A Proper High Tea At Better Farm: Vegan Scones And Elderberry Jam

Shay (left) and Rachel show off their scones and elderberry jam.

It was domestic bliss at Better Farm yesterday as sustainability students Shayna Jennings and Rachel Magathan did some preserving and baking to host a small tea time with Better Farm residents.

Utilizing elderberries picked locally last season (and kept frozen in a standing basement freezer), Rachel set about making the jam while Shay took charge on the scones. Within the hour, several people from the farm were enjoying a proper high tea outside. Here's how the ladies pulled it off.

Vegan Scones

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 1 Tbs. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 8 Tbs. vegan butter substitute
• 2/3 c. coconut milk

Directions

1. Heat oven to 425°F
2. Put flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl; stir mix well Add vegan butter and cut in with a pastry blender or rub in with your fingers, until the mixture looks like fine granules.
3. Add sugar; toss to mix.
4. Add coconut milk and stir with a fork until dough forms.
5. Form dough into a ball and turn smooth side up.
6. Pat or roll into a 6-inch circle.
7. cut each circle into six or eight wedges.
8. place wedges on an ungreased cookie sheet—slightly apart for crisp sides, touching for soft.
9. sprinkle desired amount of cinnamon and sugar on each scone.
10. Bake about 12 minutes, or until medium brown on top.

Elderberry Jam

Ingredients

• Elderberries, stripped from the stalk, washed and drained thoroughly
• Juice of one lemon for every 3 oz. of elderberries (adjust accordingly)
• Equal parts sugar-to-elderberry

Instructions

1. Place the elderberries and lemon juice in a large pan and heat over a medium heat until the juices start to run. Bring slowly to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Skim off any scum and stems that rise to the surface.
2. Add the sugar and stir it in until it’s completely dissolved. Bring to the boil and boil rapidly for about 10 minutes until the jam reaches setting point.

Two things to note here: the jam will bubble up so you do need to use a big pan (a preserving pan, if you have one). To know when the jam has set, put a saucer into the freezer and after 10 minutes, spoon a blob onto a cold saucer. Leave it for 10–15 seconds, then push with your finger. If it has formed a skin and wrinkles when you push, it has reached setting point.

Elderberry jam recipe from Gin and Crumpets.

Zucchini Relish!

Best. Relish. Ever.

The zucchini is coming in hot this week in the Better Farm garden, leading to a rainy-day decision to put it to good use and can up some sweet zucchini relish! Based on what we found in the kitchen cabinets, Xuan and I cooked up a fresh batch, forged from two different recipes we found online.

The recipes came from Food.com and Taste of Home sites.  Borrowing some tips from each, here are the steps Xuan and I took to make the (truly, absolutely delicious) relish.

Ingredients

• 5 c. finely chopped zucchini
• 2 medium onions
• 2 Tbs. pickling salt (we used sea salt)
• 1 ¼ c. granulated sugar
• ¾ c. apple cider vinegar
• ¼ tsp. curry powder
• 1 tsp. celery seed
• ¼ tsp. black pepper
• ½ tsp. turmeric
• 1 tsp. water
• 2 tsp. cornstarch

Instructions

Xuan Du chops up some heirloom zucchinis.

1. Finely chop the zucchini and onions, and add them to a large bowl.
2. Stir in the salt and let the mixture sit for one hour.
3. Drain the mixture through a sieve, rinse, and drain again. Press out as much water as possible.
4. In a large saucepan, combine mix with granulated sugar, cider vinegar, curry powder, celery seed, black pepper and turmeric.
5. Bring everything to a boil on high heat, then gently boil for about 15 minutes.
6. Stir blended water and cornstarch into the pot and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring frequently until the relish thickens and clears. 
7. Transfer the sweet zucchini relish into a hot, sterilized pint Mason jar (heat the jar and lid in the oven for five minutes).
8. Wipe the jar clean and seal with the still-hot lid and ring.

