Cheese Making Workshop

November 15th, 2008

On the 19th of October, Owen and I attended a cheese making workshop at Huapai (near Hellensville). It was a fabulous experience, and I can’t believe that it has taken me nearly a whole month to write about it! The course was held at the home of Alison, who runs the Auckland chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation. Alison’s daughter, Natalie, makes wonderful cheeses and was generous enough to share her expertise by running this workshop.

It was an action-packed day, during which learnt to make cheddar, feta, ricotta, and soft curd cheese. Natalie also discussed how to make yoghurt and kefir. The workshop was set up so that all the participants could get hands-on experience at cheese making. We took turns stirring, checking the temperature, and cutting and handling the curds. Each participant went home with a folder full of clearly explained recipes, tips, and information. Now, I feel so much better prepared to start making cheese at home.

Highlights of the day included the delicious lunch prepared for us by Alison and Natalie, and a chance to sample some of Natalie’s delicious cheeses. The workshop was a neat opportunity to meet some other people with a common interest in good food. . . including a couple of people who I’d already been in touch with through this website.

Natalie was very kind and accommodating about letting me bring Owen to the cheese workshop. All things considered, this arrangement worked out pretty well. Everyone was very kind to Owen, and I don’t think he was too disruptive to the workshop. Still, a lively eleven-month-old does demand quite a lot of attention! In truth, my attention was probably only focused on the cheese making about 50% of the time, and I didn’t manage to meet and chat with the other course participants as much as I’d have liked, either. Owen was happy to stay in the back or front pack for some of the time, but at other times he was very busy trying to kiss the dogs, launch himself off the verandah, or get himself made into a big lump of cheddar cheese. Actually, it was a pretty neat day for Owen in the end. I’m not sure he’s an expert cheese maker yet, but he enjoyed learning all about dogs.


Coco is VERY in-calf

I’m not going to write about the details of making cheese in this post. Rather, I’m going to save that part for when I actually start trying out my new skills at home. Once Coco’s calf is born and Kevin is milking her again, we will finally have lots of lovely fresh raw milk for some exciting cheese projects. We can’t wait! Coco’s udder is springing already, and she looks very big and fat. I am watching her with great anticipation, even though she’s still not actually due to calve for about another week or so. Owen’s favourite foods (aside from breast milk and cod liver oil) are raw milk yoghurt and kefir, so our supply of raw Jersey milk can’t start soon enough!

Posted in Cows, Fellowship, Food and Recipes, Owen | 3 Comments »

Water Kefir

November 5th, 2008

Update: Order water kefir grains and all of Becky’s other cultures at waterkefir.co.nz.

Here’s some information about keeping and using water kefir grains. I feel that I’m still learning about how best to care for this culture, so this information is a work in progress. Still, after four months, our grains are continuing to increase by well over 100% every two days, so I suppose I must be doing something right. I’d be really interested to hear about the experiences and ideas of others who are keeping water kefir.

Basic Water Kefir Recipe:

6 Tablespoons water kefir grains
4 Tablespoons sugar
3 Cups water
½ lemon or a piece of lemon (if you can’t find an organic lemon, then take the skin off first)
A dried fig, or a tablespoon of raisins
(Optional: add 2-4 teaspoons of fresh ginger root juice to make a refreshing ginger beer kefir. To make the ginger root juice, pound or chop finely about 60g fresh ginger root and blend it to a mash with half a cup of water. Strain through a cloth, squeezing out the juice. You can also use dried ginger powder. Boil 1-2 tablespoons of ginger powder with 1 cup of water and then strain through a fine cloth. Cool this liquid before adding it to your brew. When brewing with ginger, you can leave out the raisins. The grains do really well when cultured with ginger!)


Water kefir

I make this quantity of kefir in a 1 quart (1 litre) glass preserving jar. Whatever jar you use, please make sure you leave an inch or so at the top to accommodate the carbon dioxide gas produced by the fermentation process and avoid explosions! As your kefir grains reproduce themselves, you will need to adjust the ratios of ingredients for a bigger batch, or make more batches.

Method:

*Strain and rinse the grains under clean running water.

*Put them in the jar with the other ingredients, and stir until the sugar dissolves.

*Close the jar with a good firm lid, and leave it at room temperature to ferment. Stir after 24 hours, and as often as you like.

*Brew until the raisins float to the surface and the liquid is a bit fizzy. This might take about 48 hours, but could be a good deal faster when the weather is warm.

*Scoop the lemons and raisins off the top of the liquid.

*Now use a strainer to separate the water kefir grains from the liquid. Rinse the kefir grains thoroughly under cold water.

