A Simple Way to Make Apple Cider Vinegar

I am always looking for ways to cut our spending with food without giving up the whole, real, organic food that I find to be extremely important for maintaining healthy, strong bodies. In my search for ways to reduce our spending I'm finding that many of the products I have been purchasing are actually very easy to make and are often made with items that I'd normally throw away.

Insert apple cider vinegar here.

I always have cider vinegar in my pantry. I normally purchase an organic, unfiltered one that isn't necessarily cheap for the pocket book, but it's one of those items that has a variety of uses and I've found it essential to have on hand at all times.

I'm fairly certain that a couple of apples pies are going to grace more than one households table this week. So this seemed like a good time to share this "recipe". Organic apples are essential here. You don't want any unwanted pesticide residue in your vinegar.

The Real Food Gift Basket: Homemade pure vanilla extract

Can I just write that it's very difficult to take a picture of a shiny bottle! Well at least in an apartment with a point and shoot camera and lots of things to reflect on the glass. :-)

Pure vanilla extract is an essential ingredient for any baker and purchasing a small bottle of the real thing can be very expensive. It turns out that making your own vanilla extract at home is actually easy and can be more cost affective, especially if you make it in a larger batch.

The first bottle of extract I made was this summer. As I looked into different ways people suggested to make this product, it seems the most common combination was three vanilla beans added to two cups of vodka. I started with this, but after a month of letting the extract age I still had a product that smelled strongly of vodka and only had a hint of vanilla flavor. A bit frustrated that I wasn't getting the results I was wanting and not desiring to throw away what I had started, I decided to add 4-5 more vanilla beans to the mixture. After another month of waiting I had something far closer to a nicely fragrant and well flavored extract that I could actually use for baking.

Slicing a vanilla bean.

Before starting this post I went ahead and researched recipes once again, this time coming upon a site called Vanilla Review. This site seemed to have far more knowledge about making vanilla extract and ended up confirming what I had figured out this summer... you need a decent number of vanilla beans to make a good extract. Their recommendation is around 30 grams of vanilla beans for every cup of vodka, which is roughly about 8 vanilla beans. They also recommend getting grade B beans, which would be a dried out bean. Grade A would be the plump, moisture rich ones that look beautiful, but in making extract can actually add extra unnecessary moisture. In the end get what you can get. I bought my vanilla beans at the local co-op in the bulk section and didn't have a choice between grade A and B. I did see that Amazon sells vanilla beans and for a very, very good price, so if you know you are going to make a large batch, they would be a good place to price check. Don't buy your beans at a regular grocery store. They are outrageously expensive. I paid $1.90 per bean, but Amazon had them around $.75 each when a larger quantity was purchased.

Crème Fraîche Made at Home with Pasteurized Cream & Sour Cream Made from Raw Milk

Crème fraîche versus sour cream? From what I've read the main difference between the two is their butterfat content, although some further separate the two by one, the crème fraîche, having a lactic acid bacteria added to it, while the other naturally ferments on it's own. Crème fraîche butterfat content is usually around 28% - 40% while sour cream is between 14% - 18%.

Traditionally, sour cream was exactly as it was named and a very different product than what we are accustomed to seeing at the store today. It was fresh, raw cream that sat out and allowed to sour naturally in a warm place. The resulting product would be a thickened, naturally soured and fermented product that allowed cream to have a longer shelf life and was ultimately a way of preserving this prized ingredient. The sour cream we purchase now at the store has none of it's originally roots. First, it's almost always made with milk and often low fat. In order to give it the classic thickness and sour flavor thickeners and acids are added among other things. Next time you are at the store grab a container of sour cream, organic or not doesn't always matter, and check out the ingredient list. You may find yourself feeling very disturbed at what you read, or try to read, because some of those words need a translator to go with them.

If you have been following this blog for any amount of time, I hope by now you've realized that I don't shy away from real fat, not the stuff you find in candy bars, but fat in it's natural, whole form coming from organic foods (coconut oil, olive oil) or free-range, grass-fed animals (for cream, butter and so forth) or from an animal humanely treated and fed the best foods possible (for lard), Actually, I firmly believe that healthy fat is essential to our bodies, our brains and believe it or not, for maintaining a healthy weight.

The first time I tasted real sour cream from an awesome farmer who had the best raw milk to offer, I was shocked at the truly exquisite flavor and could have quite possibly eaten the whole container myself. I don't have regular access to raw cream, so I now often make crème fraîche and my children LOVE it. You can see the picture of my son to the right who was "patiently" waiting while I took photos before I'd give him a spoonful to eat. We most typically eat crème fraîche in scrambled eggs, on top of any bean dish or the several Spanish dishes I like to make, and on top of soup, where it is fantastic.

How to Make Kefir w/ Kefir Grains & more helpful information

Three or four years ago I started making my own yogurt and it's been a fun experiment project as I've tested various methods to come up with the best process for my family. Well perhaps, not always fun, because while learning I've ruined plenty of milk for one reason or another. In that time I've been reading about the many benefits of drinking milk Kefir. For a quite a while, I wasn't ready to add another step in my daily/weekly food routine. However, once I was, I then wasn't sure how to actually go about making Kefir. Sometime over the course of the last couple of years I heard about Kefir grains, but I had no idea how to actually get any. They aren't exactly something you find at the local grocery store or co-op. About 6 - 8 months ago I was finally able to purchase some grains online through Cultures for Health. By this point I was thrilled to finally start another step in my real food journey. However after only using my Kefir grains for a couple of months I accidentally threw them away because I didn't clearly mark the jar they were stored in in the refrigerator. Oops. I reached out to my Twin Cities Weston Price chapter and one very kind woman passed on to me some of her grains. Then about two months ago, another kind woman passed on another type of Kefir grain and I now once again have experiments going on in the kitchen as I compare the two types to see which makes the best Kefir.

