco and halloumi.
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