DIY Granola

At Better Farm, we make every effort to buy ingredients as opposed to pre-made, processed foods. By learning to create our own dishes, breads, and other products, we can control what is in our food and ensure only the healthiest, best ingredients make it to our table. Our latest "from-scratch" effort was to make granola.

First, we gathered our ingredients: oats, dried cranberries, almonds, dried apricots, salt, oil, honey, and molasses. There's no exact list of ingredients you need; this is all about what you like! NO matter what ingredients you pick, here's the basic tutorial on making the granola:

• Turn the oven on to 350 
• In a large bowl, mix all your dried ingredients
• Add wet ingredients (you will know you've added enough when the mixture begins to clump)
• Pour the mixture onto a greased cookie sheet and press it down into all the corners.
• Bake for 12 minutes
• Take out the tray and mix up the granola, then return the tray to the oven
• Bake until the granola is golden-brown
• Enjoy with yogurt, milk, soy or almond milk!

Eat Your Enemies: Spotlight on Invasivore

In a world of international shipping, plane travel, criss-crossing railroad tracks, and roads, invasive species have become par for the course. In any ecosystem, you're likely to find a number of species that have immigrated from elsewhere; often with detrimental effects to the native population.

Invasivore, a group of people taking advantage of this invasion, promotes the consumption of invasive species as a means of controlling those populations and essentially turning proverbial lemons into delicious lemonade.

From prehistoric times, humans have had an amazing track-record of severely reducing the populations of species we eat.  Indeed, it seems that much of the time we can’t stop ourselves.  The folks at Invasivore believe we can tap that hunger to reduce the impacts of harmful invasive species.

The mission at Invasivore is to be a one-stop guide for devouring

Invasive Species

, those organisms which have been moved around the world, damaging their new surroundings.  Think of it as reasonable revenge for the harm these species cause.  The word “invasivore” comes from combining “

Invasi

ve Species” with the latin for “devour” as in “carni

vore

”.  Thus invasivore = one who eats invasive species.

Over at the group's website, you can peruse recipes for preparing invasive species (

ahem,

burdock

), as well as exposition and commentary on related topics such as species’ profiles, histories and cultural significance, harvesting tips, interviews with Invasivores-at-large, and summaries of relevant scientific research.

Material for the Invasivore project is based upon work supported by the

National Science Foundation

under Grant # NSF-DGE-0504495 to the

GLOBES

interdisciplinary training program at the

University of Notre Dame

.

Breadmaking 101: French Baguettes

BREAD! What can I say, we all love it—and making it is not that hard. I have never really made bread because the whole process seemed a little daunting. But since I've started doing it, I've learned to love the procedure of it (and, of course, the finished product).

 
Did you know yeast is alive? I certainly didn't realize that at first. But in breadmaking, you rely on your living yeast to help make your dough rise. Throughout the process you bring the yeast back to life—pretty biblical and awesome if you ask me. Working in a bakery at Whole Foods, I eat a good amount of bread. But to make your own bread is an act that's deeply satisfying. The first time really made bread was during last summer's Sustainability Education Program at Better Farm. Greg taught us how to make bread and that was when I realized how much I loved it. Once I came back home I started to really work on my skills of baking so I been starting out easy with a French baguette and I just keep make same thing. Here are some easy instructions on making your own. Trust me, each time you do it, it will get easier!

Making French Baguettes
All you need to make a baguette are four simple ingredients: yeast, flour, salt, and water. Here are step-by-step instructions:

Ingredients 
2 1/4 tsp. (1 packet) instant yeast
3 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
2 1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. warm water (120º - 130º)   

