Saturday, January 30, 2010

I Heart Dairy

A couple weekends ago I took a class at our milk farm on how to make your own diary products. The past couple weeks we have had extra milk from friends who were out of town, so I have been skimming and using up our cream like crazy.

We have already used up the first tub of butter and today I made those three little baby jars more. So far, I have been using a quart of cream for each time I make it and that is just enough. The easiest method is to just throw it into a food processor until it magically turns into butter. However, mine is much too small and also does not have an "on" button, but only a "pulse" button. Therefore, I have had to use my blender and have to do it in two steps, with a break in the middle to cool it all down in the fridge. For now it is working fine.

After making butter, there is a good two cups of buttermilk left over that I have used for banana bread and then pancakes this morning. Mmmm. I have two more cups ready for the next baking job.

Yesterday, I made up some yogurt and let it sit overnight with the yogurt cultures as they...cultured? Then today I threw in some strawberries so we have yummy strawberry yogurt!

And last, I made a big tub of sour cream that Andy used today on his burritos for lunch. I was hoping it would thicken a little more, but I think our kitchen is too cold for it to set up properly. It is pretty close, but next time I think I will leave it out in a warmer room.

Tomorrow, the plan is to make cream cheese and some peppermint ice cream. I wish I could make block cheeses, but I don't have all the equipment necessary to really do that well. For now, I will content myself with all the goodies that I can make and enjoy the fabulous milk we have been drinking!

Apparently, I have been feeling super domestic-y lately. Maybe it's the nesting phase, huh? I can't decorate or organize the nursery yet so I'm taking my time in the kitchen instead!

10 comments:

Jean said...

I can't wait to learn from you all these healthy tricks!

Luanne said...

I want to taste test! I'm excited to start all this too!!

Abi said...

Yep, I definitely need to kitchen-stalk you for a few days.

anne said...

That cracks me up, Abi. I have another friend who says the same thing but I feel like I still have so much to learn myself!! :)

You guys do need to come over again soon though. I'll give you all my secrets and we'll play cards.

Becky D. said...

Anne...so are you only able to do this with the fresh milk you are getting from the farm? I'm assuming this isn't something you can do with the milk from the store. I can't seem to find fresh milk from around here yet.

anne said...

Sour cream and butter and ice cream you need to use cream for. A carton of heavy cream would do the trick.

Yogurt is just regular whole milk! You need to buy the special cultures for sour cream & yogurt though. Although for yogurt, you can actually just use a few tablespoons of already made yogurt and that will activate just the same.

Becky D. said...

okay...that makes sense...

so where are you getting your recipes for making all these goodies? I know I could probably find my own online, but I like to get them from people I know that have tried and tested some...or at least ones I know are going to turn out!

anne said...

Actually, I went to a class at the farm and learned all about it!

However, the packages of cultures that I bought for yogurt & sour cream both have the instructions right on the package.

A recipe book that I just bought that I am trying out and reading through (it's voluminous...) is Nourishing Traditions. Lots of old-timey and home made stuff.

heather said...

Pretty cool! I didn'tk now you were making all this stuff w/ your raw milk! Sounds delic (if I was into dairy, of course :)

anne said...

I will tell you, Heather, that a lot of people who were in my class said they either didn't like milk before or that they couldn't handle milk on their systems...the raw milk seems to make a difference for them!