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“If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.” Thomas Jefferson

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Home Canning Safety

Home canned goods are safe if properly processed. One thing I have noticed lately is that there is some very bad advice being given over the internet that would lead to potentially very unsafe food. So I thought I would give my little tips on how I ensure, to the best of my ability, the safety of my homecanned food.

Tip #1- Select the best quality food and wash well before beginning to process. Even organic food has potential bacteria all over it. The key to safety is to remove as much of that bacteria as possible.

Tip #2- Always double check what anyone tells you with the USDA manuals and don't rely on outdated canning guides. Canning guidelines have changed over the years and old canning directions/manuals are just that....old. Just because someone's grandmother canned something a certain way and never got sick doesn't mean that was safe to do. I saw someone give the advice of water bathing green beans which is a huge NO NO. The current USDA canning manuals (with recipes) are available free online. They are always my #1 source for guidelines and I always double check other advice with these guidelines. I even double check myself at each canning session with these guidelines.

Tip #3- Store your home canned good with the rings off. Don't leave the rings on your jars when you put them in storage. If you have a seal that breaks because of spoilage often times the ring can hold the lid tight so that it appears sealed. If you take the rings off then the lid with pop off if the seal breaks. Also, the rings can hold moisture and rust over time which can cause a broken seal. It is best to take those rings off before storing.

Tip#4- It is best to boil any low acid food for at least 5 minutes after opening a jar. This will help to kill any botulism spores that might have survived pressure canning. This would be for things like meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc. Jams, jellies, pickles, and fruit are typically canned in a high acid environment and so that is why they are safe with a water bath method and can be eaten from the jar with no additional cooking.

Those are my 4 most important tips for canning safety. Botulism is what worries me and so I take as many precautions as possible to ensure that I don't kill my family. Yes, I said kill because that is what botulism does. Most other food borne illness simply makes you very sick and feel like you are dying, but botulism will kill you. Botulism spores are everywhere and they can survive in anaerobic (no oxygen) environment. In fact they can thrive without oxygen. Botulism is odorless and tasteless so there is no way of telling whether the food is bad or not. However, gases produced by botulism will break a seal (hence taking off the rings). Botulism is also killed by high heat (hence pressure canning not water bathing) and an acidic environment.

Follow these tips and stay safe this canning season. Blessings, Kat

Mozzarella Cheese

I love this mozzarella recipe! I know some of the more experienced cheese folks don't really consider this "real" mozzarella, but I have had good success with it. For a newbie cheese maker that is a definitely a good place to be. It tastes great and is quick to make (most of the time). It melts well on pizza or anything else and is great all by itself. I made some the other day, rolled it into small balls and tossed into a pasta salad.....super yummy!


The Milk:
Make sure the milk you use for this cheese is NOT
ULTRA- PASTEURIZED
--Homogenized milk will work fine.
--Fresh farm milk will also work well but we encourage you to try with 1 gallon of store bought whole milk first.
--Low fat milk will work but the cheese will be drier and less flavorful

You will need:
--A 6 to 8 quart stainless steel pot. Aluminum or cast iron will not work.
--A stainless steel or strong plastic slotted spoon.
--A two quart microwave safe mixing bowl
--measuring spoons
--A thermometer which will clearly read between 80 - 120 degrees F.

Prepare your work area:
Do not prepare any other food while you are making cheese.
Put all food products away
Move all sponges, cloths and dirty towels away from your work surface, wipe your sink and stove with soap and water.
Finally use your antibacterial cleaner to wipe down all surfaces.

Process:
crush 1/4 tablet of rennet and dissolve in 1/4 cup of cool unchlorinated water and set aside to use later.

Add 1.5 tsp. of citric acid (diluted in 1 cup cool water to 1 gallon of cold milk and stir well.
(Add the citric acid solution to the empty cold pot - the photos show adding this dry but do mix with water).


Now pour cold milk into your pot quite quickly to mix well with the citric acid . This will bring the milk to the proper acidity to stretch well later. Next Heat this milk to 90F As you approach 90F you may notice your milk beginning to curdle slightly due to acidity and temp.
NOTE: if having problems with milk forming a proper curd you may need to increase this temp to 95 or even 100F

At 90F remove the pot from the burner and slowly add your rennet (which you prepared in previous step) to the milk and stir in a top to bottom motion for app. 30 seconds, then stop. Cover the pot and leave undisturbed for 5 minutes.

Check the curd, it will look like custard, with a clear separation between the curds and whey. If too soft or the whey is milky, let set for a few more minutes.

Cut the curds into a 1" checkerboard pattern (as in photos above) and if a drier cheese is desired carefully cut and stir this curd to release more whey.

