Month: January 2011

Who moved my cheese?

January 24, 2011
by Gary Huber

Last fall, I signed up for a cheese class at Prairieland Herbs with my friend Amy. I was a little apprehensive, wasn’t making cheese hard? I mean, all that measuring and temperatures and rennet? Wasn’t rennet hard to get and didn’t rennet fail sometimes and then bye bye milk?

Weeeelll, this cheese class cleared up all those myths and more!

Miss Effie (aka Cathy Lafrenz) is a great teacher, no pressure, and lots of fun. Plus she knits, bakes, quilts, and spins and basically if its DIY, she’s all over it!

I used Picket Fence whole milk (3%) in class and made a luscious ball of cheese. I used 1% this time, and made a nice lowfat ball of cheese.  So use the milk your diet will allow.

(You will want to use an instant read thermometer, trust me)

Beginning to curdle.

Heat one gallon of milk to 55 degrees, add 1 1/2 tsp citric acid crystals dissolved in 1/2 cup non-chlorinated water.
It will begin to curdle.

Adding rennet.

Heat it a bit more, to 90 degrees, then add 1/4 tsp liquid rennet (a coagulating agent, from animal or vegetable source), mixed with 1/4 c cool non-chlorinated water, and continue to cook to 100-105 degrees, it will curdle even more, and begin to separate, that watery liquid is the whey. Be sure to check the temp of the whey too, not just the curds.

When it reaches 100-105 degrees, turn off the heat and wait until it begins to solidify and pull away from the sides, about 5-15 minutes, or more, your experience may vary dependent on the milk and the rennet and any other unseen things that are out to get you that day.
When the whey is clear (if the whey is still milky, keep waiting until it clears) the curds will be shiny, thick, clumpy clods, then pour your curds gently into a colander and drain. You may choose to save the whey to use in baked goods, soups, it does still contain many nutrients.

Draining curds. Drain your cheese well, gently pressing out all the whey, heating and squeezing.

Place the curds into a microwaveable bowl and heat it in the microwave for 1 minute on high, take it out and squeeze out more whey and stretch it. Use a wooden spoon as its hot, or use your hands if you like pain. Heat it again for 35 seconds on high, and repeat the squeezing and stretching. Do that one more time. Now is the time to add some sea salt if you choose, just sprinkle on and knead it in.

Fini!!

As you stretch and knead, begin to smooth it into a ball, if it breaks instead of stretching, reheat for 35 seconds again.
When it looks smooth and shiny and feels like a solid ball of cheese, its done!

I highly encourage you to take a class, I’m not sure I would have been successful the first time on my own if I hadn’t taken a class. But if you don’t have access to a teacher or a class, then just go for it. Use whole milk for your first time, but don’t use ULTRA pasteurized, I’m told it won’t work. Whole milk will give you a lovely product, exactly what you want the first time out.

Homemade Mozzarella
Recipe Type: Cheese
Author: Merry Amann
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Total time: 30 mins
Last fall, I signed up for a cheese class at Prairieland Herbs with my friend Amy. I was a little apprehensive, wasn’t making cheese hard? I mean, all that measuring and temperatures and rennet? Wasn’t rennet hard to get and didn’t rennet fail sometimes and then bye bye milk? Weeeelll, this cheese class cleared up all those myths and more!
Ingredients
  • 1/4 tsp liquid rennet
  • 3/4 cup cool, chlorine-free water (most bottled waters are chlorine-free)
  • 1 gallon milk (2%, 1%, or skim)
  • 1 1/2 tsp citric acid
  • Salt, optional
Instructions
  1. Heat one gallon of milk to 55 degrees, add 1 1/2 tsp citric acid crystals dissolved in 1/2 cup non-chlorinated water. It will begin to curdle.
  2. Heat it a bit more, to 90 degrees, then add 1/4 tsp liquid rennet (a coagulating agent, from animal or vegetable source), mixed with 1/4 c cool non-chlorinated water, and continue to cook to 100-105 degrees, it will curdle even more, and begin to separate, that watery liquid is the whey. Be sure to check the temp of the whey too, not just the curds.
  3. When it reaches 100-105 degrees, turn off the heat and wait until it begins to solidify and pull away from the sides, about 5-15 minutes, or more, your experience may vary dependent on the milk and the rennet.
  4. When the whey is clear (if the whey is still milky, keep waiting until it clears) the curds will be shiny, thick, clumpy clods, then pour your curds gently into a colander and drain.
  5. Place the curds into a microwaveable bowl and heat it in the microwave for 1 minute on high, take it out and squeeze out more whey and stretch it. Use a wooden spoon as its hot.
  6. Heat it again for 35 seconds on high, and repeat the squeezing and stretching. Do that one more time.
  7. Now is the time to add some sea salt if you choose, just sprinkle on and knead it in.
  8. As you stretch and knead, begin to smooth it into a ball, if it breaks insteads of stretching, reheat for 35 seconds again. When it looks smooth and shiny and feels like a solid ball of cheese, its done!

