Bragging...

One of my good friends entered 2 of my homemade vinegars in the Fair, and I won a Blue ribbon for the Chive Blossom Vinegar, and a 2nd Place Ribbon for the Ruby Basil Vinegar!

I use champagne vinegar as a base, but it's expensive ($40/half gallon with S/H). So over this winter, I plan to buy some inexpensive champagne and make my own champagne vinegar. It takes about 5-6 months for champagne to mature into vinegar, but during that time I have no herbs growing in the garden anyway.

Right now I have some tarragon vinegar brewing, with a touch of garlic in it, and plan some chive (not the pretty pink chive blossom) vinegar later, but before frost.

I did make some fruit vinegars, raspberry, cranberry, and blackberry and still have frozen arils of pomegranate to use. It's amazing what a splash of a fruit vinegar does for meats and vegetables.

Making real vinegar

 

Last year I started some basil vinegar, using ruby basil and Bragg's apple cider vinegar. Neglected over the fall, winter and spring months in my cupboard, it developed 2 lovely thick layers of "mother" which can now be used to make more real vinegar from wine. There's a BIG difference in real vinegar vs. the chemically-laden distilled vinegar at the store (although I do buy and use that as a disinfectant).

2 weeks ago, I strained off the lovely pink vinegar, and covered the mother with about half a bottle of left-over white wine I had on hand to keep it from drying out. That has already turned pink (shown above),  meaning it will probably carry some of the basil taste when the alcohol in the wine turns into acetic acid (vinegar). Who needs that much ruby basil vinegar? Well, there are always occasions for homemade gifts!

I have some raspberry wine I made in a 3 gallon carboy 2 years ago (and is still in the carboy) and I'm thinking to put some of that in mason jars, adding a piece of the "basil" flavored mother, hoping that the 2nd round of the mother in white wine will have diluted the basil flavor, or is at least over-ridden by the raspberry flavor.

I also grew some mother in a mason jar of apple cores and peels in water over the winter, using no ACV starter. Those nasty little fruit flies develop what's called acetobacter that make acetic acid (vinegar). That batch is cloudy but smells/tastes okay, and should be a good mother to make more real vinegar.

In the last 3 weeks I have taken shortcuts to making flavored vinegars, mainly for salads or to splash on cooked vegetables. I use organic champagne vinegar as the base, and steep various herbs or fruits in it. The Provençal vinegar (rosemary and thyme sprigs, fresh orange and lemon peel and a garlic clove), smells the best but it needs to steep another month before use.

The other recent flavored vinegars I just made with a champagne vinegar base are chive blossom vinegar, tarragon vinegar, and regular basil vinegar.

I just ordered more organic champagne vinegar from a winery in California, but it is quite expensive, more costly than a decent wine. Walmart sells a cheap bottled wine for $2.97, and only the alcohol portion is necessary to make real vinegar since the wine taste doesn't metter.  

So, I'm really hoping I can convert more of my various homemade fruit wines to vinegar using my "newly grown" mother. I don't drink anymore, but I do use EVOO and vinegars on my salads. I don't buy salad dressings at the store anymore... too many fake ingredients not good for my health.

Homemade Extracts and Salad Vinegars

I lucked out on a bag of Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Beans on Amazon, 1/2 pound for about $25 including shipping. There were over 60 bean pods in the bag, which I split with a friend. That's a great price, considering vanilla beans in the grocery stores run around $10 for 3 pods. Even the natural food stores where I buy bulk herbs want $2 per bean pod.

The first order of business was to start some homemade vanilla extract. I used 6 bean pods, split open, cut in half, and put into a pint bottle of vodka. The recipe called for just 3 beans but I wanted a stout double-vanilla. The vodka already smells like vanilla after just a few days, but I will continue to let it steep in a dark closet for 3 months before using. The remaining beans are in double zip-lock bags in the refrigerator. A few will be placed in granulated cane sugar to make vanilla sugar for dessert toppings. (But not much, as I don't eat much sugar if I can avoid it.)

Being on a roll, I also started some orange extract. I zested 2 navel oranges and covered the zest with 2/3 cup of vodka. I should make more since I use a lot of orange flavoring, but that was all the oranges I had on hand.

The chives circling one of my guilds are in full bloom, so I started some chive blossom vinegar. No measurements... I simply filled a pint canning jar with blossoms (stems cut flush to the flowers) and poured hot champagne vinegar over them. (Be sure to soak the blossoms in water for a few minutes to dislodge any tiny critters.) They will steep a couple of weeks and then I'll strain out the blossoms. Small jars of this vinegar are a lovely deep pink and make nice gifts!

I have more herbal salad vinegars in mind to make as soon as I can afford more champagne vinegar in gallon jugs.

