Kitchen Chemistry

Several weeks ago, one of my Facebook friends suggested I try fermenting.  With my yogurt-making and garden, she figured it would be something I could do and even enjoy.

What she didn't know was that when I was a kid I loved pretending to be a chemist.  I would line up wooden blocks, write made-up ingredient names on them, gather some bowls, spoons and other utensils and play chemistry.  My brother was the one who actually got a chemistry set, but I did my darnedest to make my own.

When I got a little older my sister and I would go into the kitchen and mix a little bit of this and a little bit of that pretending that we were creating some amazing mixture.  I honestly don't remember if we were pretending to cook or pretending to conduct science experiments.  All I know is that we made a mighty mess and had the time of our lives.

So it is no surprise that today, and for the last 30 or so years, I have been enjoying cooking but with a twist.  I always want to know why certain ingredients behave the way they do.  I want to know what makes yeast make the bread rise.  I want to understand the science behind cooking.  This understanding has served me well.  When I know why I feel that I have a better chance of success.

Unplanned, but extremely welcomed, my Bartlett pear tree had a bumper crop this year.  For years I tried to find out how to prune a pear tree, when to harvest the fruit from a pear tree.  Somehow I never found the information I needed.  This year, however, I found information explaining that pears must be picked while unripe and allowed to ripen off of the tree.  Time to experiment: I picked three pears and placed them on my kitchen windowsill.  I checked them every day, giving them a little squeeze.  Hard as rocks.  Then, six days later, I squeezed one of the pears and it gave.  It was no longer hard as a rock.  I knew from experience that the peels on these pears were really tough and not tasty so I peeled one of the pears, cut a piece off and took a bite.  Oh my!  It was amazingly sweet and delicious.  I then called the boys into the kitchen and insisted that each of them taste this pear.  They all agreed that it was the best pear they had ever eaten.  We ate the other two within a few minutes.

Out the door I go to pick a bowlful of pears from the tree.  Six days later they were ripe.  We ate these pears but my 12 year old picked a bunch of them for the next batch to ripen.

At the same time all of this is happening I am running out of apple cider vinegar, the organic, unfiltered, unpasteurized kind that has all of the probiotics and healthy stuff still in it.  I am peeling all of these pears and after a little searching online realize that pear vinegar is made from the peels and cores of pears.  So while we can eat the sweet part the rest can be used to make vinegar. Sounds easy.

Pear Vinegar

I take a 1/2 gallon Ball jar, fill it about halfway with peelings and cores, pour enough of our well water to fill the jar 3/4ths of the way, then finally put in a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar with a little bit of the mother to give the mixture a good start (I read that you should add 1/4 cup ACV but I only had a few tablespoons left and didn't want to spare it).  I covered the jar with a paper towel held on by a rubber band. I read that it is good to add peelings and cores daily for a week or so to feed the fermenting mixture. 

Within a couple of days I could smell alcohol.  A week after that I could already smell vinegar.  Yippee!

Pear vinegar with scoby forming

Two weeks later I get a huge surprise: a scoby is forming on each of the four jars I have going.  One of the jars has a lot of the fruit mixed in with the scoby so I decided to strain out the fruit, scrape as much of the mother as I could and add it back in afterwards to see if a new scoby will form.

Strained pear vinegar

 

Kombucha

After starting my four jars of pear vinegar I was hooked and wanted to learn to ferment more stuff.  My Facebook friend offered me some water kefir grains but she is housebound right now and couldn't get them to the post office. Water kefir is on hold.  How about Kombucha?  I encountered the same issue: no one close by seemed to have a scoby to share.  I read that you could grown your own scoby for Kombucha from a bottle of raw Kombucha purchased at a healthfood store.

Kombucha is a fermented drink made from black tea, sugar and a scoby.  The scoby contains all of these wonderful bacteria and yeast which make the black tea and sugar become this fizzy drink full of healthy organisms.