Since I've kind of gone ahead of myself and some of you may be thoroughly confused... Kefir.... grain... let me share some of the things I've learned over the last couple of months.

What is Milk Kefir and Kefir Grains

Milk Kefir is a probiotic beverage made with milk (cow, goat or other animals milk and even coconut milk). These so called grains are actually a combination of more than 30 bacteria and yeasts. From what I've read yogurt contains as few as  2 or 3 types of bacteria. What a difference between the two. Al Sears, MD shares in his article Mysterious Magic Milk,

"Kefir grains are nothing like the foods we call grains today. Each one looks like a small version of cauliflower. The granules are made up of colonies of healthy bacteria that grow together, symbiotically, in a culture of the milk protein casein. And it's all held together by a sugary matrix name kefiran. The bacteria are the same types of 'flora' that are an integral part of your digestive system, and may even help you make B vitamins."

History

Kefir grains have a fascinating history, actually several histories, because there is some debate about where they actually originated.  The most popular belief is the grains came from the Ossetians, a tribe of people living in the Caucasus Mountain. 

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Azerbajian_landscape.jpg

The Kefir grains were highly prized and kept well guarded by the Muslim people of the area who believed they were a blessing from Allah. Generation after generation passed down the grains and the knowledge of how to use them.

Another belief is the Kefir grains were the manna provided by God to feed the Israelites during their 40 years of wondering in the desert before they were lead by Moses to the promise land. I've also read that there are those who believe, " that an angel descended from heaven to teach Abraham how to make kefir." (Shirley Tesser http://www.aldo.com/sgt/TesslerOnKefir2.htm#_ftn7)

Preserving Milk and Storage

Kefir is an excellent way to preserve fresh milk for longer periods of time, especially prior to the advent of refrigeration. It can be stored in the refrigerator for several months or on the counter (length of time would depend on the temperature in the room). The site Seeds For Health shares some useful information on this topic:

"Store the kefir in a glass jar in the fridge. The kefir will keep a long time in the fridge. Add new batches of kefir to the storage jar as they are made and give it a shake to mix them. You can store it on the kitchen counter instead of the fridge but be aware that it will continue to ferment, although not as fast as it would with the kefir grains in it. If you want to do that you should always use jars with a rubber seal that will allow excess pressure to escape and prevent possible explosions! It can be a very vigorous culture and has caused jars to explode when stored out of a fridge over a period of time. A kilner jar is good. The beneficial bacteria and yeasts help to prevent the kefir from spoiling but it gets very sour and fizzy. Not for the fainthearted!"

 Once you've made your Kefir, if it's your desire to take a break before making the next batch, the grains can be stored in a clean glass jar with a lid in a couple cups of milk. They can be kept this way for several weeks in the refrigerator. When you want to make more Kefir, pull the jar out of the fridge, remove lid and cover the jar opening with a towel (see instructions. below) and cont. to make Kefir like usual. 

What To Do With Excess Kefir Grains

As you make Kefir, you'll begin to notice that the grains will grow in quantity and/or size. To make a good Kefir, it's wise to keep a 1 part Kefir grain to 7 parts milk ratio (Dom's Kefir website). This will mean you need to either remove some of the grains as they produce more or increase the quantity of milk you ferment. I personally ferment about a 1/2 gallon of kefir at a time. With 4 of us drinking it, this last us two days, which is about the time it takes to make the next batch. 

When you start to have too many grains, this is an excellent time to share your "wealth" and pass on this excellent probiotic to friends. Another options is to eat the grains themselves. They are excellent for your health.

You can also choose to dehydrate them and put them away for as long as 18 months. To do this, remove grains from milk/Kefir, gently rinse them off with purified water or water that has been boiled and then allowed to cool. Set them on a clean, sanitized towel (one recommendation to sanitize the towel is to iron it before using it) and allow it to absorb the excess water on the grains. Place in dehydrator or leave on counter with some type of netting over top to keep flies off and allow to dry until they are hard. They will become opaque and yellow. This usually takes 2-4 days. They can then be stored in an airtight container for up to 18 months. It can be helpful to store them in in powdered milk, enough to cover the grains, during this time and keep them in the refrigerator. The dried grains can be eaten as they are or re-hydrated and used to make future Kefir.

Powdered Kefir Culture

It should be mentioned that you can also make Kefir from a powdered Kefir culture, but you aren't getting the same quality product. There is a greater investment because you must use a new packet of powdered culture for each batch of kefir you make. Where as with Kefir grains, they will live forever as long as you take care of them. The powdered culture also only has about 6 probiotic cultures versus about 30 with the Kefir grains.

Where to Get Kefir Grains

If you can, try to get your hands on Kefir grains from someone who is already making Kefir on a regular basis. The grains multiply themselves on their own and most people who have extra are always willing to share. That's how Kefir grains have continued to survive so many different cultures for so long. However, since we don't all have access to friends with Kefir grains on hands, they can be purchased online. Cultures for Health is one excellent online store to check out. They have a wide variety of cultured items you can purchase for home use, as well as, fabulous information and "how to" videos. I strongly encourage anyone who isn't familiar with this site, to see what they are about and check out some of their great products.

