Three Delicious Low-Maintenance Recipes for Your Leftover Whey

Get two amazing different products with your leftover whey, giving you all the more reason to make your own ricotta.

I blend browning bananas with whey for some delicious quick and filling energy.

Sometimes, trash isn’t treasure. There are a lot of great no-waste homesteading ideas out there these days, but I’m not going to pretend that I want to eat repurposed banana peels. Luckily, there’s nothing overly scrappy about working with this ingredient that is often thrown out: whey.

Whey is a byproduct of making ricotta or yogurt at home (in fact, sometimes whey is actually used to make “real” ricotta, but that’s another story).

Banana-Whey “Smoothie”

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whey

• 1-2 bananas, fresh or frozen beforehand

• 1 tablespoon nut butter (optional)

• 1 tsp cocoa powder (optional)

Procedure:

1. Blend all ingredients together and drink immediately.

Whey Ranch Dressing

Use a 1:3 ratio of whey to olive oil, adding a little bit of mustard before you whisk in the oil to help the two ingredients emulsify. Add a handful of parmesan cheese, a pinch of salt, and a few cracks of black pepper. Add the following dried herbs and spices 1/2 tsp at a time:

• Oregano

• Onion Powder

• Garlic Powder

• Parsley

• Basil

Taste the dressing as you go and stop adding herbs when it’s delicious.

Fizzy Whey Limeade

Whey can be a starter for a fizzy beverage. You will need the following ingredients:

• 2 cup whey

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1 cup lime juice (sub lemon if preferred)

• a pinch cayenne (optional)

• 5 cups water.

Make a simple syrup by heating 1 cup of the water with 1/2 cup of sugar, stirring until dissolved. Remove from the heat, and add in the ingredients starting with the 5 cups of cold water. Taste and adjust your ingredients if necessary (you may need more sugar or lime juice depending on your preferences). Keep in mind that the end result will be less sweet than whatever you bottle as the whey in your limeade will eat the sugar to kickstart fermentation. Bottle the limeade and leave at room temperature for 4-7 days before refrigerating.

Other Uses for Whey

• Feed your plants

• Use it as the acid in your next ricotta

• Make whey caramel

• Rise your hair with it

That’s it! Give it a shout if you like the recipes— I’d love to hear how it went for you! If you’re looking to make ricotta to have the whey in the first place, then consider checking out my classes.