We do not have many healthfood stores here in Connecticut and only one Whole Foods Market and one Trader Joe's,  neither of which is close to my house.  So I swung by the healthfood store in Middletown and bought the only Kombucha they had, a green one.  Not ideal, but why not?  I got it home, put it in a jar, fed it 1/4 cup of sugar and stirred it up.  Next, I covered it with a cloth and left it alone.  Of course, I peeked an awful lot.  I want to see it change.  It is that chemistry thing I have going on.

After 2 weeks (not 2.5 weeks) here is what I have:

I know that doesn't look terribly appetizing, but that is a scoby floating on top of that blue-green algae infused Kombucha.  Oh, scoby is an acronym for Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast.  Sounds delightful, doesn't it? Like freshly made pancakes and real maple syrup, right? No?

What scientists are beginning to figure out, and many Mother Earth News types have known for 40+ years, is that our bodies need bacteria and yeast to be healthy.  But we need the right kinds of bacteria and yeast.  Most of us have too much of the wrong kinds, the malevolent kinds, and are not terribly healthy as a result.  Some scientists believe that our immune system is really centralized in the gut which means those yogurt-eating, Kombucha-drinking, ACV-loving people have been doing something right all along.  The rest of us just made fun of them for wearing Birkenstocks and eating whole wheat bread while meditating.  Now we are not terribly healthy and they are out hiking the Adirondacks while we spend thousands of dollars on doctors bills and pharmaceuticals.

Kombucha starter - showing life

Okay, back to fermenting.  I had an appointment in Glastonbury where there just happens to be a Whole Foods Market.  I knew one was there but I never knew where it was.  My gps drove me right past it last Friday.  Couldn't miss it.  Yippee!  After my appointment I went inside Whole Foods.  Oh, I love that store.  And the people are so nice there.  I wanted to stay just to absorb the positive energy I felt there -- maybe it was just the absence of pesticides and chemicals.  Who knows.  I grabbed two bottles of Raw Kombucha and two bags of organic blue corn tortilla chips (the boys favorite) and headed home.

I then poured the contents of each bottle into a jar, added 1/4 cup of organic sugar in one and 1/4 cup honey in the other, and covered each with a cloth.  That was last Friday.  I can just see the beginnings of a scoby forming, or what I hope is a scoby.  Need to be patient.  

 

Ginger Bug

Ginger Bug on Day 4

Then my friend shared a recipe for homemade Ginger Ale and I knew I had to make this.  But you need something called "Ginger Bug" first.  Okay, next project: Jar with 3 cups of water, 3 teaspoons diced fresh ginger (I used organic), and 3 teaspoons sugar (again, I used organic).  Shake bottle up.  Each day add 2 teaspoons fresh diced ginger and 2 teaspoons sugar, shake and allow to ferment.  

I am on Day 4 and you can see the bubbles indicating fermentation.  I wish I could share the smell of this mixture with you.  Suffice it to say, it is delightful.

A week or so more and I will have my Ginger Bug and can start my first batch of Ginger Ale.  That will require its very own blog post when it is time.

The boys will be thrilled!

Yogurt made from probiotic capsule

 

Yogurt

 

Although I typically made yogurt from either my last batch or a store-bought organic yogurt, yesterday I decided to try something I had been wanting to try for a long time: make yogurt using a probiotic capsule.  My son has a bottle of probiotics that he had to take when he was on antibiotics for Lyme disease.  There are a few left in the bottle and I wondered how well this mega probiotic would culture.

I stirred in one capsule of probiotic powder into 3 pints of organic milk and placed it on my slow cooker base allowing it to culture overnight.  Today I had a bowlful of amazing yogurt that tastes completely different than my usual.

Blueberry yogurt

I then made a pint of blueberry yogurt with my new homemade yogurt, frozen wild blueberries, raw honey and homemade vanilla extract.  It actually made more than a pint but I ate the rest for a snack.  This yogurt is delicious.

 

Sourdough Starter

Sourdough starter Day 4

My last science experiment is another attempt to make a sourdough starter, this time from wild yeast instead of store-bought yeast following the directions on Starting a starter, Mike's Old Way.  I mixed 50g of whole wheat flour and 50g of water and allowed them to do their thing.  Each day I add the same to 100g of the starter mix (just throw away the rest).  It is getting more and more active each day. 

