Article Archive - September 29, 2006

Ricotta cheese still an Italian favorite and branching out

Editor’s note: Each month, CMN profiles a different cheese, giving our readers a comprehensive look at production, marketing and sales, as well as any other interesting details we can unearth. Please read on to learn about this month’s featured cheese: Ricotta.

By Amelia Buragas

MADISON, Wis. — While Ricotta may have begun as a byproduct of cheesemaking, it has turned into a jack of all trades. Not only is Ricotta showing up on dinner tables and in restaurants across the United States in appetizers, baked goods, entrees and desserts, it also is a popular product within the food ingredients industry.

Those who work with this cheese say its functionality and economics make Ricotta a natural choice for a variety of applications.

“Ricotta is probably one of the most basic, most easily-used proteins that you can get at a reasonable cost,” says Chuck Surace, vice president of sales, Miceli Dairy Products, Cleveland. “Whether the economy is good or bad, it still remains popular.”

• More than just leftovers

While today Ricotta is produced and marketed as a stand-alone product, it began as a byproduct of cheesemaking. According to the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board (WMMB), Italian cheesemakers originally produced Ricotta from the whey leftover from making Mozzarella and Provolone. Lactic acid or vinegar was added to the whey, and it was reheated to near boiling temperatures. This process caused the curds to precipitate and rise to the surface, where they were skimmed off and drained. Italian cheesemakers dubbed the cheese Ricotta, which literally means “recooked.”

“It’s a great cheese to sell because you make it so quickly,” says Tina Ujlaki, executive food editor, Food & Wine magazine.

Ujlaki notes that freshness is one aspect of Ricotta that also appeals to consumers who can visit a local farmer’s market and purchase Ricotta made the day before.

Ricotta also is available in a range of varieties, from nonfat to whole milk. There are no federal standards of identity for Ricotta.

Ricotta has a mild, milky flavor with a hint of sweetness. It remains a popular ingredient in traditional Italian dishes such as lasagna, manicotti and cannelloni, where it serves as a binding agent for the other ingredients. Ujlaki notes, however, that consumers and chefs are beginning to experiment with other uses for Ricotta and it is ending up in appetizers, baked goods and desserts.

Jamie Wichlacz, marketing manager, BelGioioso Cheese Inc., Denmark, Wis., says consumers look for freshness, consistency and quality when shopping for Ricotta. She also notes that Ricotta is a very marketable cheese because its functionality can be tailored.

“We offer different smoothness and moisture levels for various applications,” Wichlacz says.

BelGioioso’s Ricotta con Latte, for example, is available in three moisture levels, depending on a consumer’s needs. The company sells a 73 percent moisture Ricotta for baking, a 75 percent moisture Ricotta for eating and cooking applications, such as pasta and desserts, and a 75 percent moisture smooth Ricotta, which has a creamier consistency.

Surace says Ricotta also is a cheese that is just as popular in lite varieties as it is in the full-fat, whole-milk variety.

“Ricotta is one of the few cheeses that when the fat is removed it still retains some of its taste,” he notes.

John Iapichino, vice president, Biazzo Dairy Products, Ridgefield, N.J., says his company sees a great deal of regional variation when it comes to Ricotta types. New York, for example, prefers whole milk Ricotta while the New England area buys more part-skim Ricotta.

Surace says consumers tend to want the type of Ricotta their mother cooked with, which is a challenge to an industry that does business nationwide.

“You have to appeal to the family and honor the family recipes for millions of people hundreds of miles apart,” Surace says.

He says the biggest challenge facing the Ricotta market today, however, is a lack of awareness. Ricotta is a relatively anonymous cheese on today’s market — even compared to cheese produced in smaller quantities.

“Ricotta outsells Blue cheese 20 to one,” says Surace. “But 80 percent of consumers know what Blue is and it’s hard to find 40 to 50 percent that know Ricotta.

“Blue cheese you either love or hate,” he adds. “Ricotta blends itself in, and a lot of people probably already are eating it but don’t know it.”