Kefir Grains Don't All Look the Same

I have two "types" of Kefir grains. One looks very similar to cottage cheese, each grain basically being an individual piece.  Then there is clumping Kefir. The grains are all stuck together and look like a small (or large) piece of cauliflower. What I've come to learn through Dom's Kefir webiste is that the clumping Kefir, as I call it, is actually the Mother grain. The Mother can range in size and shape. The smaller pieces are the baby-grains. Dominic Anfiteatro share on his very informative site:

Traditional kefir grains of Caucasus is a fascinating natural mother-culture. Each granular body is formed through the effort of a dynamic, or symbiotic relationship shared among the complex microflora [bacteria and yeast], which render an irregular sheath, composed of protein, polysaccharide and lipid complex. The irregular fashioned sheath forms as a multiple irregular body with many lobules to create each kefir grain. I refer to these lobules as baby-grains, formed together as a mother-grain. The irregular lobules have a natural tendency to form as self-enclosed bio-structures or bodies, having a similar growth-signature to each other, with some variation between each baby-grain. The lobules are conjoined at a common midsection, radiating outwardly to form a mother-grain [a complete grain with all lobules attached]. On appearance, the growth pattern of conjoined baby-grains share self-similarity with the mother-grain, which it forms together as one body. Some kefir grains share similarity with the physical structure [morphology] of the brain, pancreas, and other internal body organs.

After a period of time, and possibly due to external stress or physical trauma, one or more lobular bodies detach from any particular mother-grain. The smaller bodies, or baby-grains, eventually propagate into mother-grains, usually by increasing in overall size, with multiple lobular bodies forming over the entire grain. This growth-cycle simply repeats, to continue the ongoing process in a similar fashion. This is self-propagation. Some kefir grains may not shed any sections for some months, and in some instances for up to a year or longer. Such grains may instead form as one large structure or one massive kefir grain, retaining all lobular bio-structures. This can occur if the physical makeup of such grains is firm due to culture conditions, and if the grains are not subjected to hash physical trauma during the straining process e.g. In such cases, sections of baby-grains may be removed from a large mother-grain, by dissecting the grain by hand.

I use both the mother-Kefir grains and baby-Kefir grains, but keep them separated from one another. In my experience the grains that are individual pieces tend to ferment the milk much, much faster, often in half the time that it takes for the clump or mother-Kefir to ferment the same amount of milk. However, it's far easier to over ferment the milk too. This isn't bad for you, but the Kefir will have a more sour flavor and be more effervescent. You'll know it's gone too long when the Kefir starts to separate with a curd floating to the top and a clear green/yellow liquid called whey at the bottom. With the grains I have like this, the Kefir also tends to be the consistency of cultured buttermilk you might buy at the store. Now with the clumping Kefir grains, while they do take longer to ferment, you don't have to go through the effort of separating out the grains (read below) and instead can pull the whole clump out with a spoon. Very handy and easy. My Kefir with these grains tends to be very thick and more similar to the consistency of yogurt. So far, I've never had issues with the mother-Kefir over fermenting too quickly and separating. 

Washing Kefir Grains

If you research making Kefir, you'll eventually see someone who says you should wash your grains after each use. I have read in enough places now that this isn't a wise step to add to the process. Washing the grains can actually damage them, except if you are going to be drying them. Instead, remove as much excess Kefir from the grains as you can and then place them in the next jar of milk and make Kefir as usual.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There is certainly a lot more information about Kefir, but I chose to stick with the more basic parts to help give a simple overview. I have found Dom's Kefir website to be fascinating and filled with a wealth of information, please check it out and as I mentioned above also check out Cultures for Health.
The site Wild Fermentation shares several more website, as well as a link to a group who shares their Kefir grains around the world (http://www.torontoadvisors.com/Kefir/kefir-list.php).

Now on to making Kefir. There aren't overly precise measurements when making Kefir, more guidelines, but the "recipe" below should give you a good start and then you can experiment and see how your Kefir grains work best.

What You'll Need

1-2 tbsp. Kefir grains
3-4 cups organic, whole milk (any animals milk or coconut milk will do and if possible have it be fresh, organic, raw milk)

A very clean glass quart mason jar 

Wood spoon or rubber spatula

A thin towel, wash cloth or even a coffee filter

Rubber band or string

Mesh strainer, preferably not metal, but if so, must be stainless steel 

Bowl or second container to pour finished Kefir into

Getting Started

1. Place Kefir grains in jar, pour milk over top (milk can be chilled from the fridge or fresh from the cow, if it's chilled it will take a little longer to ferment) and give a quick stir with wooden spoon. Cover with thin towel or coffee filter so the Kefir can breath during the fermentation process. If you have other items in your kitchen fermenting as well, try to keep at least a couple feet between each item or you risk having your cultures contaminating one another.

2. How long the grains will take to ferment the milk will be very dependent on the temperature in your home. The ideal temperature will fall somewhere between 70°F - 80°F. The cooler your room is the longer the fermentation will take and then just the opposite with a warmer room. Typically my Kefir averages 24 - 36 hours for fermentation in the  70°F - 80°F range.  The easiest way to know how long to let the milk ferment is by checking on it every 6 or so hours. Give it a stir with a wooden spoon. When it has a consistency similar to buttermilk or like store bought kefir, you know it's done.

3. If you have the type of Kefir grains that are individual pieces you are going to need to pour the ready Kefir through a mesh strainer. In my picture you'll see I use a small stainless steel one. A non metal, mesh strainer is best, but a stainless steal one works just find, simply be sure to stay away from any material that could be reactive, like aluminum or copper. Pour the Kefir through the strainer. Use a wooden spoon or rubber spatula to help gently force the Kefir through the strainer, taking care to not damage the grains themselves.