Directions

1.  Put 3.5 cups of all-purpose flour (not bread flour) into a bowl.
2. Add 2.25 teaspoons of salt in the bowl with the flour it mix it in.
3. Take 1.5 cups of warm water and add the yeast to the water. Let sit for about a minute.
4. Slowly add the water with the yeast in to the bowl of flour and salt and mix for 5 minutes. I have a bread hook on my mixer but if you don't, just do this step by hand.
5. After five minutes, take the bread out of the bowl and let sit for about two minutes. 
6. Clean the bowl, then coat the bottom of the bowl with a teaspoon of olive oil so the dough does not stick. Return the dough to the bowl and let it sit, covered with a clean dish towl, for 3.5 hours.
7. Deflate the dough by folding it over. Put the dough back in the bowl for another 2 hours.
8. Take the dough out and cut into three loafs. Let sit for five minutes.
9. Now you get to shape the loaves—my favorite part! I watched a video of JuliaChild making a French baguette to learn some techniques and would recommend you do the same if you're new to all this. Don't forget to put three or four slices into your shaped loaves!
10. Put your shaped loaves on a lightly floured baking sheet and let sit for other two hours.
11. Slide your loaves onto the bottom rack of a 450-degree oven and bake for 25, spritzing the loaves with water (in a spray bottle) every two minutes for the first six minutes. After the sixth minute, move the bread to the top rack of the oven for the remaining time.

Photos of my bread-making process over time:

first time making it

second time

third time

One the questions people always ask me is, What's the key to baking bread? I think the answer love. If you put your heart into making it, it shows.

An Apple a Day...

It's a great year for apples. Whether you've got a tree or two in your yard, enjoy picking your own, or just love to load up at farmers' markets, we're coming up on a strong season of pies, fresh-pressed cider, turnovers, and any other apple-related dishes you can dream up.

After a tricky season last year when droughts caused a marked decrease in fruit production, apples have made a comeback with places like the local

Burrville Cider Mill bringing back gallon jugs of cider

and a marked drop in consumer cost for the fruit that did Adam and Eve in.

So however you go about acquiring this most wonderful fruit, consider between bites creating a delicious batch of apple sauce, pressing your own cider, or just utilizing one of the below recipes for a treat that's, well, sweet like apple pie on a Sunday afternoon.

Not for the faint of heart, here's a tutorial on constructing your very own cider press:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Small-Homebuilt-Cider-Press/

And for the rest of you, here are some great recipes being broadcast throughout the Internet in recent days:

Canned Apple Pie Filling

From Canning Homemade

Great as a gift, or for storing until you want a fresh-baked pie this winter!

10 pounds tart apples - peeled, cored and sliced (~20 cups sliced)

5 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cup Clearjel

1 T. cinnamon

2-1/2 cups cold water (2 1/2 qts water if you omit apple juice)

5 cups apple juice

1 tsp. nutmeg

3/4 cup bottled lemon juice

Preparation -

For fresh apples, place 6 cups at a time into 1 gallon of boiling water and boil one minute when it comes back to a boil. Drain but keep fruit covered in a bowl.

In a stockpot, mix the sugar, Clearjel, cinnamon, nutmeg together. Add the water and apple juice, stir to mix well. Bring to a boil and cook until thick and bubbly, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Add the lemon juice. Fold apples into mixture.

Pack the apples into hot, sterilized quart size canning jars. Best way to fill is in layers. Using the funnel ladle one large scoop and using the spatula press the apples down in the jar to remove the bubbles. Continue filling using this technique so that you work your way up the jar with as little air bubbles as possible. Fill the jars to 1" headspace. (Because of expansion you can go to 2")

Wipe the rims and place the hot lid/rings on the jars. Process in a water bath canner for 25 minutes at a full rolling boil. Wait 5 minutes, remove and place on dishtowel overnight undisturbed. The next day remove rings and clean jars and label with recipe name and date. Store in a cool, dry, and dark place.  This recipe will make 6 - 7 quarts.

Note:

For a great variation substitute brown sugar for the regular sugar and apple cider for the apple juice. This will make an amazing Caramel Apple Pie filling! 

If you need Clear Jel you can order it from the

SB Canning Store

!

BEST Vegan Apple Pie

From

My Vegan Son

Ingredients:

Pie crust

(

make your own

or check out the “Wholly Wholesome” organic, traditional pie crust)

Filling:

• 4 large organic apple

• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg

• 1/2 c. sugar

• juice of one lime

• 2 Tbs. flour

Pie Top:

• 1 stick of butter or vegan replacement (~1/2 c.)

