Favorite Books of 2015 #2 - The Art of Natural Cheesemaking

The Art of Natural Cheesemaking: Using Traditional, Non-Industrial Methods and Raw Ingredients to Make the World's Best Cheese by David Asher
(click the link above to buy it on Amazon)

I am so excited about this book! I knew, deep down, that people made cheese before the advent of stainless steel and mail-order bacterial culture packets, but I couldn't find any information on how. I'd catch glimpses in cheesemaking books (usually glossed over under a quick "history of cheesemaking" section), or on over-my-head technical websites on bacteriology, but never anything I could really use. Until now . . .

From the first two paragraphs of the introduction, all the way to Appendix E (Comparison of Microorganisms in Commonly Used Starters, Raw Milk, and Kefir), this book answers all of my questions (and quite a few I didn't know enough to ask). And best of all, it's full of recipes! I discovered that my "Homemade Press-Less Raw Cheddar Cheese" isn't really a true cheddar at all - "cheddaring" is actually a term referring to the way the cheese is cut, stacked, and pressed. But it does match pretty closely with his recipe for Basic Rennet Cheese, which is a sort of "blank" cheese that can then be made into cheddar, mozzarella, blue cheese, Camembert, feta, or Gouda, depending on the steps that follow. So technically, my recipe is for cheddar cheese that hasn't been cheddared! Asher does note, however, that "this fresh cheese is eaten in vast quantities in Europe, the Middle East, and Central and South America." Apparently, then, my family is in good company - they eat this fresh cheese in vast quantities, too!

As I mentioned, one reason I was excited about this book was the idea of making cheese without packaged bacterial starter cultures. I knew it could be done (I'd made cottage cheese out of raw milk without adding any starter culture at all, just rennet), but I wasn't about to risk four gallons of precious milk on an experiment I wasn't sure would work. Knowing that someone who knows what he's doing uses this technique on a regular basis gave me the confidence to try it.

So how does he get around using mail-order cultures? He uses either kefir or active whey (leftover from a previous batch of cheese, and thus host to the bacteria needed to make another batch). I chose to use kefir, mainly because of the catch-22 that I wouldn't have any active whey until I'd made a batch of cheese with the proper bacteria - which I wouldn't have until I had some active whey . . .

At first I thought perhaps I could just use whey from a batch of cheese I'd made with my freeze-dried cultures, but Asher says this isn't a good idea: "Cheesemakers can not reculture their DVIs [Direct Vat Innoculants - purchased freeze-dried cultures]. They are unstable collections of bacteria that do not exist in nature, whose profiles change over time, and whose performance and quality will decline if reused. Much like the unpropagatable hybrid seeds that many farmers use, DVIs must be purchased anew for every batch of cheese. Cheesemakers, therefore, become dependent upon purchased packaged cultures. Even if it were possible, reculturing the proprietary blends of often trademarked cultures may not even be permitted!"

So that left kefir as my best option for a sustainable starter culture. Kefir grains (which are not really grains like wheat or oats, but rather a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeasts - similar to a kombucha SCOBY, although they look completely different and host different microbes). Thankfully, a friend of mine had some extra kefir grains she was willing to share (kefir colonies grow quickly, and need to be divided regularly), and by the end of the week my kefir production was cruising right along. To keep my grains healthy, I need to feed them much more than I'd need just for once-a-week cheesemaking, so we mix the extra with bananas and blueberries each morning for a tasty probiotic breakfast smoothie.

Now that I have my kefir ready to go, I can make almost any kind of cheese in the book (other than blue cheese - to get the tasty blue bloom, I'd need to grow some Penecillium roqueforti - which Asher claims is easy to do on homemade sourdough bread. He even shares his sourdough recipe in Appendix A!) The recipes are all very simple and straightforward, and if you do run into a problem, he includes a troubleshooting guide in Appendix D, covering all of the cheese recipes in the book. Whether you're a beginning cheesemaker or just looking for a more sustainable way to make your homemade cheese, this book is full of useful information for anyone who wants to make good cheese.

Note: I was not payed to review this book, I just really love it! But if you click on the link above and buy the book at amazon.com, I will receive a small commission from the sale. Thank you for your support!

Super Sauerkraut

It's finally done! Isn't it pretty?

I've made sauerkraut once before, using the "Three days on the counter in a mason jar" method, and it was good, but then I read the Sauerkraut Survivor series and realized I might not be getting as much probiotic bacteria as I thought.

So I started looking around for a better system, even going so far as to order a Pickle-Pro lid on Amazon (which I never did use, but I'm thinking it will be great for when I make apple cider vinegar this fall). But before my pickle-pro arrived in the mail, I found these clamp-top jars at my local Farm & Fleet store (which were what I really wanted in the first place), so I grabbed two, ran over to the food co-op and bought a head of organic red cabbage, and giddily drove home to make some kraut!

The actual recipe is so simple - just slice up your kraut, let the salt bring out the juices, and let it sit in the cupboard for a month (that's the hard part!)