4. That's it, the Kefir is ready to go!  Pour the Kefir into a glass storage container with a lid and keep in the fridge for up to several months or on the counter. If you go the counter route, make sure the Kefir can breath some or you'll risk it blowing up the glass jar as it continue to ferment. How long it lasts on the counter will be dependent on the room temperature. Give it a taste and a sniff to let you know if it's good or not. Have to remember, this is how people always use to tell when their food was bad. There were no "sell by" dates! :-)

5. Now, at this point you can take the Kefir making a step further, which some sites recommend. After removing the Kefir grains from the now fermented milk, allow the fresh Kefir to sit on the counter for 1-3 days, to ferment further on it's own before drinking it. 

6. You can add any sweetener you like to your Kefir, like Stevia or grade B maple syrup. My favorite addition is pureed berries. Instead of blending the Kefir with fruit for a smoothing, which I've heard can damage the healthy probiotics in the Kefir, we choose to puree our fruit (most often berries) and then stir it into the kefir. The kids love this and drink Kefir almost every day. By adding the fruit, you also add a lot of natural sweetness, so you don't need to sweeten the Kefir as much, if at all. Huge plus in my book. You can always drink the Kefir straight up, which is what I often do for myself.

Kefir with fresh pureed strawberries.

Good luck making your Kefir. Let me know if you have any suggestion or tips!
Enjoy!

Check out Simple Lives Thursday & see what everyone has to share!

How to make cottage cheese using rennet: perfect for raw milk!

I continue to explore different things I can make at home that I typically buy at the store. Cottage cheese has been on the list of things to try for quite a while, but I finally gave it a whorl about a month ago. So glad I did, because now that I know how easy it is to make it's become a regular at our home.


Like most cheeses, for every gallon of milk you use, you'll have almost a gallon of whey left over from the cheese making process. I keep the whey in the pot I used to make the cottage cheese in and then the next day heat it up to make fresh ricotta cheese, which is delicious spread on a piece of toast for a breakfast sandwich. Check out my post on how to make ricotta. It's very easy and well worth the little effort!

I have tried several different cottage cheese recipes. Some use lemon or vinegar to make the milk separate into curds, but this version, which uses rennet, is the best in my opinion. I do plan to keep experimenting with other versions so I can pass on a really good recipe that takes advantage of ingredients almost everyone can get their hands on. If you've ever made cheese before, the curd in this recipe is very soft and makes a cottage cheese that is similar in texture to what you'd get at the store. The taste is different, but in my opinion its better!

I found this recipe on NHHoney.com. It's a great site, especially for those who have an appreciation for real milk!

What You'll Need

  2-3 cups of cottage cheese

1 gallon fresh raw milk 

(I don't see why you can't use pasteurized milk if that's your preference)

1/2 cup cultured buttermilk

10 drops liquid rennet

2/3 cup water

Unrefined sea salt to taste

Optional: cream to pour on top

Getting Started

1. In a large pot, stir together milk and buttermilk using a large, non-reactive spoon (wood, plastic or stainless steel). Place pot on stove and begin to warm milk over medium heat until it's about the warmth of babies milk or more exactly 88° F. 

2. In a small bowl, dissolve rennet into the water, stirring well. Drizzle the rennet mixture slowly into the milk while stirring with your spoon. Stir the milk thoroughly to make sure the rennet is well distributed. Cover the pot with a lid and turn heat off on the stove. Move your pot to a cool burner or the counter. (I do this because I have a glass top stove and the residual heat can continue to heat whatever I have on the stove another 10°.

3. Allow the milk mixture to set for about 30 minutes or until you can achieve a clean break by sticking your finger into the curd. A clean break is when you stick you finger into the solid mass, known as curd, and when it is removed it comes out perfectly clean. 

4. Using a large, sharp knife cut through the curd in a grid pattern so that you have about 1/2" squares when you look at the top of the curd. (Cut half inch rows one way, then turn the pot 90° F and cut 1/2" rows again.) 

5. Wash your hands and forearm, making sure they are good and clean.  Using your hands, pull the curds up and continue to slice them into small pieces which are no larger than a 1/2". If the mixture is beginning to cool off, place it back on the stove and heat until it's back in the 80°- 90° F range. As you continue to stir and slice the curds they will begin to reduce in size as the whey comes out of them. After about 10 minutes of stirring and slicing the curds should be ready. 

6. Pour the curds into a cloth lined strainer that is placed over a bowl to catch the whey. I use a non-terry towel. A real cheese cloth would work perfect, but avoid the cheese cloth you typically see at the store, because they don't have a fine enough mesh and the curds can go right through. 

7. After the curds have been separated from the whey, rinse them off with some cool water. Break the curds up into small pieces as you wash them off.

8. Place the now cottage cheese into a bowl, sprinkle with salt and stir. Pour on enough cream to give it the consistency that looks good to you. Cream isn't necessary, just an extra added bonus! Don't throw out your whey, be sure to try making ricotta cheese with it! Enjoy with some fresh fruit, yum! 

Traditon with Cooking: How to make fresh fish stock at home

Knowing how to make good stocks is essential for the home cook. Stocks are the base to many dishes and can add an amazing amount of flavor to the simplest recipe. Going past flavor, the nutritional properties of stock are extremely beneficial to the body and should be incorporated into the diet as often as possible. The pre-made stock at the grocery store is not the same, nutritionally speaking or for flavor for that matter, as the stock you can make at home. Plus, it's far less expensive to make stock in your own kitchen.