Orange Household Cleaner

I've bought this kind of household cleaner for ages, but thought it was finally time to make my own. Duh.

Making it is simple. Peel oranges, put the peels in a jar, cover with white vinegar, and let it steep for a few days (or weeks, doesn't matter much except it gets stronger with orange oil as it ages). When you think it's strong enough, strain the vinegar for use.

In the photo above, there are a few pieces of orange sections from where I squeezed some for juice. I figured it can't hurt, but if it eventually causes the vinegar to mold, I'll just start afresh.

Belgian Endive Roots are Growing!

Well, they aren't growing quite as I hoped, partly from a lack of water in the bottom of the potting soil and inattention on my part. Nor are they developing the perfect "heads" as seen in the grocery stores. ('ll have to research how to get them to grow into "heads" better.)

However, they ARE growing out in the root cellar, and I'm encouraged enough to try again next fall!

Here's the post on beginning this project.

Liver Disease and Nutrition

Six and a half years ago, I was diagnosed with Liver Disease, and referred to the University of Virginia to see some liver specialists. The first thing they did was to refer me to the Transplant Program, where I underwent a battery of tests over several months to determine if the rest of my body was healthy enough to withstand the rigors of a liver transplant.

At the time, I was also having the same intermittent low thyroid symptoms I'd had for most of my life. I show all the symptoms of hypothyroidism, yet the thyroid tests always come back in the normal range. This time, the endocrinologist talked to me about foods that adversely affect the thyroid, most notably cruciferous vegetables and soy products. They are goitrogens, meaning they suppresses thyroid function and the uptake of iodine needed by the thyroid.

Cruciferous vegetables lose a lot of the goitrogens when cooked, but soy does not. I thought I had pretty much eliminated soy from my diet years ago... that is, until I discovered soy masquerades under 40 or more names as food additives. The first thing to eliminate from my diet was any food that came in a package with a long list of chemical ingredients on the label, many of which are soy-based (and from GMO soy).

The next thing to eliminate was sugars, high fructose corn syrup in particular. Fructose damages the liver and causes mitochondrial and metabolic dysfunction in the same way as any other toxin.

Sucrose (table sugar) is 50 percent glucose and 50 percent fructose. High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is anywhere from 42 to 55 percent fructose depending on which type is used. Glucose is the form of energy our bodies are designed to run on. Every cell in our body uses glucose for energy, and it's metabolized in every organ of our body; only about 20 percent of glucose is actually metabolized in our liver. Fructose, on the other hand, can only be metabolized by the liver, because the liver is the only organ that has the transporter for it. 

Since all fructose gets shuttled to the liver, when we eat a typical Western-style diet, we consume high amounts of it, so fructose ends up taxing and damaging the liver in the same way other toxins (including alcohol) do. In fact, fructose is virtually identical to alcohol with regards to the metabolic havoc it wreaks. 

According to Dr. Lustig (an endocrinologist at the Univ. of California), fructose is a "chronic, dose-dependent liver toxin." And just like alcohol, fructose is metabolized directly into fat—not cellular energy, like glucose. So when eating fructose, it just gets stored in our fat cells, which leads to mitochondrial malfunction. 

The liver is the major site for converting excess carbohydrates and proteins into fatty acids and triglycerides, which are then exported and stored in adipose (fat) tissue.  I was advised to cut my carb intake to 50 grams a day until my system got clean, and then keep the intake to under 100 grams a day. 

The last thing to eliminate was any meat and eggs from animals that may have been fed the same soy and grain I was to avoid, as well as avoiding all fresh produce grown in a chemical cloud. That meant local free-range eggs, grass-fed beef, lamb, pastured pork, free-range chickens, and the Farmer's Market for veggies I don't grow.

Well, let me tell you, for 2-3 weeks I thought I would starve to death! Giving up the obvious addictive sugars was hard enough, but giving up bread and pasta was even worse. That's when I really started to delve into Real Foods, and things started to turn around.

Within a month, my energy levels and mental outlook began to increase, and my liver enzymes improved enough in 3-4 months that my liver docs took me off all meds.

I also began to lose a little weight. I learned to always carry a wholesome snack when I was away from home, usually a hard-boiled farm egg, or a piece of raw milk cheese (for the enzymes not found in pasteurized cheese). (Do not believe raw milk cheese might harbor pathogens. By Law, they must be aged at least 60 days before they can be sold, and if there were pathogens, the cheese would be rotten before the 60 days were up.)

Unfortunately, I have fallen partially off the "good diet" wagon over the last 12 months, mostly due to the increased cost of food and utilities versus my income (just a monthly social security check) and partly due to laziness. Eating right requires planning ahead and making time to prepare nutritious foods. In the last 3 weeks, I've had 3 sodas because I was experiencing low blood sugar while away from the house. That's 3 more than I've had in 5-6 years.