• 3/4 cup flour

• (1/3) cup sugar

Preheat your oven to 350F. Wash, peel, and chop your apples. Place them in a bowl. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, flour, and lime juice. Mix well. Pour the apples on the pie crust.

In a separate bowl place the buttery stick, the flour, and the sugar. Using your hands, combine the ingredients until they form a dough. Make one big dough ball and break into four smaller dough balls. Each dough ball should cover about 1/4 of the pie. Using your hands, flatten the dough balls as if you were making tortillas and start covering up the pie until it is completely covered.

Bake for about 45 minutes or until slightly golden (see picture).

Let it cool before you dig in

*Note: Always bake the pie on top of a pizza pan in case of pie drippings. 

Cranberry and Apple Crumble

From 

Spoonful

This sweet-tart crumble is best served warm, topped with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream (or vegan alternative). To be sure you're using the freshest berries, you'll want to choose fruit that has bounce in it. Or you can put it to the water test. Small pockets of air trapped in fresh cranberries make them bounce—and float in water.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup flour

• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar

• 1/4 cup chilled butter, cut into small pieces

• 6 cups peeled and sliced (about 1/2 inch thick) apples (we like Braeburn or Granny Smith)

• 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries

• 1/3 cup fresh orange juice

• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 375°. Combine the flour, G cup of the sugar, the brown sugar, and the butter in a bowl. Mix the ingredients with your fingertips to create pea-size crumbs. (Alternatively, pulse the mixture in a food processor 10 times or so.)

2. Combine the apple slices and cranberries in a large bowl. Mix the juice, remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar, and cornstarch in a small bowl. Pour the mixture over the fruit and toss well.

3. Spoon the fruit into a 2-quart baking dish and sprinkle on the flour mixture. Bake the crumble until bubbly and golden brown, about 40 minutes. Serves 6 to 8.

Delicious, Nutritious, Homemade (and Homegrown) PIerogies

After harvesting a mountain of potatoes last week, we set about making a Last Supper for the final summer crop of artists-in-residence and intern that included homemade pierogies stuffed with homegrown food like potatoes, leeks, and fresh herbs.

Pierogies are a traditional central and eastern European dish of dumplings stuffed with any combination of foods (often potato-based, but variations on the recipe can include just about anything you can dream up). Here's the basic recipe we followed, but you should feel adventurous enough to add your own twist anywhere you see fit.

Homemade Pierogie Recipe
 
Ingredients
Makes 12-15 pierogies

• 2 cups flour, plus extra for kneading and rolling dough
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c. sour cream, plus extra to serve with the pierogie (we used vegan sour cream)
• 1/4 c. butter or butter replacer, softened and cut into small pieces
• butter and onions for sauteing (we used leeks instead of onions)
• ingredients for filling of your choice (we used potato, leeks, fresh herbs, and finely diced crimini mushrooms)

Preparation:

Pierogie Dough
To prepare the pierogie dough, mix together the flour and salt. Beat the egg, then add all at once to the flour mixture. Add the 1/2 cup sour cream and the softened butter pieces and work until the dough loses most of its stickiness (about 5-7 minutes). Cover the dough and allow it to sit at least 20 minutes (overnight is fine too—the dough can be kept in your fridge for up to two days).
Filling
Peel and boil 5 large potatoes until soft. While the potatoes boil, prepare the other ingredients. We finely chopped our leeks, mushrooms, fresh herbs, and garlic, and sauteed in olive oil until the garlic and leeks were translucent. Smash the potatoes and mix them with your otehr filling ingredients (you can also add cheese here if you so desire). Add salt and pepper to taste. Let the potato mixture cool and then form into 1" balls.