Here are the more technical directions:

Super Sauerkraut

Quarter, core, and shred cabbage, discarding outer leaves. Put in a large bowl and sprinkle with 1 Tbsp sea salt (or ½ Tbsp sea salt plus ¼ cup leftover kraut juice from previous batch). Cover bowl with a tea towel and set aside. After about a half hour, stir, then recover and set aside for another half hour. Stir again; at this point it should be getting juicy (no pounding required - let the salt do the work for you!) Transfer cabbage to a sterilized fermenting jar. Press down firmly to remove any air gaps and pack cabbage tightly, leaving 1” head space (actually, according to this, you don't have to have the brine covering the cabbage if you use the clamp-top gasket jar). Attach cover according to jar directions and keep in a dark place at room temperature for four weeks. Best eaten 4-8 weeks after initial shredding. Refrigerate after opening.

Of course, you can do this with green cabbage to make a "normal" looking kraut, but I like using the red cabbage because it makes such a bright presentation.

Here's to homemade probiotics!

Easy Probiotic Salsa

Here's another recipe that you can make in small batches as your produce rolls in. I'm loving the fact that I don't have to do a huge batch for canning (and be stuck in the hot kitchen all day!) Plus of course all the health benefits of lactofermenting, so it's easier to make and healthier for you. Win-win!

You can double or halve this recipe as you like (or quadruple as those tomatoes start rolling in . . .), and play with your spices - we like a medium salsa, so we use green jalapenos - if you like more of a kick, you can use red ones. Just make sure you wear gloves when you chop them up - I know this from painful experience!

Lactofermented Salsa
1 quart chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 Tbsp snipped fresh chives (dried spices work fine, too)
2 tsp minced garlic
2 chopped jalapeno peppers
1 Tbsp sea salt
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp cilantro (use more if using fresh)
Mix all together and fill desired jars. (If you have whey on hand, it helps to put about 1/4 cup on the top of each jar, to kick-start the lacto-fermentation.) Let sit, tightly covered, at room temperature for about three days (be sure to "burp" your jars at least once a day). Then store in a cool, dry place (I keep mine in the fridge).

Monday was "Salsa Day" - we came home from a weekend at Grandma's, and my sweet kids found all of these ripe tomatoes waiting in the garden. We ended up with over four quarts of salsa (and I didn't even use up all of the tomatoes!)

Probiotic Dill Pickles

Note to self:
No matter how much you love pumpkins, do not let a volunteer pumpkin grow next to your cucumber bed.

I planted my cucumbers way out back behind the chicken coop (the chickens are out in their pasture pens, so they're not close enough to destroy any vegetables, but it's very well-fertilized from their *ahem* deposits all last winter). Since I can't see the plants easily, I kind of forgot about them. When I went out to check on them this afternoon, this is what I found. See any cucumbers in there???

Well, after wading through the pumpkin vines, I did find some cucumber plants, and even a few veggies ready to pick. But I also realized that something needed to be done. I carefully pruned away most of the pumpkin vines (realizing halfway through that the bulk of them were not actually pumpkin vines, but a volunteer patty pan squash or two. This was a relief, since I don't particularly care for pattypan squash, and felt much better about ripping those out than my precious pumpkins! There were a few ripe squash of harvestable size, so I saved those and shredded them later for making into zucchini chocolate chip cookies.)

A half hour later, I had removed most of the intruding vines (except one pumpkin plant I just couldn't bring myself to pull - it had four big Cinderella-style pumpkins already growing on it, and since I didn't have any other plants with that shape of pumpkin on them, I gave in and let them stay - did I mention I'm a sap when it comes to pumpkins?) The cucumber plants were long and straggly, so instead of trying to train them up the tomato cages, as I'd originally intended, I laid them down on top of some old cardboard boxes - hopefully this will make it easier to find the ripe cukes, and keep them from rotting in the wet grass.

(Can you see that adorable pumpkin on the right edge of the picture? How could I pull that cute thing out???)

*ahem*

With the eight or so pickling-sized cukes I found under that jungle of vines, I decided to make our family's favorite dill pickles (recipe adapted from Nourishing Traditions - I changed up the spices a bit, so they taste more like what my family's used to; similar to the Vlasic dill pickles we used to buy).

Lacto-Fermented Dill Pickles
for each pint, place:
one head of dill
one clove of garlic
enough cucumbers to fill jar
1 Tablespoon of salt (sea salt works fine)
Cover with water (you can add some whey for a little kick-start), leaving an inch of headspace (this will bubble up as it ferments). Place a lid on the jar and leave at room temperature for 3 days, "burping" the jar regularly to release pressure. After three days, move the jars to a refrigerator or cool cellar for long-term storage.

I love this recipe because not only are they good for you, but you don't have to can them! I appreciate any excuse not to have to heat up the house in July and August. It's also nice that you can just make a jar now and again as you have cukes - you don't have worry about making a full canner load.

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday.