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Whey is a valuable protein-rich by-product of cheese preparation. There are many advises for using whey came out of cheese preparation by culture. However, the whey produced after cheese preparation with vinegar (without culture) should be different.

Ricotta is prepared by boiling the leftover whey, but in my experience, the cheese prepared using vinegar is similar to Ricotta, and the remaining whey has no more cheese. Thus, I think this whey is different from normal whey referred over the internet.

Due to the presence of lots of vinegar, it should be more acidic and stronger sour taste.

For these reasons, I believe that common usage introduced for whey is not directly applicable to the whey remained from vinegar-based cheese process.

What are the suitable usage for this highly acidic (and probably cheese-free) whey?

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    I have used stuff like this in soups, sauces and dressings, where I would otherwise add some vinegar. It added some additional richness. You could try searching for what to do with paneer whey (I know that it is used a lot in India) - most of the time it's lemony instead of vinegary, but could still give you some good ideas.
    – Martin Turjak
    Commented Jul 23, 2013 at 10:20
  • @MartinTurjak thanks for good keyword suggestion!
    – Googlebot
    Commented Jul 23, 2013 at 11:21
  • I know a few people who consume whey for health benefits. They just chug it as-is. I like yoghurt whey myself, and I guess that cheese whey can taste well too.
    – rumtscho ♦
    Commented Jul 23, 2013 at 16:58
  • @rumtscho to me the taste of cheese whey is quite different from yogurt whey.
    – Googlebot
    Commented Jul 23, 2013 at 18:07

2 Answers 2

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The use of vinegar in the cheese production is irrelevant. Cheese made with the acid from vinegar or cheese made with the acid from a bacterial culture should be similar.

The difference is in how high the milk was heated when the cheese was made. The albumin in milk denatures and precipitates at about boiling temperatures. If the milk was boiled before the acid was added then you are correct that there will be no ricotta.

Many quick cheeses, such as fast mozzarella, call for the milk to be warm but not boiling. You can make ricotta from that whey regardless whether the milk was acidified with bacteria or any other acid.

As for spent whey- it is very high in acid and vitamin B. You can use it in bread in place of water.

I had read of Scandinavian desserts made from condensing whey. I tried that once and found it inedible.

Roses like acidic soil. That's where most of my spent whey goes.

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Actually the use of vinegar in cheese making is totally relevant. Vinegar based cheeses are referred to as heat/acid precipitated cheeses. The main difference is that the lactose has not been consumed during the fermentation process that cheeses made from bacteria cultures and rennet goes through, leaving the lactose in the whey available as a food source for fermentation of either bacteria or yeasts.

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    This doesn't really answer the question, though, which was "what can be done with this whey?"
    – Yamikuronue
    Commented Sep 25, 2013 at 14:19

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