Sunday, March 2, 2008

Super Sour Saturday!

I had such fun yesterday. I had the whole day to play. I happened to find a mother load of fresh but half price raw milk at my local Health Food store and bought not one, not 3 but 5 gallons of it! I wondered what to do with it all but could not pass up $4.39 per gallon. (Remember this is raw, living, full of enzymes raw milk- not dead, cooked, sterilized and highly allergenic pasteurized milk.) You can find raw milk cheaper but in my locale I have to travel about 45 min to find it at $5.50 straight from the farmer so I am content to buy it at normally $8.79 pr gallon upon occasion or as often as I can at $4.39 a gallon!

So what I did with it all!




I set one large glass jar on the counter to separate into curds and whey. The whey I will use for souring grains and all flour products, (muffins, pancakes, bread, etc,since whey keeps about 6 weeks in the fridge) and the solid I will be making into cream cheese of which I have plans to make a raw cheesecake to take up to Canada when I visit my grown children and their families next weekend)

Another gallon (and a half) I made 6 qts of kefir, (see first picture) and that is on my counter setting right now.






The third gallon (and a half) I made a big batch of yogurt, which is sitting on a heating pad covered in towels as we speak. (Notice the thermometer-95 degrees is perfect for 12 hours)

The fifth gallon is in my fridge for drinking and for on homemade buckwheat granola and other breakfast cereals.






But that is not all. I had a lot of fun souring other things yesterday as well. I made a beautiful batch of sauerkraut AND a jar of pineapple chutney, souring on my counter for two days and then put in the fridge for about 3 weeks or till gone which will probably be the later. Use a few tablespoons as a garnish to be eaten with meat to improve digestibility.

AND I made a quadruple batch of raw brownies, in my dehydrator right now (I can hear the hum of the dehydrator in the next room)


Lastly, I made a batch of kombucha tea, a fermented sour and sweet bubbly drink made from black tea.

And to finish it all off (or rather start off the day) I had Chocolate Mousse for breakfast. Yum. I pulled it over again on another unsuspecting victim. This time I asked Jonathan (17) if he would like some Chocolate Mousse and he cautiously took a taste. "OK, thanks Mom." He downed the whole thing!

Sorry, I must find humor in tricking my family into eating what they say they detest-frog. See my previous post on Chocolate Mousse to find out what frog is at my house!.

All of these recipes, except the mousse, are in the great kitchen book (not exactly a cookbook alone) Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats Get it from your library if you have to but you will quickly see the need to have your own copy.