Place the pot back on the stove adn heat to 105F, while slowly stirring the curds with your ladle. (If you will be stretching the curds in a hot water bath heat to 110F in this step.)
Take off the burner adn continue slowly stirring for 2-5 minutes. (More time will make a firmer cheese)

Then scoop teh curds with a slotted sp0on into a heat proof bowl to be used in the microwave. (If the curd is too soft at this point let sit for another minute or so)
You will now press this curd gently with your hand, pouring off as much whey as possible. Reserve this whey to use in cooking.


Next microwave the curd on HI for 1 minute. You will notice more whey has run out of the curd. Drain off all whey as you did before.Quickly work the cheese with a spoon or your hands until it is cool enough to touch (rubber gloves will help since the cheese is almost too hot to touch at this point)

Microwave 2 more times for 35 seconds each and repeat the kneading as in the last step. Drain all of the whey off as you go.

Knead quickly now as you would bread dough until it is smooth and shiny. Add salt near the finish.

At this point the cheese should be soft and pliable enough to stretch like taffy.

It is ready to eat when it cools.
Form it into a ball and drop into ice water to cool and refrigerate.
When cold you can wrap in plastic wrap and it will last for several days but is best when eaten fresh.

This recipe and others can be found at Ricki's cheesemaking website: http://www.cheesemaking.com/store/pg/21.html

I highly suggest checking out her site. She has all sorts of cultures etc. for cheesemaking for sale along with great recipes. She also has a Q&A for all sorts of topics about cheesemaking and even troubleshooting problems. She is definitely the cheese queen!

Blessings, Kat

Farmhouse Cheddar Recipe

I have mentioned that I have been making loads of cheese lately and that I would post the recipes that I have been using and liking. This is one of them that I found and have modified for 1 gallon of milk vs. 4 gallons. I just don't have the capacity to do that much at once. So here is the recipe for farmhouse cheddar:

Farmhouse Cheddar:
Ingredients
1 gallon milk
1/4 tsp Rennet*
1/4 Buttermilk**

*I use the liquid rennet. Junket rennet is not the same thing but can be used in a pinch. I have found that for every 1/4 tsp. of liquid rennet I would need to use 1 tablet of the junket rennet.

**Make sure this is real cultured buttermilk with live active cultures. You may just have to experiment with brands to find one that will work right. I tried two brands before finding one that was the right stuff. I found that some even said cultured buttermilk, but the cultures were not active and would not acidify the milk.

1) Warm milk slowly in warm water bath to 86*F. Stir periodically.

2) Add Culture. Allow to ripen for 45 minutes.

3) Add 3/4 tsp Rennet diluted in 1/4 Cup of cool water. Mix into milk.
4) Allow the milk to set for 30-45 minutes until a firm curd forms. Test the curd for the 'clean break'
Cut the curds into 1/2 inch cubes. Let rest for 5 minutes.

5) Cook the curds to 102*F over a period of 40 minutes, stirring them gently during this time in order to reduce their size to that of half a peanut. I use a large whisk.

6) Hold the curds at 102*F for an additional 30 minutes stirring occasionally to keep curds from matting.

7) Allow curds to settle to bottom of the pot just prior to draining.

8)Drain the curds into a colander (pre-warmed with very hot water). Reserve 1/3 of the whey and pour back into the cheese pot. Set colander of curds on the top of the cheese pot. This is called "cheddaring" which textures the cheese.

9) Drain curds for 60 minutes keeping them warm by covering with cheesecloth and pot lid.

10)Maintain temp of the warm whey with minimal heat under the pot if needed.

11)Invert the cheese every 20 minutes and re-cover with cloth and lid.

12) Cut the cheese slab into curds with a knife or pastry cutter. Add 1-2 Tbl. of course salt. Curds can be eaten fresh or continue to pressing.

13) Press at 20lb for 30 min.
Invert and Press at 30lb for 30 min.
Invert and Press at 40lb for 1 hour
Invert and Press at 50lb for 12-15 hour.

14) Air dry for a few days to develop a rind.

15) You can wax and ripen for 2-3 months or refrigerate and eat.


I love this recipe and have had the best success with it. While other recipes I have had failures this has proven true time and again. Blessings.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Figs and Elderberry Wine

Well, tonight I had a pleasant evening putting up fig preserves. I use two different recipes because my kids don't really like traditional fig preserves. One of the recipes is a fake strawberry preserve and is oh so easy! Here are the two recipes that I use and they work out really well. I have gotten lots of nice comments from both when I gift someone a jar.

Imitation Strawberry Preserves
1 quart figs cut up and mashed
3 cups sugar
6 oz. pkg. strawberry jello
1/4 c. lemon juice
3 oz. pkg. lemon jello

Combine all ingredients in a boiler and bring to a boil slowly to dissolve sugar. Then boil for 5 minutes. Reduce heat and simmer for about another 5 minutes. Pour in jars and seal. Process in boiling water bath according to USDA instructions for jams and preserves.

