So yesterday we made cream cheese. I’m going to show you some recipes soon that I’ve made with it. I’m REALLY excited to share these with you!
One is a no wheat, no sugar pancake (you need to like nuts for that one 🙂 and is dressed with kefir cream and some other goodies.
The other is my latest obsession: Ice cream!!!
I’ve never been a big fan of ice cream. Until now!
You see, one of my strong desires is to get both your AND your children (if you have them!) or children in your family/extended family or families of your friends into fermented food and drink.
I want them to love it like you will when you start on this adventure, so that you can help to build up their munchkins’ immune systems. Who knows? Maybe together we could prevent schools and families going down with constant germs every winter!
- If I can resist 3 nasty infections in one year …
- Little old me.
- With slightly damaged lungs. (No need for violins – I’m good, thanks for caring. 😉
- Why shouldn’t children resist germs too?!
It’s never too late to start something new in life!
So let’s get down to it …
Second Fermenting
Flavoured Kefir Milk – Mmmmm … Yummy!
I’ve resisted flavouring kefir till now because I love the coconut as it comes and hubby has said no to it whenever I’ve offered. But now I have this blog, I’m giving him less choice. He he. And I have to say, he’s being remarkably gallant.
As Chief Taster in the household (correction: ONLY taster!) he is the one to let me know if dairy recipes work. I really don’t like cow’s milk so I’m not a good judge of flavour as I completely zoned out of it decades ago. So tonight I asked him to check out 3 milks I’d flavoured yesterday.
To be precise, they had 2nd fermented for 27 hours! I caught them just before they looked ready to start curdling on me! I’d not go over 24 hours in future. It was deffo a bit edgy leaving it that long! But of course, as always, it’s temperature dependent.
I leave all my ferments in our very small utility room. It’s hot in there, with the boiler, washer, dryer and a veluxe that allows the hot sun to permeate the room during sunlight hours.
As a result, it’s impossible to regulate the temperature, but the ferments are always close by, so I just keep an eye on them. (Unless I’m busy, tired, forget .. you know what I mean! 😉 My mistakes have helped me to learn how to rectify and also what to avoid! Anyway, it’s still easy.
I’ve only ever thrown away kefir grains once, when I shouldn’t have. Read the blog post Kevin Loses his Whey to discover how to recover sad, neglected grains!)
Second fermenting is when you’ve made your kefir milk and either flavour immediately or leave it in the fridge, use some of it, then decide to flavour the rest of it. It makes no odds what time you decide to add flavour.
So it’s pretty simple really. If you’ve read this blog for a while, you’ll know that I’m not a great one for measuring ingredients as a rule, but for you (ahhhh) I’m measuring things these days, because I do understand how overwhelming it can be to learn something new and not have a set of instructions.
Just keep in mind that if the strength of any flavour is not to your perfect liking from any of my recipes, you can simply add or reduce the following time. This is just the way I’ve done it. Feel free to experiment once you feel more confident!
Gather Your Goodies
Milk Kefir
Fruit of your choice (I used an apple, an orange and a lemon for this experiment)
It’s Action Time!
Take 1 cup of milk kefir and add 1 chunky slice of fruit (I kept all the fruits separate for this experiment)
Leave it on the counter for up to 24 hours
OR, leave it in the fridge and check it day to day. It will ferment much more slowly that way. ie the flavour will infuse at a slower rate, but you’ll have more control. This is a good method if you have a busy time ahead and don’t want to have to worry about your milk. Each day it will become a little fruitier I’m the fridge. (Ooh la la. 😉
Results
Hubby wasn’t mad on the apple, but I’m leaving it in the fridge to see what happens to the flavour during the next week and will report back!
He liked the lemon (but is particular about where lemon flavours should appear in food) and didn’t request this one for his cereal.
He’s booked the orange as a regular for his breakfast.
Success! 🙂
I had a teeny weeeeny taste of each and can say that I thought the orange was pretty good and definitely took away from the usual sourness of the milk. I may well use both of them in other recipes this week.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kefir
Try experimenting with your own flavours. Perhaps cinnamon? Your favourite fruits?
Let me know the results! Raspberries maybe? Blueberries? Banana milk?
Ooh! Perhaps I’ll go try bananas myself. I think the neighbours’ children may like that one …
Go on. Have some fun and let me know you how get on. 🙂