*Squeeze the lemon into the liquid and put it into tightly sealed bottles or jars. You can chill and drink the beverage now, if you wish. Or, to make it more fizzy, you can leave it to ferment (secondary fermentation) for another day or so at room temperature, before moving it to the fridge to chill for drinking. (Further fermentation will increase the alcohol content of the drink, depending on the amount of sugar in the liquid. In any case, water kefir drinks seem to be only very mildly alcoholic – like home-made ginger beer.)

Other Tips:

*Once you have made your first batch of water kefir, you can rinse the grains and start the next batch immediately.

*If you don’t want to make another batch immediately, you can store the grains in the fridge in a sugar water solution (1Tablespoon of sugar to 1 Cup water) for up to 7 days. You can also freeze strained, rinsed water kefir grains in plastic ziploc bags for up to 2-3 months.

*Sugar: Apparently the grains do best on less-refined, more mineral-rich sugars, though any kind of cane sugar will do (refined white sugar, golden sugar, muscovado, rapadura).

*Water: The grains do best in hard, highly mineralised water. If you are using soft or distilled water, add ¼ teaspoon of baking soda per 6 cups of water to keep the grains healthy. You can also add a piece of limestone, some boiled egg shell or a tiny pinch of calcium carbonate powder to the brewing water.

*Fermentation time: One of the main reasons why water kefir grains become sick and stop propagating is over-fermentation. In general, they should be brewed no longer than 2 days, though they may need 3 days in colder conditions. During the summer, daily brews might be needed to prevent over-fermentation. A brew is ready for straining when the raisins are floating to the top, and the liquid has become slightly fizzy and a little sour.

*Most of the information I’ve seen says to keep the kefir in glass containers.

*Wash water kefir containers and implements by hand using mild detergent, and rinse thoroughly.

*Always keep a batch of water kefir grains brewing with the basic recipe (or the ginger beer recipe) above. Please use only your extra grains for other recipes, since some ingredients (honey and herbs, for example) may cause the grains to lose their vigour and stop growing.

*Healthy fast-growing water kefir grains produce a brew with less alcohol and more health-giving probiotic properties than sluggish, sick grains.

*Use spare water kefir grains to make experimental brews using honey, herbs, or fruit juices. You can also try adding these other ingredients to the brew for the secondary fermentation.

Posted in Fermentation | 14 Comments »

Lively Pets in our Kitchen

October 25th, 2008

A few months ago, I wrote about the sad demise of our water kefir. Now, after a good deal of chasing around, I’m happy to say that we have a healthy colony of water kefir once again.


Several of Rebecca’s pets

I went on a wild-goose-chase trying to find some water kefir grains from sources in New Zealand. It seemed that everyone was having the same problems: the grains had become sluggish and were failing to reproduce. Finally, I gave up and imported some water kefir from Australia. This was expensive and took a very long time! When the dried grains arrived (back in early August), I had to reconstitute them and tend them carefully for several weeks before they were up and running properly. I’m happy to say that all the effort and expense has paid off. We’re enjoying delicious water kefir drinks and I’ve already shared spare grains with a number of people. They are reproducing like crazy! Our old grains were certainly never this lively! I feel confident that the water kefir will remain healthy this time, as I think I’ve got a much better idea of how best to tend the culture. I’m having fun experimenting with our spare grains, making different flavoured water kefir sodas using honey and different kinds of herbs.

It’s very satisfying to look up at all the live ferments brewing, fizzing, and multiplying on the kitchen shelf. We like to call them our pets! We now have milk kefir, Caspian Sea yoghurt, kombucha, water kefir, traditional ginger beer plant (this is similar to water kefir grains), a 2 year old wild sourdough starter, and a ginger beer bug. What a lineup!

If anyone would like to share any of these “pets,” please contact me via email. If you live locally, you could get them off me when we are in Kaitaia. If you live in another part of New Zealand, I could send them to you overnight via Courier Post, though I do charge extra for shipping.

Coming soon: More details on how to keep a healthy water kefir colony.

Posted in Fermentation, Food and Recipes | 21 Comments »

Kefir Cheese Experiments

October 12th, 2008

We had lots of jars of left-over kefir lurking in the fridge. I decided that the time had come to try some interesting cheese experiments. My goal was to make a dry “parmesan”-style grating cheese as well as a piece of hard kefir cheese to coat with wax and age in the fridge.


Dry Parmesan-style grating cheese

I started off the cheese making process by straining the kefir through a fine cotton cloth. After 24 hours, I put the whey in a jar to use for making lacto-fermented vegetables, soaking grains etc. The remaining curd was nice and thick. I mixed some sea salt into the curd until it had a nice salty savoury taste.