Fish stock, made from the carcasses and heads of fish, is especially rich in minerals including all-important iodine. Even more important, stock made from the heads, and therefore the thyroid glands of the fish, supplies thyroid hormones and other substances that nourish the thyroid gland. Four thousand years ago, Chinese doctors rejuvenated aging patients with a soup made from the thyroid glands of animals. According to ancient texts, this treatment helped patients feel younger, gave them more energy and often restored mental abilities. During the reign of Queen Victoria, prominent London physicians prescribed special raw thyroid sandwiches to failing patients. Very few of us could eat such fare with relish, but soups and sauces made from fish broth are absolutely delicious -- a remedy that no convalescent could refuse. According to some researchers, at least 40 percent of all Americans suffer from a deficiency of the thyroid gland with its accompanying symptoms of fatigue, weight gain, frequent golds and flue, inability to concentrate, depression and a hots of more serious complications like heart disease and cancer. We could do well do imitate our brothers from the Mediterranean and Asian regions by including fish broth in the diet as often as possible.
~ Sally Fallon Morell and Mary G. Enig share in Nourishing Traditions

When it comes to fish stock, unless you live on the coast or have easy access to affordable whole fish, I'd venture that most of us don't tend to purchase whole fish and don't have left over fish carcass. Instead the ever so popular fillets tend to make their appearance on our dinner plates. However, if you are like me and still desire to make a fresh fish stock its time to speak up and get acquainted with your local fishmonger. For those of us who live in the Twin Cities, Coastal Seafood is a great place to check out. Not only do they have an amazing selection of fish, honestly you might be shocked at the variety, you can also purchase fish carcasses from them for a very reasonable price. I was able to get mine for $1.50 a pound I believe. It's always a good idea to give them a call ahead of time to make sure they have carcasses on hand and see if they can save you some.

I've decide to share with you the recipe for fish stock from Nourishing Traditions. To be honest, I typically don't follow a strict recipe when making stock, but I'm pretty sure a recipe that says a little bit of this and a couple of these isn't going to be overly popular. :)  From all the fish stock recipes I've looked at, most were very similar. This particular recipe includes vinegar, in addition to wine, to further help the break down of the bones drawing out the essential minerals. Don't worry about a vinegar flavor, there won't be any when the stock is finished. If possible, always make plenty of extra and store in your freezer, so you can easily have it on hand when you need it.

How to start your own sourdough starter.

Have you ever taken the time to look up a recipe on how to make sourdough starter only to find dozens of versions? Some include fruit or active dry yeast, others use sugar and then there is the soupy starter and the thick dough starter. There are those who think you must leave the starter uncovered so it can "catch" the natural yeast in the air, others say it doesn't matter. Ugh, how overwhelming! That's how I felt as I started researching sourdough starters about 6 months ago. However, I was determined to figure out how to make my own sourdough starter and create some beautiful sourdough breads.

Fresh baked sourdough bread.

A disclosure: I am not an expert on sourdough. The information I am providing you is what I have found as I've been doing my research. Before including the information below, I went to the most reliable sources I could find. If I found a strain of thought on someone's blog, I made sure I could find support for it before including it. I do not have a list of reference for this, mostly because I went on hundreds of sites through the course of time and found it far too difficult to keep track of all the places I visited. Think of this information as if coming from a friend, sitting down at the kitchen table and visiting while eating a slice of fresh baked sourdough bread! :-) I have also done quite a bit of my own experimenting with starter, just to see what worked and what didn't. This is not to say that my method is the only one, it's simply what I found to work best and was the most consistent for me. 

A Little Background

Before the advent of cultivated yeasts like active dry yeast, cooks had to "capture" their own yeast through a sourdough starter.  It's been said that sourdough bread has been made and eaten since the time of the Egyptians, 6000 years ago. There is belief that the first sourdough starter came to the US in the hold of Columbus' ship. By the 19th century, pioneers and miners were carrying a sourdough starter with them in their travels, allowing them to more easily make bread without stopping to find and purchase yeast. Sourdough gained in popularity during the California Gold Rush and it was during this time that the famous San Francisco sourdough was started.

Fermenting some veggies!

I eat fermented cabbage, or as most of us know it - sauerkraut, on a very regular basis and love it on sandwiches and along side my breakfast or dinner dishes, but until recently I hadn't started fermented any of my other vegetables (except for the occasional pickles). It was just one more thing to do and try and I hadn't made the time for it.

If you are completely new to the idea of fermenting veggies there is plenty of wonderful health reason for why you should consider incorporating this wonderful health food into your diet. Fermenting was done in the past to keep food fresh for long periods of time, because of course there were no grocery stores to run to or refrigerates to raid when you needed something to eat and gardens certainly didn't produce year round. During the fermenting process, which includes your vegetables, water, salt, whey and spices/herbs (if you want any), lactic acid bacteria is produced. Lactic acid keeps the vegetables from rotting (at least for a time) and also provides some wonderful benefits for your intestinal track by increasing beneficial bacteria and encouraging the growth of healthy flora. Fermented vegetables are filled with fiber, nutrients and wonderful digestive helping enzymes.