When it doubles in size after "feeding" I know it is ready to try out in a recipe.

I am thrilled to be exploring my chemist side daily.  Eventually, my hope is that I will have a huge variety of fermented foods, lots of probiotics for me and the boys, and eventually to share with my pregnant daughter (after she has the baby).  I'll let you know how these experiments turn out.

Going to the Grocery Store

After going geocaching yesterday we needed to head to a larger, nearby town to buy organic potatoes, onions and eggs.  As all of my trips to any store are, this was a back road trip that took about 10 minutes.  It was supposed to take 10 minutes.  This was an exploring day, however, so the trip was very slow with a lot of stops.  My 16 year old took a lot of really interesting photos.  Enjoy.

This cemetery was a small triangular piece of land surrounded by three roads.

Monument dated 1891 but most cemeteries in this area have headstones from the 1700's

Lake Hayward Farm cattle

Lake Hayward Farm Stand

Gorgeous clearing that is most likely a hay field

Lake Hayward Farm and my car

 

Lake Hayward Farm

Inside the farm stand

Heading down the hill towards Lake Hayward

The closest ID I could make was a Salt Marsh Moth caterpillar

 

Geocaching

As most things do, it just popped into my head today that I wanted to try geocaching.  The weather has turned cooler, was just lovely today, with a high of 68 degrees Farenheit.  I knew I wanted to get out of the house and do something new and different.  I also really wanted to get some exercise. 

I started out by searching Amazon.com for geocaching gps units.  When I saw the price I knew that wasn't going to work for us.  I then asked my 19 year old son, "I wonder if I can use my Droid as a geocaching gps unit?"  He thought it was a good possibility so I did a search on my phone for geocaching apps.  There were two, one that was free and one that was $9.95.  I figured the $10 one must be superior, have special features and the free one must be inferior.  Then I checked the reviews and the free app seemed to be more popular.  In a few minutes it was downloaded and opened up.  I needed to log in.  Hmmm, okay, headed to http://geocaching.com and created an account.  Then I logged in with my free app.  I used the website to locate geocache sites within a few miles of my home then found them on my phone (it was faster to do the initial searches on my laptop but you can certainly use your smartphone to locate geocaches).  I chose one in a nearby state park.  I knew most of the trails at the park, this one was located on a green trail (which means easy to hike), and I knew it shouldn't be too strenuous.

Now to get the boys out the door.  For some reason they didn't seem terribly excited about geocaching.  I would have absolutely loved this activity when I was their ages -- modern treasure hunting.  But an hour or two later and they actually, mostly had shoes on and water to drink.  I say mostly because one of my teenagers actually walked out the door in his socks without his shoes.  Some days . . .

A five minute drive and we had arrived at the state park.  A little walk across the road brought us to the trail.  Because we had brought my camera and because I was trying to learn foraging for wild edibles the walk wasn't quick.  We stopped a lot to take photos of mushrooms.  The boys really started to get into photographing the scenery, the odd phenomena, strange rock formations, odd growths, and spider webs.  After about 25 minutes we arrived at a place in the trail where we needed to head north according to my smartphone app.  Time to go off trail.  The geocaching app showed that the geocache was 33 meters to the north.  My 16 year old headed uphill, into the woods following the compass provided with the app.  We had switched from map to compass view when we left the trail.

After less than a minute my boys announced that they had found it in a grotto, and there it was, an ammo box clearly marked.  I stopped the boys from grabbing the box and diving in, insisting that we chronicle this moment, our very first geocache, with photos.  So my 19 year old started snapping shots.

Finally, it was time to open the box.  My 16 year old had the honors while we other two looked on.  What a fun experience.  The first item was a character flashlight, then came a McDonald's Beanie Baby, vintage salt shaker in the form of a rooster, an ethernet cable, swizzle stick, rubber penguin key chain, the log book, pens, a box with some kind of spell contained, and instructions for geocaching.

