If you ask folks what they know about Ricotta cheese, more often than not you will get the reply "Oh it's the cheese in Lasagna."

And yes, it is the cheese that makes so many traditional Italian dishes delicious, but we here at Maggio Cheese know it is so much more!

Ricotta Cheese, as we know it today, is found packaged in tubs in the refrigerated section of your favorite grocery store. The cheese, which comes in whole milk, part-skim and non-fat varieties, is a white, soft, spoonable, creamy cheese made up of fine, moist, delicate grains. It has a mild and lightly sweet or caramel type flavor.

MAGGIO ricotta is a whey cheese made from skim or whole cow's milk. The milk whey is heated to high temperatures, which separates out proteins in the whey. The proteins are collected and processed to form the market-ready ricotta. Ricotta can also be made from the whey of various other animal milks and cheeses, which results in different tastes and textures.

The origins of Ricotta cheese reach back into Latin and Mediterranean history. It is believed to have been created in the Roman countryside as travelers cooked their food in big kettles over open fires. The product was cooked twice to extract the cheese from the buttermilk. The name Ricotta is derived from the Latin word recocta, meaning re-cooked or cooked twice. It became a popular food for serving to important guests. And, it is said to have had a place in religious ceremony. Its popularity grew through the Middle Ages on to the turn of this century when hard-working immigrants, such as the Maggio family, brought the recipe and process to America.

Today, with an increased awareness of nutrition and the need for good sources of calcium in our diets, cooks are realizing the nutritional value and versatility of this wonderful cheese. A 1/4 cup serving of part-skim MAGGIO ricotta provides 15% of the US Recommended Dietary Intake for calcium, 4% for vitamin A and 12% for protein. Women and children need a minimum of 1000 mg of calcium per day to help bones grow and stay strong and to help ward off osteoporosis. Milk products, including ricotta, are the best sources of calcium.

Creative cooks are including ricotta in a variety of casserole dishes, desserts, mixed with favorite fruits and flavors for breakfast and appetizer spreads and simply enjoying MAGGIO ricotta along side their favorite pasta with a plain marinara sauce.