Fig Preserves
1 lb. figs to 3/4 lb. sugar
2 lemons
1/2 c. water
3 slices ginger chopped fine or 3 tbls. ground ginger

Cook figs in sugar and water syrup until figs get glassy (about 45 minutes). Drain small amount of liquid and cook sliced lemons and ginger for about 10 minutes. Fill jars, seal and process in a boiling water bath.

I believe the USDA recommendations are 25 minutes for pints and 30 for quarts, but please double check. I always look it up just to make sure and never remember the exact times.

So where does the elderberry wine come in? Well, while I was cutting and cooking figs I decided to have some elderberry wine that friend gave me. This bottle had aged for 11 years and let me tell you it was divine. I definitely will be making some elderberry wine this year. It was lovely and a perfect compliment to the figs which I ate while I cut!

Now I have 7 lovely quarts of fig preserves cooling on the counter, a lovely glass of wine has relaxed me ( maybe it will help me sleep), and the boston butt in thawing out for tomorrow. What a nice evening to have had. Blessings, Kat

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

The Neighbor Story...as promised!

See I didn't forget that I promised to fill everyone in on the neighbor story. Just took me awhile and time to kill while I wait to add more weight to my cheese. Ok, the story really started 9 years ago when we moved here. We quickly found out that she kept dogs...aggressive dogs that we suspect her son fights. How do we know that the dogs were aggressive? Well, on several occasions those dogs that roamed free cornered me in our front yard a good football field away from her backyard. I had two literally chase me on the tractor as I bush-hogged the big pasture and they continued the chase all the way to the house. I tried to be nice, I tried to be considerate. I didn't want to be the neighbor that suddenly moves in and immediately starts shooting dogs. I also took into consideration that she had probably gotten used to this property being vacant. No one had lived here full time for 2 years. The owner would come and spend a couple of weekends a months to mow and weedeat and general yard cleanup kind of stuff, but she lived elsewhere. So, there would have been no issue really with the dogs with no one living here. At each incident with the dogs, I would go and knock on her door and politely ask her to please keep the dogs in her yard. I explained that I had a small child and I was afraid to take her outside to play because of the many times the dogs had come after us in the yard. Now, if she answered the door she would deny that the dogs were hers. If her son answered the door he would claim them and say that he would keep them tied up. Which of course he did not. So then we decided to get some chickens and some rabbits. We built a nice tall fence around the old chicken coop. We even thought we were doing good by doubling the chicken wire around the bottom to give it some extra strength. We got a nice little starter flock of cochins and they were gorgeous. Their eggs were small, but we used them anyway. We had the chickens a month before their pit bull ripped through the fencing and dug under the door of the old coop in the wee hours of the morning. By the time we got out there he had just killed the last of the flock and still had her in his mouth. We took pictures and disposed of the dog as he growled at us. I took the pictures to her and again asked her to please keep the dogs in her yard. She denied the dog was hers. We knew she was lying because we had heard her call the dogs and seen them running to her yard when she called them. We went through 3 flocks of chickens and our very first rabbits because of her dogs. Oh, they change dogs like they change underwear. I guess when one gets killed fighting, they get another one that is a little meaner and a little more aggressive than the previous one. I have never once asked for compensation for the livestock lost or the property damage. I just wanted her to keep the dogs away from me and mine. Anyway, that is our background. About a month ago we noticed she was building something that backs up right against our fence. Now, our fence sits 20 feet inside our property line. So what she is building is on our land...not hers. We decide that we needed to refence that corner anyway and now was the time to do it. As we were gathering surveys and trying to find the survey pins so that we didn't have to call a surveyor out to find them, the goats decided to go for an adventure.....right through said fence and into her backyard. I the little over a year that we had them they had never even gone to that corner of the pasture, but I guess us spending so much time climbing through the underbrush over there made them a bit curious. We didn't not see them go through the fence. However, they were there long enough to strip the bottom couple of branches on her plum trees. Mind you I said the bottom couple of branches on fully mature plum trees. Also, mind you that plum season is past....way past. They were also there long enough for the sheriff's deputy to arrive and take pictures of them. However, by the time he got to my house they were right back where they belonged. Anyway, the deputy told us they were over there and what they had done. He also showed us the pictures so that we knew they were our goats and not another neighbor's goats. Since that day a few weeks ago, I have been trying to catch her at home to apologize for the goats and also to talk to her about her building. I finally caught her yesterday afternoon. I apologized for what the goats did. She immediately started screaming at me and telling me that she should have had me arrested because she didn't get any plums off her trees this year and it was all because of my goats. My blood began to boil, but I remained calm. Somebody had to because she sure wasn't. I tried to explain among her shouts that the plum trees were already starting to leaf back out on those branches and if she didn't get any plums on those trees at all she had bigger problems with them than my goats. I tried to tell her that everyone is having pollination issues around here because of the lack of honeybees this year. She just kept yelling, so I added fuel to the fire. I told her I didn't want to argue but if she really wanted to go there then let's talk about the livestock I have lost, the property damage I have sustained, and the physical threats I have sustained at the hands of her dogs. She again denied they were her dogs. So then I opened the big guns with...."Well, the second thing I wanted to talk to you about was this building that you are building on my land. It looks to me like you are trying to steal a portion of my property." Oh she really hit the roof then. She ranted and raved. I showed her the survey that is on record at the tax assessors office. She said it was a fake. It clearly showed the property line and my fence line. I told her to go down there and get her own copy. She said a lot of ugly things and of course told me that she was gonna call right then and tell the sheriff to come arrest me for her plum trees. I told her to tell the sheriff that I would be home the rest of the day and feel free to come on over. Of course, he didn't. If you could be arrested for your livestock getting out there wouldn't be a farmer left in the whole state. I have never known a livestock owner that didn't have something get out at some time or another. So I left with her still screaming that that was her property and my fence was on her property and I better move it. I think the judge will go with the survey and the survey pins. I came home and took my video camera down to the corner and videoed the damage to her trees, her building project and her trash burn pile (illegal in this county to burn household trash)just for good measure. I also videoed the garbage that has been thrown over my fence or gotten there from the trash pile that hasn't been burned off yet, since the trash pile is right next to the fence too. I called my attorney today and he will be sending a cease and desist on the building through the sheriff's office so that she can't continue her project. The surveyor comes out next week to locate the pins so that we can mark them since she removed the stakes that were there marking the pins. Then we will probably take her to court to try to get our attorney fees and survey costs back. We will of course be refencing and putting the fence closer to the property line. Aaack! Why do people feel that they need to be so ugly and hateful? If she had been civil and acted human, then I would have even paid her the 20 dollars worth of plums she "might" have lost due to the goats nibbling at her trees. Oh, and the last thing is that somebody has been snooping around here in the middle of the night. I think it is her son, but I can't prove it. Things in my big barn and the shed have been moved around and those buildings are just far enough away that I would be able to hear anything and neither would the dogs who are inside at night. So, anyway that is the neighbor story. I really hate drama and now it seems like I am right in the middle of a soap opera! Oh well, what can you do? Blessings all, I am heading to be now that the cheese is on the drying rack!