It's time to climb fully back up on that healthy food wagon no matter what else I have to give up. (Or continue a downward spiral in my health.)

There are many, many good things I can make from cheap cuts of meat and bones. Slow cooking a crockpot full of bones produces an incredibly nutritious broth/stock that's like jello when cooled.  Stock contains minerals in a form the body can absorb easily—not just calcium but also magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulphur and trace minerals.  Bone broth also supports joints, hair, skin and nails due to its high collagen content. In fact, some even suggest that it helps eliminate cellulite as it supports smooth connective tissue.

Cooked long and slow, bone broth also contains the broken down material from cartilage and tendons, stuff like chondroitin sulphates and glucosamine, now sold as expensive supplements for arthritis and joint pain.

The "odd bits" like heart, liver, kidneys, sweetbreads, etc. contain so much more nutrition than the muscle meats, and they are much cheaper to purchase. I just received a Christmas gift of the book Terrine, plus I found a used copy of Terrines, Påtes and Galantines on ebay for under $4 earlier this year. (If you are not familiar with terrines, think meatloaf... and a galantine is just a meaty loaf encased in a pastry shell.)

What else did I eat when I felt so great?? Bacon, eggs, sausage, homemade yogurt, salads dressed with fresh lemon juice and a drizzle of EVOO, cheese, real butter, real cream in my coffee (not UP), fresh veggies, olive oil and coconut oil, sardines, not much fruit because of the sugar content, no legumes, no grains, and grass-fed meats daily. My one daily treat was a half-inch square of an 85% cacao bar at bedtime, and it was enough.

Eating those foods also brought the ratio of my Omega-6 to Omega-3 back into a better balance (about 4:1) than the SAD (Standard American Diet) which is as much as 40:1. 

All the meat and dairy provided the essential amino acids necessary to build proteins (essential because our bodies cannot produce them internally). The failure to obtain enough of even 1 of the 10 essential amino acids has serious health implications and can result in degradation of the body's proteins. Muscle and other protein structures may be dismantled to obtain the one amino acid that is needed. "Unlike fat and starch, the human body does not store excess amino acids for later use; the amino acids must be in the food every day.

I bought some wonton wrappers yesterday and intend to make and freeze some wontons (they contain just 4 grams of carbs per wrapper). A lunch of a wonton or two added to some home canned stock is quick, easy, and nutritious. 

It's a start. Salads will be scarce over the winter because I'm leery of bagged greens, even organic ones. Thankfully I froze lots of green veggies from my summer garden.

Chive Blossom Vinegar, Pretty in Pink

Chive Blossom vinegar is easy to make, and the taste in a vinaigrette on salads is wonderful. I just take a handful of chive blossoms and put them in a jar with champagne vinegar. (I like that better than most store-bought vinegars as it's fairly mild. I have to buy a case of 4 gallons to get a good price, but it lasts a long time and I use it as a base for other flavored vinegars.)

The more chive blossoms I use, the darker the pink color will be, along with the chive taste. I let mine sit in a dark cool place for about 2 weeks, then strain into sterilized bottles/jars.

ps, I'm planning to make some blackberry vinegar soon... stay tuned!

What to do with Fennel stalks

Fennel is a recent introduction to my food palate, and I love it enough that I have started some seeds for this year's garden. It is outrageously expensive in the supermarkets here, so it often stays on the shelves long past it's prime. There IS one vendor at the farmer's market with great, fresh and affordable fennel, but he always sells out fast.

Fennel bulbs are almost always sold by weight, and there's not much value in the stalks and ferns which can make up half the weight/cost. The stalks and ferns are tasty when fresh, and can be used sliced thin in salads and as a garnish but they lose all taste/flavor if dried, much like dried parsley. So... the stalks often get thrown on the compost pile, keeping just the fat bulb for cooking.

However, I came across this recipe for making orange pickled fennel stalks from a charcuterie blog I  read. It's a simple recipe and takes just a few minutes of your time (plus some wait while the sliced stalks are in salt to lose some of their liquid). I put mine on some lamb chops... delish!

My picture should have been taken immediately, as the orange looses color (but not taste) after a couple of days, but I was busy with seedlings and forgot!

Orange Pickled Fennel Stalks
Adapted from recipe by Joy of Pickling by Linda Ziedrich

    * Stalks from two fennel bulbs, sliced
    * 1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
    * zest of 1/2 orange, peeled from the orange in thin strips
    * 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
    * 1/2 cup orange juice
    * 1 Tbsp. sugar
    * 4 black peppercorns, cracked

1: Combine sliced fennel with salt and let stand for one to two hours.

2: Drain fennel slices and combine them with the orange zest.