"Lacto-fermented condiments are easy to make. Fruits and vegetables are first washed and cut up, mixed with salt and herbs or spices and then pounds briefly to release juices. They are then pressed into an air tight container. Salt inhibits the putrefying bacteria for several days until enough lactic acid is produced to preserve the vegetables for many months. The amount of salt can be reduced or even eliminated if whey is added to the pickling solution. Rich in lactic acid and lactic-acid-producing bacteria, whey acts as an inoculant, reducing the time needed for sufficient lactic acid to produce to ensure preservation. Use of whey will result in consistently successful pickling; it is essential for pickling fruits. During the first few days of fermentation, the vegetables are kept at room temperature; afterwards, they must be placed in a cool, dark place for long-term preservation."
~Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, page 90

I remember my first experience with homemade sauerkraut. It was probably 4-5 years ago and my mom was on a kick with this cookbook called Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. This woman had a whole new approach to cooking and baking and I thought she might be nuts! :-) Her recipes seemed so foreign. I couldn't imagine people cooking the way she described. (How things have changed, since I love Nourishing Traditions now and if you follow my blog you'll know I quote from it rather regularly.) My mom made some homemade sauerkraut for my brother and me to try. Her container was bubbling and your could hear the carbon dioxide escaping, which naturally occurs in the fermenting process. I was very, very hesitant to try the sauerkraut. I was worried I was going to get sick. I mean normally sauerkraut comes in a can or jar in the canned food section at the grocery store. Certainly there was something special food companies where doing to make this food safe to eat. It took me months, if not longer, to become really comfortable with this new way of preparing or preserving food. My first couple of batches of sauerkraut I threw away because mold would form on top or it turned colors on the top. I was still worried I wasn't doing something right and would get sick, so into the trash the sauerkraut went. However, I was still very curious about eating food like this and it hit home for my desire to prepare foods in a more natural way, aka no preservative or processed ingredients.

Once you get past the initial wariness of naturally fermenting your food, it's easy to relax and start a variety of experimenting. Homemade yogurt, kefir, sourdough, etc. is all fermented food and just like fermented vegetables, are excellent for maintaining a healthy body. Get creative with with what type of vegetables you ferment, how you slice them, how long you let them ferment and try adding different spices.


For the fermenting I tried this time, I kept things simple. I decided to slice my veggies into spears because I thought I would have a greater tendency to eat them. They would be much easier to grab and munch on when I wanted a quick snack. I also only added garlic or garlic and dill for extra flavor.
After two days of fermenting I taste tested the veggies and decided to let them go for another day. How you slice your vegetables and the temperature in your house can easily change your fermenting time from approximately 2 days to 4-6 days. The warmer the house is the less time it takes for food to ferment. The average fermenting time is 3 days and works well when you're first starting out.
 
One things to note, the sauerkraut that you buy at the store in a can IS NOT the same as making the lacto-fermented stuff at home. The canning process kills any healthy bacteria that may have existed, assuming it was processed in a healthy way in the first place. Plus who knows what type of preservatives they've added to the can. Also, a site you might like on fermenting food is Wild Fermentation, and check out this article by Michael O’Brien on Fermented Vegetables.

The "recipe" you'll see below is for some very simple lacto-fermenting. In future posts I'll go into more examples of spices and herbs you can add. I also just made a fermented salsa and I'll share that recipe in the next day or two.


What You'll Need: for 4 pints of sliced vegetables
     • The vegetable(s) of your choice,
        sliced and enough to fill 4 mason
        jars. I did zucchini, carrots,
        cucumbers and green beans.
     • 4 cups filtered water
     • 8 tsp. salt
     • 4 tbsp. whey
     • 8 cloves of garlic, smashed
     • Fresh sprigs of dill
     • 4 mason jars with lids

Getting Started:
1. Fill each jar with vegetables, 1-2 cloves of smashed garlic and 1-2 sprigs of dill. (I actually only added dill to the zucchini and cucumber jars.) Have them sliced short
enough that you have about 1" of space below the rim of the jar. Pack them good or they'll float when you pour your liquid on them.

2. Mix together your water, salt and whey in a small bowl or pitcher until salt has fully dissolved. Then fill each jar, just until your vegetables are covered. Alternatively, you could fill the jars with water until veggies are covered and then add 2 tsp. of salt ad 1 tbsp. of whey.

3. Cover jars tightly and then place on counter (preferably in a room around 70º) out of direct sunlight for 3 days.


4. Place lacto-fermented vegetables into fridge for long term storage or in a root cellar, if you had one!


Enjoy this great food, but don't overdo it. These are better if treated like a condiment.

Homemade Ricotta Cheese

No, it's not ice cream in the picture, although it does look like a delicious cup of vanilla ice cream. I couldn't think of how to photograph this wonderful cheese so I grabbed a cup and a plate and this is what we got! :-D

Ricotta cheese is a soft Italian cheese that is similar to cottage cheese. Ricotta literally means "recooked" and that is exactly how you make this fabulous cheese that can be used in a variety of ways, like in scrambled eggs or in stuffed pasta or shoot why not just eat a spoonful!

If you've begun making cheese at home, one thing you'll find is that you'll have a lot of whey leftover from the cheese making process. For every gallon of milk used to make cheese, you'll have nearly a gallon of whey. I was very surprised to find how much whey was left over when I first started making cheese. As a rule of thumb I try to avoid throwing things a way and although I use whey for soaking grains and beans, all in all, I don't use tons of whey. It seemed like such a shame to throw it all away.  (and no I haven't taken drinking it play yet, which some people do.) Then I found the recipe for how to make homemade ricotta cheese on Fankhauser's Cheese Page. Turns out ricotta is made from re-cooking your leftover whey. Sweet! Not only did I get to use my whey, but for one of my favorite types of cheeses too!

All in all, ricotta is fairly easy to make, but it is a bit time consuming. It takes a good portion of the day to do, but at least most of the time, it's a hands off process. You can go about other activities while the curds first cook and then while you separate them from the whey.

David Fankhauser does an excellent job on his website to show how to make ricotta, so by all means check out his sight. Some of my steps are a bit different and reflect how I've had success.

