Mascarpone - not sweet

"It is cheese without curds, rich without being sugary, and thick but not hard. If you want to imagine its taste, think of the most mouth-watering cream cheese in the world, then imagine it lighter, slightly sweeter and infinitely tastier." Laura Kumin - Huff Post

I have never used mascarpone much so haven't paid it much attention, but recently I seem to be using a few recipes that require mascarpone. So of course I just bought it at the supermarket - in a plastic tub as they don't seem to have it 'fresh' as it were, in the delicatessen.

"Italian mascarpone is absolutely smooth and creamy. Just like very thick cream." Manu's menu

Well the stuff in the container was smooth - a bit too smooth I thought - and somewhat artificial looking, and not really creamy, so I decided to see what it should really be like, and if, indeed, it was possible to make your own.

And yes, of course you can. Shelly of Vegetarian Ventures seems to have the recipe that a lot of people follow and you can do worse than do the same. It seems pretty simple. Basically you heat the cream, add lemon juice, heat it a bit more and then strain through muslin. I guess the longer you strain it the thicker it gets. Easy - you just need the muslin/cheesecloth - obtainable from Spotlight. Mind you I have also seen people recommend Chux as an alternative to muslin in other recipes, though I must say I would be worrying about the blue dye myself. You used to be able to get muslin nappies - not sure if you can do that still, but if you can they would do as well.

I'm going to give it a go anyway as the dessert I am planning for my Sunday lunch uses mascarpone. I shall be using Coles double cream because, as far as I can see it is the only double cream that is just that - cream - without any other additions. The dessert is pretty simple too as it's just plums cut in half, a blackberry in each half, topped with mascarpone, alcohol and sugar and grilled. Thanks Nigel Slater. I couldn't find the actual recipe online, but at Little Bean, the author of the Nigel Slater project reproduces it. He had to use raspberries as he couldn't get blackberries, but says they worked well. I may have to do the same.

Prior to investigating all of this I guess I thought that somehow the cheese itself was sweet - because it always seemed to be used in sweet dishes like tiramisù. Now that I think of it that was a pretty stupid thing to be thinking really. It's just yet another of those things like crème fraīche, skyr, fromage frais, cream cheese, cottage cheese, ricotta, even yoghurt. And in a way it seems that mascarpone is perhaps the simplest to make of all of these.

Mascarpone is Italian. I'm sure you all know that. It comes from Lombardy in the region to the south and west of Milan. And the name comes from something that somehow means ricotta - not that it is at all like ricotta which is made from whey not cream.

So what can you do with it? Just about anything really.

"I didn't discover mascarpone cheese until a few years ago, but since then, I've become addicted. It is fantastic added to oatmeal, turned into ice cream, and stuffed in ravioli, but my favorite way to enjoy it is whipped with honey and vanilla seeds and used as a dip with fresh fruit. This is my go-to dessert in the summer, as it is light and refreshing, yet wonderfully satisfying to my sweet tooth." Shelly - Vegetarian Ventures"

I found heaps of recipes that use it in a myriad of different desserts where you might use cream or crème fraïche (if you could find that here), or even ricotta. All of those things seem to be sort of interchangeable. And therefore you can use it when you would use those things in savoury dishes too.

The lovely salad on the right is perhaps the most original use I found. It's from Yotam Ottolenghi - Tomato with wasabi mascarpone and pine nuts. It's from his Nopi cookbook (which I have), so maybe I should give it a go. Maybe I should have a mascarpone themed meal! Now I wonder what I could do for a main course? I think I saw a few pasta recipes.

Anyway - the things I have learned are that mascarpone is not sweet, it is versatile and very easy to make. I should use it more.