3: Pack fennel stalks and zest into a jar. Heat vinegar, orange juice, sugar and peppercorns to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Pour the hot liquid over the fennel and screw on lid.

4: Let cool to room temperature and then place in the refrigerator. It will be ready in a few days.

I think this would be good on salmon, too. YUM!

Making Preserved Lemons with Kumquats

Yes, you can find posts on this all over the internet, but it's new to me. I DID try some kind of preserved lemons years ago, but they were in olive oil if I remember correctly. They spoiled, and now I never even put herbs or garlic in olive oil... too risky.

I finally found Meyer Lemons in the grocery store in the next town. The price was right (and cheaper than regular lemons!) so I bought 2 bags of juicy Meyer lemons. They also had kumquats, which grew wild in the neighborhood where I visited my grandfather, and I haven't had any in years. They went in the basket, too.

I shy away from buying foods with a lot of miles to get to me, but sometimes I just can't help myself!

I started out with the method I see a lot, which is quartering each lemon almost all the way through, and packing a tablespoon of non-iodized salt inside before putting them in the jar. Then I remembered this blog post, where he cuts the lemons all the way through, and adds a variety of spices (like star anise and black pepper) as well as salt. The neat thing he does is make use of the salty residue when all the lemons are used up, by dehydrating the salty liquid and crushing it in a mortar/pestle to use to flavor other dishes.

I mashed down the lemons a couple of times, and the next day I quartered them, added spices (cinnamon, star anise and peppercorns) and more salt. More occasional mashing, and now they are releasing more juice. Last, I added kumquats cut in half, and more salt. 

After another day or two, I put them in a smaller jar (didn't do it earlier as my masher wouldn't fit in the opening of a smaller jar), put a lid on, and I'll store them in a cool place for a month before using.

Dem bones, dem bones, dem soup bones...

I've been thinking a lot about bones lately... not bones as detritus, but the magical gifts they hold with their exceptional nutritional value, decorative use, and historical use as tools.

Bone House Fence and Gate Bone Details

There's even a Bone House (thanks to the tip from Gaias Daughter) using bones as architectural details! Regardless of their decorative appeal and usage as tools, bones also hold significant nutritional value.


Too many people throw away the bones from whatever meat they ate, whether the chicken carcass, their steak bone, or the pork chop bone. Yet those bones actually hold more nutrition than the meat eaten off those bones!

 

Nutrient-dense stock is chock full of minerals that every body needs, not the least of which is calcium, but also magnesium, phosphorus, and trace minerals. Our bodies easily absorb the minerals and amino acids from good stock or broth used in soups, stews and sauces. They also help us to efficiently utilize protein. Nutrient-dense stock has been indicated in helping to heal rheumatoid arthritis, gastritis, colitis, Crohn's disease, allergies, and other digestive and bone disorders. 

The silky-smooth, wobbly gelatinous stock from bones has been an essential ingredient in savory foods, preferred by cooks all over the world for centuries. (You don't really want to know how they hydrolyse the bones to make the commercial broths sold in grocery stores.)

It takes very little except time to release those goodies from the bones: cover with water, add a tablespoon or two of fresh lemon juice or vinegar; cover and let sit for an hour for the acids in the vinegar to start work on the bones, then simmer long and slow. The vinegar or lemon juice taste will cook off, and leave the bone minerals behind in the broth. I use about 6-8 quarts of water to 2 or more pounds of bones, simmered down to about half the volume when finished. Bones from younger animals give up their goodies quicker... like a fryer chicken vs an old stewing hen, although the old hen will have more collagen and flavor. 

The other great thing bones give us is the gelatin that cooks out of the joints and connective tissue (collagen) with long, slow cooking. This gelatin contains chondriton and glucosamine, which help lubricate our joints, and build strong bones. Keep in mind, though, that overcooking (like more than 12 hours) will break down all that lovely gelatin. I enhance the gelatin content when I am cooking bones by adding chicken feet if I have them, or pig trotters, and often make Fergus Henderson's Trotter Gear just to have some little jars in the freezer to give body and a nutritional boost to a sauce, soup or stew. 

Marrow Bones, photo by Allerina & Glen MacLarty

Roasted Marrow Bones, photo by rvacapinta

I participate in a chatty thread (on a gardening site) that discuss foods and recipes, and recently we talked about the dearth of marrow bones in this country. Some thoughts included ➀ many younger Americans don't know what to do with marrow bones, ➁ there's a big ag market for bone meal, and ➂ we now buy more boneless rather than bone-in cuts than previous generations. We all agreed it is hard to find marrow bones in most markets.

I don't think I've ever had the pleasure of scooping marrow out of a roasted bone; it isn't part of my culture like it is across the pond. Who knew there are marrow spoons??