 

Oops…I sprouted!!

January 13, 2011
by Gary Huber

I love the New Year.  Its a good time to wipe the slate clean, put the past behind and start something fresh.  Like many people, I have a list of things I would like to do in this new year, not resolutions, but goals, very fluid goals.  I must not have set my goals too high, as I have accomplished three things on my list already, that’s okay, I discovered a few more to add.

One new thing I’m doing is growing sprouts.  Sue Schumacher, a fellow Coop-er and friend, turned me on to these right about the turn of the year, December 30, to be exact.  So I sent off an order to Sprouthouse.com, and received my Easy Sprouter and 2lbs of seeds, because I didn’t trust what their Holiday salad mix was, and began sprouting right away.  I ordered a pound of seed mix containing alfalfa, clover, radish and broccoli.

 

The directions were meandering, as in, I was looking for 1., 2., 3 etc.  So thank goodness for the internet and Google.com, lots and lots of info out there.  Sproutpeople.com, has the best information.

1.  Rinse the Easy Sprouter and all the lids and insert.

2.  Put the flat-ish bottom seed insert into the perforated inner vessel and snap into place then put the whole thing into the solid outer vessel.

3.  Pour 1/4 c of seed mix into it, and fill with room temperature water.  Let soak for at least 6 hours.

4.  Pour off some of the water, then take the inner vessel and try to get as much moisture out of it as possible.  I held it in my sink and shook briskly  down until no more drops of water fell.

5.  Tap the vessel until seeds spread out and coat the bottom third.

6.  Put back into outer vessel, rotate until its sitting up and off the bottom, cover with the dome cover and let sit away from heat and bright lights.

7.  At least twice a day, rinse  with room temp or cool water, then soak the seeds for 5-10 minutes, take care to shake the seeds dry when done soaking and rinsing.

8.  In about 3 days, you should have sprouting action, keep soaking and rinsing until the sprouts are the appropriate length for eating and have grown tiny little leaves.

9.  Your sprouts will be white and the leaves pale pale green.  Sue said to up the nutritional value, green them up by exposing them to light for about 8 hours, you will do this after they get leaves and right before you put them in the fridge.

Sprouted!!

I was able to store mine in the fridge in the container, I just made sure that it was as dry as I could get it, too much moisture and you basically are making food for the composter.  Sue stores her sprouts, rinsed and in a paper towel lined ziplock.

The difference between my home grown sprouts and the store purchased was huge!  If I could have everyone who has ever had a bad sprout experience taste these homegrown ones, they would be hooked.  They were crunchy, fresh and darn near addicting.   I began to want to put them on everything.  One of my favorite snacks became crackers, with Laughing Cow Light garlic and herb spread, with a pile of sprouts on top.  My second favorite was hummus, cucumber,  and greek yogurt on flatbread with sprouts.  I was sad when I finished my first batch and immediately began sprouting another one.

I don’t have any concerns with salmonella, as I am pretty clean about my sprouts, but I do want to caution about letting them sit in a too warm enviroment, as you could start to grow mold or fungus.  My kitchen is pretty chilly, and they grew anyway, so they don’t really need much warmth and light.  Cooler temps and dimness seems to be the way to go.  I remember my mother sprouting mung beans in a glass pickle jar in the cupboard!  Which is another DIY way, but I decided to buy the kit.

Lots of information available online in regards to the nutritional value of sprouts, but Sue made a compelling statement when she said its a good way to get your greens in the winter, home grown and as local as your kitchen counter.