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Wow, I have been so busy!

Things have been hopping around here! The garden is taking up so much time with all of the weeds growing like mad and the bugs trying to conquer civilization. Then with spring kidding out of the way I now have 3 goats in milk. That is a gallon and a half a day of milk that has to have something done with it. So, I have been making cheese like crazy. I will do a cheese post to let you know how far I have come in the cheesemaking process in such a short period of time. Of course, there is also the rest of the harvest that we are canning and freezing also. Last week was peach week and I processed 40 lbs of peaches. It took me three days to get them all put up. I have a few left that are just right for peach cobbler tomorrow. Out of 40 lbs. of peach I put up 30 quarts of peaches, 16 pints of peach jelly, 8 pints of peach syrup, and 1 gallon of peach juice. Now the figs are starting to come in and I processed my first 5 pints of fig preserves of the year. This year the trees are absolutely loaded so I might be sick of figs in another couple of weeks. I have been going through my clothes and getting rid of things that I can no longer wear, is not worth wearing, and won't wear. I re-purpose as much as I can. Like stained shirts become family cloth or cleaning cloths. Things in good condition but doesn't fit goes to charity. Then there are my jeans.....I don't wear jeans anymore. However, I figured they still had a purpose and many were not fit to go to charity. I have been holding onto these jeans (taking up 2 dresser drawers) for years thinking I would find something to do with them. Well I did. I am turning them into skirts. On some I have cut off the legs just leaving the waist. Then I sewed fabric that I had gathered onto the yoke that was left. I really cute skirt with an easy fit jean waist. Then some other I took the legs apart and cut them off. The I sewed a triangle strip of fabric in between each of the leg fabric pieces. I then hemmed it and they make really cute skirts too. So now I have a closet of new clothes which cost me pennies if that. Some of the fabric for the skirts came from the scrap bag and some came from other clothes that I cut up and repurposed. Fun project to work on. Then there is the business with my neighbor. Basically, she is being a horses behind and it looks like we might wind up in court. Anyway, I will do a post explaining the whole mess. Blessings for the night, more tomorrow I hope!

Friday, July 2, 2010

This needs to go viral!

Thanks Kelly over at the Never Done Farm. This video is awesome and definitely needs to go viral!