As far as where the bones from the slaughter houses go, I can attest to both #1 and #2 above. I know the tri-county meat packing house near here sells the bones, as well as the offal, hides, horns, hoofs and other scraps. I'm sure the soft tissue waste goes into pet foods, and I'm inclined to think the other stuff is sold to make commercial gelatin and bone meal. I don't even like to think about it!


On the healthy side, whatever kind of bones you have, you are missing a very nutritious addition to your diet if you don't cook them down for yummy homemade stock!

My Sausges, and more

Recently I spent the better part of a several hours daily making several kinds of sausage patties to freeze. It's nice to know exactly what is (and what isn't) in my sausage: free range meat, no hormones, no GMO's (even in their feed), and only organic herbs and spices. I posted pics earlier of the chicken-feta-spinach sausages, but here's a photo above (Yes, I know I am not a good photographer!) of the whole kaboodle. There are around 80-90 patties in the mix shown above, and that should keep me in sausage for several months. Plus I have enough venison to make another 60-75 patties. I'm short of home cured bacon, but hope to remedy that in February or March.

Next (after I eat up lots of frozen left-overs) is learning to make some terrines and pâtés out of all the odd bits in my freezer. I have several beef and pork hearts, plus beef, pork and chicken livers, some sweetbreads and a few trotters. Hey, how hard can it be to make a "meat" loaf??

Making rillettes is also on my list. I can't imagine that will be too hard... after all pulled pork is simply a slightly altered offspring of rillettes.

Through the Looking Glass: Culture Shock

I had occasion to travel a bit out of my corner of the state the week before Thanksgiving. It was a great time with friends, but also some culture shock (seeing how the other half lives) when we went for a drive on the Parkway.

Château Morrisette Winery

Château Morrisette Restaurant, photos from their website

We stopped to check out Château Morrisette, and while I was sitting on a bench outside the winery on that gorgeous sunny day, I had the chance to watch folks drive up in their status-symbol imports, town cars, Hummers and fancy SUV's... and leave with multiple cases of wines. Not too many years ago, I might could have been part of that crowd, complete with designer jeans and a fresh manicure (and in the Mercedes I drove).

The exposure and the culture shock of seeing my life "then vs now" really got me to some hard thinking over the last 3 weeks, and to some honest reflections in my mirror. I'm still somewhat of the consumer 'mindset' (minus any credit cards), albeit now more for tools, equipment and other things geared towards survival. AND... I still love good wines and gourmet foods. It's hard to believe I used to think nothing of buying anything I fancied. I freely admit to champagne tastes, only now with a Near-Beer pocketbook. (Do they still make Near-Beer? It was all we could get, or even afford, in college.)

It took me a few days to realize and admit that I still had have some residual internal pique at not having that kind of discretionary income anymore. (Actually I thought only the rich still had much discretionary income in this economic downturn. I guess I don't get out of Dodge enough.)

The reason I am in an economic pit despite having made good money is due to naively believing that economic growth would always continue, that corporations were honest, and that Life was fair. Add in the governments' manipulation of the social security fund and the rules that changed during the few years before I retired, and it reduced my "estimated [by the government] SS income" by 75%... which necessitated bridging the gap for living expenses with my assets until they ran out. The government did not single me out; there were many tossed in the same boat. Factor in the economic crisis of the past few years and you have enough added weight to sink many lifeboats.

I have had to really take a hard look at what I have been doing with my life over the last few years: my goals, and what things give me satisfaction in order to balance out the pique I felt. Would I go back to that lifestyle if I could? I doubt it. Of course, a little extra cash now and then would be nice. :)

I suspect I'll never get over my taste for international and gourmet foods, since I spent most of my whole life traveling, and tasting new foods... but I've worked out how to still have them. As for the wines, designer jeans and fancy cars... pfffffttt. My 20 year old, high-mileage pickup truck gets me where I'm going (most of the time!) and if someone is going to judge me based on what I wear or drive, that's their problem. (Besides that, 2 Buck Chuck can taste pretty good.)

I'm learning that many of the things I love and can no longer afford are things I can make myself; the list is much too long to list here other than a couple of examples below. BTW, I did make some decent champagne this year from wild elderberry flowers; it cost me some sugar, water, yeast... and my time. Not Dom Perignon, but drinkable.

Buying $30-$50/pound cheese is not in my food budget, but I AM learning to make cheese. I may never make cheese anywhere near that good, but I can sure keep trying. Meanwhile, I make lots of tasty, real cheese for the price of some milk, a few small expenditures for cultures, and my labor. I make butter (from 100% Jersey cream) as good as, and much cheaper, than imported butter costing $7.95 for half a pound. Actually mine is cheaper than even American store-brand butter, too.