One note, when you make ricotta you can use any amount of whey, although I would use at least a gallons worth. Just make sure that your pot can hold close to twice the whey that you use. or that leaves you with 5" - 6" of space from the top. So if you use 1 gallon of whey, try and make sure you use a 2 gallon or something close to that. While you heat the whey it's going to boil and foam, if your pot is too small, (been there done that!) you'll end up with a huge mess all over you stove. Not so fun!
: )


What You'll Need:

• 1+ gallon of whey - for every gallon of whey you'll get about 3/4 cup ricotta cheese
• Thermometer - an instant read one would be handy, but any thermometer that can read up to 203 degrees will do
• Large, heavy bottomed pot with a lid - pot should be large enough that the whey will be 5"-6" away from the top or close to twice the size as the amount of whey you use
• Non-terry cloth dish towel that has been sanitized by boiling it in a pot of water for 10 minutes
• Large stirring spoon 
• Large strainer
• Soup ladle 

Getting Started
1. Sanitize your cooking pot by filling it with and inch or two of water and with the lid on, boil the water for 10 minutes. Dump water afterwords.

2. Pour your whey into the pot and cover with lid and allow to sit on the stove or counter for 12 -24 hours so it can develop the right acidity.

Note: Make sure there is no cheese particles in your whey. You may have to strain it through a fine mess strainer or a towel before it can be used for making ricotta. If you leave any small bits of cheese, they'll become very hard during the process of making the ricotta and will be an unpleasant texture in your end product.

3. The next morning heat your whey to 180°F or 82°C, stirring constantly so nothing burns or sticks to the bottom of the pot. You should begin seeing a white foam on top.

4. Continue heating your whey and stirring continuously until it gets to 203°F or 95°C. This is where an instant read thermometer can be handy. The steam from the whey is very hot, so be careful to not burn yourself. The foam will continue to build up and if you aren't careful and the whey gets too hot too quickly it will end up boiling and the froth can easily boil over. That's why I like to use a pot that leaves me with at least 5"-6" of extra space above the whey.

5. Once you've reached 203°F or 95°C, remove the pot from the heat and cover it with a lid. Allow whey to cool until you can comfortable touch it. This will takes several hours at the minimum. I normally let the whey sit for most of the day. Don't disturb the cooked whey, it's during this time you'll see the curds start to separate away from the whey. The curds will look like clouds floating in a light yellowish green liquid.

The above picture is the curds right after they've been cooked. As they cool they'll start to come together and separate more from the whey like in the picture below.

6. Once whey has cooled, line your strainer with your non-terry dish towel and place over the drain in the sink. (You can save the whey and feed it to your chickens and pigs, I don't have either, so I pitch it.) Using your soup ladle, very carefully remove as much of the yellowish, green whey as possible, pouring it through you lined strainer. The ricotta curds are extremely fine and the more whey you can remove before disturbing the curds the more quickly you'll get to your end product.

7. After removing as much whey as possible with your ladle, then scoop the curds into the strainer and allow the rest of the whey to run out. If you've checked out David Fankhauser site on how to make ricotta, you'll notice he uses a fine strainer to scoop out his curds from the whey. My curds are always to fine to be able to do that, so I use the ladle instead.

8. Allow whey to strain out of curds, this can and often does take several hours to happen. In the picture below I believe I left my curds to strain for around 3 hours. If it's getting late or you're running out of time, you can hang the towel with the curds in it in the fridge overnight to allow the rest of the whey to drain out. You'll know it's done when you have a nice thick, but smooth ricotta.

9. Store in the fridge for up to a week (at least that's about as long as I've left it) or freeze. Ricotta freezes very well, but keep it in an air tight container. The fragile flavor of the cheese will take on other flavors that are in your freezer.

Enjoy!

Mayonnaise from Scratch

Mayonnaise seems to be one of those things people either love or hate. Well in my house, it's a must-have condiment. My son will eat just about any food if you give him some mayo and ketchup to dip it in. For as often as we use it, it only makes natural sense to make it myself, especially when you look at the ingredient list on most store bought brands. For instance, did you know MSG is often put under the label "natural flavor" on commercial food ingredient lists. Try and find a mayonnaise that doesn't include natural flavors or for that matter uses an oil that is actually healthy for you. The health food store and co-ops tend to have better options for mayonnaise than the regular store, however personally I haven't found a "healthy" mayonnaise at the store that I like.

Mayonnaise is essentially the oil of your choice and eggs whipped together. Food for thought – your condiments can actually add extra nutrition to your food, so choose wisely when selecting the type of oil you want to use. We all know that not all oils are the same nutritionally, however did you know that some oils can be quite harmful to our bodies?

For the mayonnaise recipe that is included in Nourishing Traditions, Sally Fallon uses olive oil or expeller pressed sunflower oil. "Olive Oil contains 75 percent oleic acid, the stable monounsaturated fat, along with 12 percent saturated fat, 10 percent omega-6 linoleic acid and 2 percent omega-3 linolenic acid. The high percentage of oleic acid makes olive oil ideal for salads and for cooking at moderate temperatures. Extra virgin olive oil is also rich in antioxidants. It should be cloudy, indicating that is has been filtered, and have a golden yellow color, indicating that it is made from fully ripened olives. Olive oil has withstood the test of time; it is the safest vegetable oil you can use, but don't overdo. The longer-chain fatty acids found in olive oil are more likely to contribute to the buildup of body fat than the short- and medium-chain fatty acids found in butter and coconut oil."