Next, I had to find a way to press the curd. After some deliberation and assessment of equipment options, I ended up wrapping my little pattie of curd in a piece of muslin and putting it in the bottom of a colander. I used an inverted saucer as a chaser to press down on the curd. After trying several different weights, I settled on a plastic bag full of water. This makeshift cheese press didn’t look very pretty, but 24 hours later I was pleased to find that the curd looked pretty well pressed.

Experiment One: Dry Parmesan-Style Grating Cheese
I broke the pressed curd into small pieces (roughly one inch cubes) and set them to dry on a wooden cheese board on the bench. I have to admit that certain two-legged rats in this household (Kevin and I!) found these little cubes of curd quite tasty and had trouble leaving them uneaten on the bench. I turned the pieces each morning to ensure that they would dry on all sides. I also wiped them every couple of days with a cotton cloth dipped in salt water. This was to stop any mold from growing on the surface of the cheese before it could dry completely. After about a week, the pieces of curd had dried all the way through. They were very hard and smelled very cheesy and pungent! I ground them up in the food processor and mixed the resulting powder with beaten eggs to make stracciatella soup. Kevin and I both found this delicious, but if you are looking for a mild cheese experience I advise you to look elsewhere! We have wrapped the leftover bits of cheese in paper lunch wrap, and are storing them in a jar in the fridge.

Experiment Two: Aged Kefir Cheese
For this cheese, I left the pressed curd in a big piece. I dried it on the cheese board for a few days, turning it and wiping it with salt water to keep the surface clean. Once the surface had hardened up a bit, I coated it with cheese wax and transferred it to the fridge to age. We are planning to let this cheese age for at least a few weeks before trying it, so I can’t yet tell you what we think of it! I’ll be sure to report on the outcome when the time comes.

Please note: I have extra kefir grains if anyone would like some. They are free to anyone who can pick them up from Kaitaia. I charge to ship them to other parts of New Zealand.

Posted in Fermentation, Food and Recipes | 13 Comments »

Spring Gardening Frenzy

October 3rd, 2008

With the soil warming up and winter rain over, we have been hurrying to prepare the garden beds for spring planting. There is a lot of weeding and clearing out to be done. Mulch and compost need to be spread. New batches of compost need to be started. We are moving ahead with all these tasks, even as I plant seeds in trays and punnets and transfer the first seedlings into the waiting soil. Mizuna, lettuces (“deer’s tongue” and “half century”), shungiku chrysanthemum, multiplying spring onions, red cabbage, calendula, mustard lettuce and New Zealand spinach all seem to be thriving. Sadly our tat soi has fallen victim to slugs and birds. I guess I’ll plant some more. I’ve also planted out the best bulbs from last season’s onion crop, in hopes that they’ll sprout and run to seed. This is my first attempt at saving seed from bulbing onions, so I hope my timing is right.


Baxter bush cherry tomato seedling

The first tomato seedlings, “Baxter’s Early Bush,” already have their first true leaves and will soon be ready to transplant. Pepper, zucchini, amaranth, and more tomato seedlings are poking their heads out of the soil.

Tomatoes:
Most of the tomato varieties we are planting are the same as last year: Money Maker, Russian Red, Humboltti and Green Zebra. The Green Zebra suffered from extreme neglect and didn’t fruit well last year. I’m determined to give it a fair trial this time around, since the few fruit we did get from it were beautiful and delicious. I have to pay more attention to staking and removing laterals, since it’s an indeterminate variety. Humboltti, a small yellow cherry tomato, fruited prolifically and stayed disease free last year despite almost total neglect. We are growing it again, since it is tasty and easy to grow, although it seems to split rather too readily. Baxter’s Early Bush Cherry Tomato is a new variety for us. We are hoping to grow some of these in containers in a warm spot, in order to have an early crop of cherry tomatoes and save space in the garden.
Zucchini:
I saved seed from Black Beauty Zucchini the season before last. To avoid crossing with the Austrian Oilseed Pumpkin (also a Curcurbita pepo), I planted a late zucchini crop after we had harvested the oilseed pumpkins.
Amaranth:
We are planting two varieties of amaranth this year. We have grown the leaf amaranth before. It’s an attractive coleus leafed variety called “Tampala.” Grain amaranth is a new crop for us. We are excited to be trialling a variety called “Pygmy Torch.” It is meant to be very ornamental and can produce a prolific grain crop in the right conditions. I have sown the grain amaranth in trays, and plan to plant it out in the garden at 8cm spacings as per the advice in an old Koanga Gardens seed catalogue.

Posted in Garden | 10 Comments »

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