I buy whole pork belly and season then cure/smoke it myself, and wind up with a tastier product than store-bought organic smoked bacon for a fraction of the price. The pastured, free-range meat I buy isn't cheaper, but it's much healthier and tastier. And I discovered the cheap "odd bits" that most folks never buy (or even see) anymore make some outstanding dishes, equal to or better than imported patés, terrines and rillettes, and much cheaper than buying them.

I plan to try to make pancetta and proscuitto which are not in my budget either; after all someone makes them... how hard can it be to do what average people have done in France, Italy, Spain, and many other countries for centuries?

I find a great taste satisfaction in snapping a tomato right off the vine and eating it while standing in my garden, the juices dribbling down my fingers and chin. You cannot buy that "yummy fresh taste" in a store.

My home-grown herbs, fruits and vegetables are free of pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, chemical washes and irradiation. Anything I cannot eat fresh does not go to waste. I have a pantry full of home-canned, lacto-fermented, dehydrated, and frozen goods. Plus I always grow some vegetables that will keep over winter in my root cellar.

However many things I can make, there are still some things I either must buy, or do without... because of my location and gardening zone. Wild Alaskan Salmon is high on the list, as is good olive oil... and spices that won't grow here, like vanilla (a tropical orchid), cardamom and cinnamon. However, I can grow the most expensive spice (herb) in the world, saffron, for the cost of a few fall saffron crocus bulbs (Crocus sativus), which will multiply and give me more fresh saffron every year. Paella, YUM!

In the final analysis, the trade-off is that for every tasty morsel I can make myself, it frees up money in the budget to occasionally buy some goodies I cannot make. Nothing is so wonderful as something sinfully delicious straight from the stove or pantry, even if NOT ALL the ingredients are homegrown.

Who said "back to basics" aka being poor, has to be dull, boring and tasteless?

Homemade Watermelon Sorbet

This post was written in late June, and somehow never was published. It would still be a fun treat for Labor Day picnics!!

Now that my new ice cream churn has been initiated by vanilla ice cream, it's time to make some frosty sorbets for these hot summer days!

My last attempt at a sorbet was many years ago, when my mother and I tried to make a grapefruit sorbet from canned grapefruit juice. Several months earlier, I had taken her out to a fancy dinner for her birthday and they served a grapefruit sorbet frozen in grapefruit shells and sliced like cantaloupe as a palate cleanser before the main course. It was wonderful!

So, Mother and I got ice and rock salt, set up the churn and brought out her canned grapefruit juice. Within about 15-20 cranks of the churn handle, the dang thing stopped cold and I thought I had broken it. Not so... the sorbet was already frozen solid! But as it turned out, it was so salty we couldn't eat it... who knew they added so much salt to canned grapefruit juice? So my mother and step-father had frozen Salty Dogs for their evening cocktails all summer long!

I'm ready to try again, this time with fresh watermelon. (In the interim years I have made granitas in trays, but they are a different texture than a real churned sorbet.)

I bought 2 watermelons... and threw one away as it was totally tasteless. The one I cubed and seeded was fairly sweet, so I only added sugar to taste as I made the mixture, using this recipe below only as a guideline. I also added lime juice to taste since I had much more purée than the recipe called for.

Watermelon Sorbet Recipe
* ½ cup plus 4 cups seeded and pureed watermelon
* ½ cup sugar
* 2 tablespoons lime juice
* 1 teaspoon lime zest

In a small saucepan, bring ½ cup watermelon puree and the sugar to a simmer and remove it from the heat. Add the lime juice and zest and allow the mixture to cool for 20 minutes. Add the 4 cups fresh watermelon puree to the melon-lime mixture, and then freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Makes 8 servings. 

A big bowl of hand-churned sorbet... (it only looks orange because of the room lighting).

Made several small containers for the freezer. YUM!!

Summer Overheating

With intense hot temperatures covering much of the country and causing deaths from dehydration, it's time for a reminder about homemade electrolytes. I posted this recipe last summer, and now want to post it again as a reminder, and for new readers.

Water is basically a solvent and when you perspire, the sweat droplets carry off the things dissolved in it, like electrolytes. Lose too many electrolytes and the body is in trouble... and drinking just water does not replace the electrolytes you have lost, and actually dilutes those you have left.

Electrolytes are important because they are what your cells (especially nerve, heart, muscle) use to maintain voltages across their cell membranes and to carry electrical impulses (nerve impulses, muscle contractions) across themselves and to other cells.

The major electrolytes in the human body are:

    • sodium (Na+)
    • potassium (K+)
    • chloride (Cl-)
    • calcium (Ca2+)
    • magnesium (Mg2+)
    • bicarbonate (HCO3-)
    • phosphate (PO42-)
    • sulfate (SO42-)

This time of the year finds many of us outside in the heat, sweating and upsetting our electrolyte balance, particularly sodium and potassium. Gatorade and/or Pedialyte are good to have on hand, but a simple solution may be easily and cheaply made at home.