Prepping Your Pierogies
Roll out the dough with a rolling pin on a floured surface until the dough is only 1/8" thick. Use a drinking glass to cut circles of dough (2" for small pierogies and 3 1/2" for large pierogies). Place a small ball of filling (about a tablespoon) on each dough round and fold the dough over, forming a semi-circle. Press the edges together with the tines of a fork or your fingers.

 
Boil the perogies a few at a time in a large pot of water. They are done when they float to the top (about 8-10 minutes). Rinse in cool water and let dry.

Saute chopped onions (or leeks) in butter or butter replacer in a large pan until soft. Add pierogies and pan fry until lightly crispy. Serve with a side of sour cream, jam, or any other toppings you like.

Turning Salad into Soul Food

We've been pairing salads with everything, like this homemade pesto dish from the garden.

At the farm, we have a HUGE amount of organic, buttercrunch lettuce we've been selling in bulk to stores and restaurants, and retail out of the farm stand. But we still have a lot leftover for our use in the house. Now, I’m not a big fan of lettuce or salads—kind of counterintuitive when you're flush with the stuff. I'm determined to change my ways. Also, this buttercrunch lettuce is a great source of

vitamin A, phytonutrients,

fiber, vitamin K, and folates: so it wouldn't hurt to add as much as possible to the diet.

Here's a little more about the

nutritional value of buttercrunch lettuce

, gleaned from LiveStrong.com:

Vitamins

Buttercrunch lettuce provides almost 70 percent of your DV for vitamin K, the nutrient responsible for proper clotting of blood. It also contributes more than one-third of your daily vitamin A needs. Vitamin A encourages strong vision and helps you fight infection. Additionally, buttercrunch offers 10 percent of your DV for folate, a nutrient that supports healthy pregnancies, brain development and may fight depression. Buttercrunch is higher in vitamin K than even Romaine lettuce but is not as high in vitamin A or folate.

Minerals

Each 1-cup serving of chopped or shredded buttercrunch lettuce provides between 2 and 5 percent of the DV for calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and manganese. The mineral content of butterhead-type lettuces is about the same as that in Romaine or iceberg lettuces.

So, I wanted to look up recipes that involved lettuce so I could get better at eating it on a regular basis. Now, I love a classic BLT and I found a recipe for a BLT salad. Another lettuce recipe I want to try is Artichoke Salad. I mean, who doesn't like artichokes? The recipe I found for that calls for  mushrooms, which I wouldn't have eaten a month ago but am now learning to love. The third salad I found is a Deep Dish Layered Salad. I'm working toward having a salad with every meal.

And of course remember that salads are great ways to do away with leftovers! In addition to any produce in your fridge, don't be afraid to toss last night's rice, beans, or what's left of your hummus, couscous, or pasta in as well.

BLT Salad

Ingredients

1 pound bacon (or vegan bacon, there are lots of kinds out there to choose from)

3/4 cup mayonnaise (or Veganaise/Nayonaise)

1/4 cup milk (soy milk will also work)

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

salt to taste

1 head lettuce - rinsed, dried and shredded

2 large tomatoes, chopped

2 cups seasoned

croutons

Directions

1. Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat, turning frequently, until evenly browned. Drain, crumble and set aside. In a blender or food processor, combine mayonnaise, milk, garlic powder and black pepper. Blend until smooth. Season the dressing with salt. Combine lettuce, tomatoes, bacon and croutons in a large salad bowl. Toss with dressing, and serve immediately.

Artichoke Salad

Ingredients

.7 ounces of Italian-style salad dressing

1 cup sour cream (or vegan sour cream equivalent, Tofutti makes a great one)

4 cups chopped lettuce

1 cup chopped red bell pepper

1 cup chopped broccoli

1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms

1/4 cup diced onion

1 can (14 ounces) artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

Directions

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream and Italian dressing mix.