One ingredient that's not standard in mayonnaise, but you'll see it below is whey. I had never thought of adding whey to my mayo, until seeing the recipe in Nourishing Traditions. "Homemade mayonnaise imparts valuable enzymes, particularly lipase, to sandwiches, tuna salad, chicken salads and many other dishes and is very easy to make in a food processor. The addition of whey will help your mayonnaise last longer, adds enzymes and increases nutrient content." When you use whey in your mayonnaise, you leave the mayonnaise out on the counter for 7 hours before refrigerating it. I know what you are thinking, and no, you won't get sick when you do this. :-) I know it's always strange to think about leaving raw ingredients like eggs out on the counter for any length of time. I can tell you I've done this quite a few times now and we haven't gotten sick yet! When you add whey to your mayonnaise it will lengthen the time it will last before going bad from a week or two to several months in the fridge.





What You'll Need: Makes about 1 1/2 cups

• 2 whole eggs or just the egg yolks at room temperature
• 1/2 Tsp. mustard powder or 1 1/2 teaspoons prepared Dijon mustard
• 1-1 1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice or white wine vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. whey - optional
• 3/4 - 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 Tsp. of salt and more to taste if needed

Note: You can be rather flexible with all the ingredients. The more oil you add the thicker the mayonnaise will be. If you would rather stay away from raw egg whites, omit them and just use the yolks.



Getting Started

 1. In your food processor blend together the egg, mustard, lemon juice or vinegar, whey and salt.
Process for about 30 seconds.






2. With the food processor running add your oil in the thinnest stream possible or a drop at a time. This takes some patience, but the slower you add the oil the thicker and nicer the end consistency will be.


3. Place your mayonnaise in a jar and refrigerate for 1-2 weeks. If you used the whey, leave the jar of mayonnaise on your counter for seven hours before placing in the refrigerator. It will last for 1-2 months.

Enjoy!

Homemade Raw Milk Farmer Cheese - Tradition with Cooking

I am one of those people who likes to know how to do things myself. This is the most true with food. I love knowing how people in the past before the advent of big grocery stores made all of the items in their kitchen, especially cheese. I figure if people were making cheese for hundreds of years before all of our technology, then surely I can learn to make it with all of the conveniences of a modern kitchen. As it turns out you don't actually need much to make cheese. It's kind of sad that it's a lost art for so many, because cheese making isn't particularly hard and it can taste oh so good!

I've made this farmer cheese quite a few times now. I only make it during the spring, summer and fall when I'm able to get fresh raw milk. Since farmer cheese isn't aged, you have to eat it within about a week before it starts to go south. I do have a recipe for an aged cheese which is awesome and I'll be sharing that in the next couple of weeks.

The biggest learning process of making this cheese was trying to figure out how much salt to add. The original recipe from Moon Wise Herbs didn't specify how much salt was needed. The first time I added about a teaspoon or so and this wasn't even close to enough. Each time I made the cheese I added a bit more and finally this last time I made it I think I added the right amount, which was 2 tablespoons.

What You'll Need: makes approx. 1 pound of cheese

• 1 gallon of raw milk
• 1 quart of whey - optional
• 2 tbsp. sea salt
• Liquid rennet - Twin City folks, you can get rennet at Whole Foods in the yogurt section.

• Cheese press - if you don't have one, no big deal. I don't so I used some heavy books and 2 plates to make my press
• Cheese cloth
• Large pot
• Mixing spoon
• Thermometer
• Sharp knife
• Slotted spoon
• Large Strainer
• Containers to store 1 gallon of whey - 1/2 gallon mason jars work great
• 2 Large bowls

Getting Started

1. First we want to sanitize our cooking items so we don't accidentally introduce any unwanted bacteria. Fill your large pot with several inches of water and bring to a boil. Add your mixing spoon, cheese cloth and knife if possible to it and boil them all for about 10 minutes.

Also, as you make your cheese, make sure your hands are very clean.

2. In your large pot, heat your milk and whey to between 80° and 90° Fahrenheit, then remove from heat. Add 13+ drops of rennet to the milk and stir well. Let the milk sit for 45 min – 1 hour until it has taken on the texture of tofu. You'll know it's ready when you stick your CLEAN finger into it and get a clean break. To understand a clean break better, check this link out, it's explained very well: Clean Break




3. Cut the mass into 1/2" chunks, using a grid pattern. Here is how the Fankhause cheese page explains it: Once a clean break is achieved, cut the curd with a long knife : begin at edge of pot, cut straight down to bottom. Cut repeatedly parallel to first cut, but increasing the angle of the knife until reaching other side of pot. Rotate the pot 90 degrees, cut as before . Rotate and cut two more times, yielding ½ inch cubes of curd .




4. Return the pot to your stove and slowly heat the curd chunks to 100 degrees. You want to do this very slowly about 2 degrees every 5 minutes. Continually stir the curd with your hands or a spoon, making sure nothing burns on the bottom of the pot. If you find any large pieces of curd cut them up. You'll notice the curds will start to shrink in size as they release the whey.




5. With a slotted spoon remove the curds from the whey and place into a large bowl. Add your salt and mix thoroughly. You notice the whey will continue to release from the curds.




6. Place your curds into a cheese cloth lined strainer that has been placed over a large bowl for catching the whey.




7. Bring your corners of your cheese cloth together and tie together, then hang the curds for about an hour over your large bowl to catch any more whey that might come out.




8. Put your curds into a clean cheese cloth and then place into a cheese press or put between two plates with a heavy object placed on top. In my case I used two huge art history books from college. I knew I'd find a use for those babies again! :-) Press the cheese for 12 - 24 hours .




9. Now it's time to enjoy some of your homemade cheese! You'll love it. Any leftovers can go in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Note: You'll have about a gallon of whey left over from making this cheese, don't throw it away! You can keep whey in the fridge for a couple of months or freeze it to use for all kinds of things or you can just drink it. You also can make ricotta cheese with it, which I'll show you how to do in the next couple of weeks.