That’s in part because Ricotta is becoming increasingly popular as an ingredient by foodservice companies. Surace says 10 to 15 years ago, 95 percent of Miceli’s Ricotta was branded and sold at the retail level. Today, the majority of the company’s Ricotta appears in ready-to-eat meals. Surace says this trend is being driven by the consumer’s desire for a quick, wholesome and reasonably-priced meal.

• Sweet or savory

Cheesemakers also are beginning to branch out and experiment with adding flavors to Ricotta. Earlier this year, F. Cappiello Dairy Products, Schenectady, N.Y., introduced a line of flavored Ricotta with savory ingredients such as garlic & herb and onion & chive.

Tom Norton, national sales manager, F. Cappiello, says the company has had a great response to the new products and that two major East Coast supermarket chains already have picked it up. Norton says the company saw an opportunity to branch out into flavors and felt savory ingredients had more potential applications than sweet flavors.

Surace says Miceli has been successful on the ingredient side of the market by offering Ricotta blended with other cheeses or product-specific ingredients. For example, Miceli sells a prepared cannoli filling.

Flavored Ricottas also are popular in a number of foreign countries, according to the Mintel New Products Database. In Poland, consumers can choose from Galbani Santa Lucia Ricottine Pomodoro, a light spreadable Ricotta cheese with tomato pieces, and Ricottine Mediterreaneo, an Italian Ricotta cheese spread with Mediterranean herbs. There are a number of flavored Ricottas on supermarket shelves in Chile, including a garlic and black pepper Ricotta, a Ricotta Roquefort cheese, a salmon Ricotta and an onion Ricotta. And in Australia, consumers can purchase Lemnos Lifestyle Green Olive Ricotta dip.

Ricotta also makes an ideal candidate for the addition of sweet flavors. Wichlacz says. BelGioioso’s consumers are using Ricotta in a number of dessert and sweet applications. She says chefs use Ricotta in appetizers such as stuffed dates and in desserts with berries and cookies. Consumers also eat Ricotta with a drizzle of honey, slivered almonds and fresh berries, she adds.

Miceli also has experimented with the sweet side of Ricotta. According to Surace, the company has offered lemon- and chocolate-flavored Ricotta as well as Ricotta mixed with fruit such as peaches and pineapple. But he says these products have yet to catch on in a big way.

Iapichino suggests there is a market out there for sweet Ricotta products, but he says it’s a matter of building and defining the market so that the product is properly placed in supermarkets.

“The question with that is whether it’s a desert or a pudding or whether it’s a yogurt-type product,” Iapichino says.

“I think to really grow, we’re going to have to look at usage and getting into other types of applications,” Norton adds.

• Sales and production data

Ricotta production over the past decade shows numerous small hills and valleys. According to data from USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, production increases one year only to fall off the next. From 1995 to 1996, for example, production increased 4.9 percent from 240.0 million pounds to 251.9 million pounds only to decrease 5.5 percent from 1996 to 1997. Production was up a relatively flat 0.5 percent from 1997 to 1998, then up 4.9 percent from 1998 to 1999 only to fall by 2.6 percent from 1999 to 2000 and another 4.0 percent from 2000 to 2001.

By 2005, 237.4 million pounds of Ricotta were being produced in the United States, a 1.1 percent decline from the 240.0 million pounds produced in 1995.
Per capita consumption of Ricotta shows a slight decline. In 2000, Americans consumed an average of 0.87 pounds of Ricotta per year. For the next three years, consumption fell consistently: 0.83 pounds in 2001, 0.82 pounds in 2002 and 0.81 pounds in 2003. In 2004, consumption rebounded to 0.83 pounds only to fall to its lowest levels since the turn of the century: 0.80 pounds in 2005.

Exact-weight packages make up the majority of Ricotta grocery retail sales, accounting for 99.5 percent of the market share compared to random-weight packaging, according to 2005 scanner data from Information Resources Inc.

The Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board’s 2004 Foodservice Cheese Tracker data for usage by segment show Ricotta is most popular in full service restaurants, which account for 48.1 percent of usage. Quick service restaurants are next with 24.3 percent followed by leisure/retail at 17.6 percent and non-commercial usage at 10.0 percent.

CMN

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