2. In a large bowl, toss together the lettuce, red pepper, broccoli, mushrooms, onion and artichoke hearts. Top with dressing and toss until evenly coated. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Deep Dish Layered Salad

Ingredients

2 eggs

1 1/2 heads lettuce - rinsed, dried, and shredded

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped green bell pepper 

1 cup chopped green onions

2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms

2 cups frozen green peas, thawed

2 tablespoons bacon bits

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

2 cups mayonnaise

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon curry powder 

Directions

1. Place eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring water to a boil; cover, remove from heat, and let eggs stand in hot water for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove the eggs from hot water, cool, peel and chop.

2. Layer 1/2 of the lettuce in the bottom of a large bowl. Follow with a layer of celery, bell pepper, green onion, mushrooms, peas and egg. Top with remaining lettuce.

3. Prepare the dressing by whisking together the mayonnaise, brown sugar, garlic powder and curry powder. Spread evenly over top of salad. Sprinkle with bacon bits and Parmesan cheese. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Want to get some lettuce of your very own? Stop by our farmstand or email info@betterfarm.org.

Firman's Fermentation Adventures: Sauerkraut

Jacob Firman makes sauerkraut.

To ferment means ‘to bubble’ or excite; and boy have I become fermented about fermentation—mostly thanks to the guru of fermentation Sandor Katz, author of Wild Fermentation and The Art of Fermentation. I intend this summer to ferment a variety of things. Last week I did sourdough and this week, I ventured into the world of vegetable ferments with sauerkraut.

My biggest challenge in making sauerkraut was finding the right container. You need a cylindrical container such as crock or a jar and something flat like a plate that fits snug into the container to keep the vegetables submerged. Ideally you would use a ceramic crock like the recipe suggests but I couldn’t find one so I used a mason jar, a smaller jar lid that fit inside and a glass to push it down.

I took the most basic route to make sauerkraut, using just cabbage and salt. It tasted wonderful! Sour, tangy, and alive with bacteria. Judging by how fast we went through the jar, the rest of the house must have thought so too. Next time I make kraut I'll be sure to use a larger container.

Here's a simple recipe for making your own sauerkraut: 

From Wild Fermentation:
Timeframe: 1-4 weeks
Special Equipment: ceramic crock or food-grade plastic bucket, one gallon capacity or greater; plate to fit inside crock or bucket; gallon jug filled with water; cloth cover (dish towel will work)

Ingredients:
5 pounds cabbage
3 Tbsp. sea salt

Instructions:
Chop or grate cabbage, finely or coarsely, with or without hearts, however you like it. Place cabbage in a large bowl as you chop it. Sprinkle salt on the cabbage as you go. The salt pulls water out of the cabbage (through osmosis), and this creates the brine in which the cabbage can ferment and sour without rotting. The salt also has the effect of keeping the cabbage crunchy, by inhibiting organisms and enzymes that soften it. 3 tablespoons of salt is a rough guideline for 5 pounds of cabbage. I never measure the salt; I just shake some on after I chop up each cabbage. I use more salt in summer, less in winter.

Add other vegetables. Grate carrots for a coleslaw-like kraut. Other vegetables I’ve added include onions, garlic, seaweed, greens, Brussels sprouts, small whole heads of cabbage, turnips, beets, and burdock roots. You can also add fruits (apples, whole or sliced, are classic), and herbs and spices (caraway seeds, dill seeds, celery seeds, and juniper berries are classic, but anything you like will work). Experiment.

Mix ingredients together and pack into crock. Pack just a bit into the crock at a time and tamp it down hard using your fists or any (other) sturdy kitchen implement. The tamping packs the kraut tight in the crock and helps force water out of the cabbage.

Cover kraut with a plate or some other lid that fits snugly inside the crock. Place a clean weight (a glass jug filled with water) on the cover. This weight is to force water out of the cabbage and then keep the cabbage submerged under the brine. Cover the whole thing with a cloth to keep dust and flies out.

Press down on the weight to add pressure to the cabbage and help force water out of it. Continue doing this periodically (as often as you think of it, every few hours), until the brine rises above the cover. This can take up to about 24 hours, as the salt draws water out of the cabbage slowly. Some cabbage, particularly if it is old, simply contains less water. If the brine does not rise above the plate level by the next day, add enough salt water to bring the brine level above the plate. Add about a teaspoon of salt to a cup of water and stir until it’s completely dissolved.