Electrolyte Solution
1 quart water
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tsp. Lite Salt (which is a salt - potassium chloride blend, or use regular salt if that's all you have on hand)
6-10 teaspoons granulated sugar
(For flavor and color you might add half a package of unsweetened Kool-Aid*)

Mix well. Store in refrigerator for up to one week. Freeze some in ice trays or as popsicles to use later.

This solution helps replace lost electrolytes due to dehydration (diarrhea, vomiting, excessive sweating). Do not give to small children, instead seek medical advice.

This is not intended as medical advice for anyone!

*The "unsweetened" form of Kool Aid contains fruit flavoring, citric acid, calcium phosphate, salt and Vitamin C. The "sugar sweetened" mix adds sugar, sodium citrate, and the preservative BHA. The "sugar free" mixes add aspartame (Nutrasweet) and acesulfame potassium.

"Quicker" Real Apple Cider Vinegar

Last year, I wrote a couple of posts about making apple cider vinegar. The technique I favored and said to have the best taste was to first make hard cider, and I did start some last fall when fresh unpasteurized apple cider was available. It's still in the root cellar aging, and I have decided if it's any good at all, I prefer to bottle the cider for drinking rather than turn it into vinegar.

That left me with either having no apple cider vinegar at all, or buying Braggs, which is getting more expensive all the time... and I use a lot of it! Then I read a post on someone's blog several months ago about making apple cider vinegar from either whole apples, or from apple peelings and cores, leaving it to ferment in a wide-mouth container quickly through alcohol production to vinegar. Unfortunately I have no idea where I read it. However, I decided to try what I remembered of the method.

In early May, I was cleaning up the few remaining apples in the root cellar from last fall, and found a few that had bad spots but enough good apple to salvage. I cut the good parts up into chunks (seeds, peels and all) that I put on a cookie sheet. The idea is to let them air dry long enough to turn brown, but I don't know (or don't remember) why.

My old apples didn't turn brown very well, nor as quickly as a fresh apple does. I think that's because they lose so much moisture in the root cellar over the several months' storage. After about 3 days, I packed a wide-mouth half gallon canning jar with the apple chunks (photo at top), filled the jar with bottled water (to avoid the chlorine in our county water), fixed a piece of cheesecloth on top with a rubber band, and set the jar in a closed cardboard box out on the porch where it was warmer (and dark inside the box).

I checked them every week or so, and only had to top up the water twice during the 2 or so months or so they were fermenting.

When it started smelling only like vinegar, I left it another 2 weeks to be sure the alcohol was all converted to acetic acid, and then strained the apple chunks out with a colander. It did have a thin layer of "mother" on the top. It's very cloudy right now, but I didn't want to use cheesecloth to strain out any fine pulp so it can still develop a thicker "mother". I'm sure that it will clear as the solids sink to the bottom.

Here, after sitting 24 hours, you can see the settling has started.

It smells and tastes terrific! Certainly a lot quicker process than making hard cider and then turning it to vinegar. I'll do this again in the fall when I have apples again, but in larger batches.

Update: My neighbor just gave me some Transparent apples, which mature much earlier than fall... so I cubed some to start another batch of ACV. The ones on the first tray were already starting to brown by the time I finished the 3rd tray.

Making Cherry Liquer

My 1-1/2 pounds of Nanking Cherries wouldn't make much in the way of preserves, so I decided to follow an blog recipe I found to make a Cherry Liquer.

The recipe is easy:

1-1/2 pounds of sour cherries, not seeded to have the slight almond flavor from the seeds

1 cup sugar

750 ml vodka or 3 cups  (1 bottle)

Add all ingredients into a jar with a tight lid. Leave on the counter for a couple of weeks, shaking daily. In 2 weeks the sugar should have dissolved and the liquid taking on a reddish color from the cherries.

Move to a cool, dark cupboard for several months. Crack open and enjoy with your Christmas celebrations! (I'm planning for mine to be gifts since I don't like really sweet drinks.)

Making Weed "Vitamins"

To continue from the "Gotta be a pony in here somewhere"...  I'm starting to make some vitamin tinctures from the weeds in my garden.

Above are the things I picked early this morning (June 16th, which is just 1 day past the full moon) to make some vitamin tinctures. Around the full moon is said to be the best time to harvest herbs for medicinal use.  I don't know if that also applies to culinary use, but it might. That doesn't stop me from cutting fresh culinary herbs from the garden when I need them for a dish I'm preparing, but it might affect those same herbs when I want to dry some for winter.