Leave the crock to ferment. I generally store the crock in an unobtrusive corner of the kitchen where I won’t forget about it, but where it won’t be in anybody’s way. You could also store it in a cool basement if you want a slower fermentation that will preserve for longer.

Check the kraut every day or two. The volume reduces as the fermentation proceeds. Sometimes mold appears on the surface. Many books refer to this mold as “scum,” but I prefer to think of it as a bloom. Skim what you can off of the surface; it will break up and you will probably not be able to remove all of it. Don’t worry about this. It’s just a surface phenomenon, a result of contact with the air. The kraut itself is under the anaerobic protection of the brine. Rinse off the plate and the weight. Taste the kraut. Generally it starts to be tangy after a few days, and the taste gets stronger as time passes. In the cool temperatures of a cellar in winter, kraut can keep improving for months and months. In the summer or in a heated room, its life cycle is more rapid. Eventually it becomes soft and the flavor turns less pleasant.

Enjoy! I generally scoop out a bowl- or jarful at a time and keep it in the fridge. I start when the kraut is young and enjoy its evolving flavor over the course of a few weeks. Try the sauerkraut juice that will be left in the bowl after the kraut is eaten. Sauerkraut juice is a rare delicacy and unparalleled digestive tonic. Each time you scoop some kraut out of the crock, you have to repack it carefully. Make sure the kraut is packed tight in the crock, the surface is level, and the cover and weight are clean. Sometimes brine evaporates, so if the kraut is not submerged below brine just add salted water as necessary. Some people preserve kraut by canning and heat-processing it. This can be done; but so much of the power of sauerkraut is its aliveness that I wonder: Why kill it?

Develop a rhythm. I try to start a new batch before the previous batch runs out. I remove the remaining kraut from the crock, repack it with fresh salted cabbage, then pour the old kraut and its juices over the new kraut. This gives the new batch a boost with an active culture starter.

Homemade Soybean Burgers

Soybean slider!

I wrote last week about making soy milk from scratch. With the leftover mash, I experimented with a previously used chickpea slider recipe to create soybean sliders. The results were great, and the burgers are easy to freeze—but I'd recommend making way more than you need because they go fast!

I put the soybean mash in a bowl and added onions, shreddd carrots, and anythind else I could find in the fridge (potatoes, turnips, radishes—anything will work!). I added two eggs from our chickens, some bread crumbs, and lots of spices from the garden (sage, oregano, mint, and lots of chives). After I mixed it up, I added flour until I had the right consistency and put some vegetable oil in a pan to warm up. 

I formed the mash into patties and fried them until they were golden-brown. Served up with a bunch of fixings, they were delicious! Meat-eaters and vegetarians alike will love this recipe.

Homemade Soy Milk

I decided last week to make a vegan cake and I need soy milk. We'd run of soy milk out at the house, but we did have a lot of dried soybeans given to us last year by a local farmer. 

I cleaned the soybeans, then put them in two bowls of water overnight to rehydrate. Once they were ready to go, I drained the soybeans and put them in a food processor, adding water as needed. Then I put the mash in a big pot to cook for 45 minutes at a low simmer. I drained the mash (see a subsequent post for an easy soybean slider recipe), and the remaining liquid was my

soy milk.

To make about 2 quarts and 1 1/2 pints of soy milk, you will need:

• 1 cup of soybeans (Soybeans are generally about 89 cents a pound, so this recipe would only cost about 50 cents)

• 11 total cups of water (this will be added two to three cups at a time)

• 1/4 cup of sugar (this probably will be adjusted according to your tastes)

Some basic equipment is also needed:

• A blender

• A pot (should be fairly big and be able to hold at least 11 cups)

• Multiple bowls

• A cheesecloth (this is for straining the mixture so other items could be used in place of this, like a strainer)

• A wooden spatula for stirring

• A container for holding the finished soy milk