The large stainless steel strainer basket is full of red raspberry leaves that I will dry for raspberry leaf tea. Raspberry leaf tea is not a tasty tea like mint tea; it's uses are more medicinal and you can do an internet search about them. Raspberry leaf tea was recommended by Dr. Abravanel as the morning beverage for the Thyroid Food Protocol which I followed many years ago. (Dr. Abravanel's Body Type Diet and Lifetime Nutrition Plan)

Finished, Dried Raspberry Leaf

The small strainer basket in the top photo above has red clover, and the plastic bucket behind it has dandelion leaves. Many of the recipes for red clover used medicinally call for just the blossoms, but as I'm steeping mine for a vitamin tincture, I'll use some of the top (softer) stems and leaves as well as the blossoms. Red Clover contains calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, and zinc as well as vitamins B3, C and E. 

Medicinally, red clover has been called the "woman's herb" as it contains phytoestrogens, similar to estrogen, and is widely used during menopause. "Although the phytoestrogen effects of soy and flaxseed have been more widely studied, red clover may actually be a more effective treatment for relief of menopausal symptoms. It is an active ingredient in Promensil, an over-the-counter supplement used to help treat hot flashes." (Source) Red Clover has many herbal uses, but as I am not an Herbalist, I shan't go into that here.

Dandelion is rich in calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, copper and zinc.  It also contains vitamins K, B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin) and C along with beta-carotene, which our bodies turn into vitamin A. I haven't been able to find a breakdown of nutritional content of roots, and I'm not up to digging roots right now. Instead I'll make a vitamin tincture from the leaves now, store it, and later mix it with a vitamin tincture made from the roots to get the whole vitamin/mineral chorus in dandelions. Below are the vitamin and mineral contents in 1 cup of chopped raw dandelion greens.

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2441/2

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2441/2

To make a tincture requires only a base liquid, and the herbs or whatever you want to incorporate. Generally a food-grade alcohol like vodka, brandy, rum or Everclear is the liquid of choice, but I'm going to use raw apple cider vinegar for some added nutritional properties.  

Note: Everclear generally needs water added because some nutritional properties of herbs are only water soluble, and Everclear has very little water; it is almost all food-grade alcohol, 190 proof, or 95% alcohol.

Dandelion leaves in vinegar

To make the tincture: clean and rinse the leaves and stalks thoroughly as soon as possible after harvesting. (Vitamin loss starts immediately from any harvested fruit, vegetable or herb.)

Chopped red clover

Drain and chop the plant material, enough to nearly fill a glass jar with a tight lid. Fully cover the leaves and stems with either the alcoholic beverage, or my choice: apple cider vinegar. (You could also use vegetable glycerin. Glycerin might be a good choice if making a tincture to give children since it has a sweet taste.) Tighten the lid securely (I'm using the plastic Ball storage lids because the acid content of the vinegar will eat through regular canning lids in a short time.) Store the jar(s) in a cool, dark place for at least 2 weeks although 6 weeks is better, shaking often. Then strain the infusion into clean jars, re-label and store... again in a cool, dark place.

If you think about it, flavored vinegars such as tarragon vinegar, or Provençal vinegar are nothing more than tinctures with a vinegar base, and so easy to make at home with fresh herbs! Since I take a spoonful or two of raw apple cider vinegar (ACV) every day anyway, it is easy instead to use ACV infused with extra vitamins and minerals as a healthy tonic.

Making Elder Flower Champagne

Photo By Sharondippity of Davesgarden.com

The elderberry bushes are in full bloom around here, so I decided to pick some of the flowers to make Elder Flower Champagne.

The recipe I'm using is from Susan Weed, Director of the Wise Woman Center in Woodstock, New York, and author of New Menopausal Years, Alternative Approaches for Women 30-90 and Healing Wise (Wise Woman Herbal Series).

Elder Flower Champagne

7 large heads of elder blossoms
1 pound of white sugar, no substitutes!!
2 large or 3 small organic lemons
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 gallon water
4 liter-sized wine or champagne bottles and corks

Dissolve sugar in 1 quart of boiling water. Add rest of water. Slice lemons very thinly and add to water/sugar. Add vinegar and mix well.

Place elder flowers head down in a crock, large glass bowl, or non-metal pot. Pour liquid mixture over flower heads. 

Cover with a kitchen towel held in place with a rubber band. 

After 24 hours, strain through a fine cloth (I used a clean piece of butter muslin), bottle, and cork. 

Mature your Elder Flower Champagne in the dark for three or more weeks. It will be naturally fizzy when ready to drink, so watch out when you pop the cork!

Update 6/25

I walked into the pantry last night and got "shot" by one of the corks! Several of the ten bottles had already blown the corks, so I transferred the contents to one gallon jars and added an airlock.