It took us a long time to choose what we wanted.  Strangely enough my son chose a glow stick that no longer glowed.  We left a Red Rose Tea figurine.  The rules are that you leave something of equal or greater value than what you remove from the box.  

Seeing the different types of treasure within the box gave me a better idea of what we might leave in the future.

I wrote in the log book provided, recording my geocache username and the names my boys chose to use.  We then closed up the box and replaced it in the exact same place we found it.

When I got home I logged in our visit.  That updated the geocaching.com website to show a visit to that geocache today. 

There are so many geocache sites within 5-10 miles of our home that it will take us weeks, if not months, to visit them all.  I figure this will be a great Saturday activity for our family and look forward to more of these delightful treasure hunts.

I Love to Say Yes!

I am a parent.  I am a mom.  I have six children, four of which are adults.  When my kids were little I said, "No!" an awful lot.  I feel bad sometimes when I think about how often I said those words.  But I do admit that my kids are not spoiled, do not feel entitled, and know how to work. 

Now that we are all older I have discovered how much I love to say "Yes!" 

My 16-year-old asked me again tonight if he could get his learner's permit.  I responded, "Yes! As soon as you have a job and have enough money to pay the $60 fee" the State of Connecticut requires from its young people if they ever want to even learn to drive. 

My 12-year-old asked me if he can get on the computer.  "Yes! As soon as you finish your homework."

My 19-year-old asked me if he can get the parts to fix the other computer.  "Yes! As soon as you have a job and can pay for them."

I love saying "Yes!"

Parents should all say "Yes!" a lot more.

Fruit of My Labors

I know, two posts in one day but I had a rough week and just didn't have the energy so I'm catching up!

Yesterday I uploaded a phone picture to Facebook of the three sugar pumpkins I harvested this year. Here are a couple of better quality shots.  First the pumpkin vines got hit with powdery mildew.  I attempted to deal with that but it took off.  The worst was the squash vine borers.  They found my squash and pumpkins and did too much damage to support more pumpkins, and the last and smallest pumpkin didn't even have time to complete ripening on the vine before the vine died.  But I have three organic sugar pumpkins I didn't have at the beginning of the summer.  So no complaints.

 The largest pumpkin has the name of my adopted grandson.  As I described in an early blog post I scratched his name with a nail.  The pumpkin then creates a scar over the damage resulting in a really fun effect.

 I was surprised at the size of Joey's pumpkin.  It is huge in the world of sugar pumpkins.  I can't wait to weigh it.  I can't wait to make pumpkin pies!

Today's harvest -- Suyo long cukes and cherry tomatoes

After taking photos of my deck garden I headed out to the backyard garden beds to harvest cucumbers and tomatoes.  Lots and lots of cherry tomatoes.  Usually I eat what I find but every week or so I go out and gather all that I can. There were several bunches with green tomatoes on them still which I left to ripen.

These little tomatoes are so flavorful but not sweet.  I can taste the goodness, the healthfulness contained within.

And I have been ecstatic with the Suyo long cucumbers.  My vines are covered in cukes right now.  I used to buy the hothouse cucumbers from the grocery store because I prefer not peeling.  The largest Suyo long I have harvested so far was about 17" long.  Believe it or not there were only a handful of fully formed seeds in that one.

Next year I will definitely grow some pickling cukes for my pickle-loving sons.

 To harvest seeds from one of these cukes I will need to leave it on the vine, allow it to turn yellow, and then scoop the seeds out and ferment them for a few days.  I am not looking forward to doing this because it will signify the end of fresh cucumbers for the year. 

The summer growing season draws to a close an end. 

Hurricane Isaac in Connecticut

This past week we have had the warm, humid air and rains from the remains of Hurricane Isaac.  While this bad boy devastated parts of Mississippi and Louisiana it brought much-needed rains to other parts of the country including New England.

It rained so much that I had to assist many of my deck containers with drainage, even turning some pots on their sides for a bit.  

What this did, though, was inspire much growth, insane germination rates, and pests to all visit my fall container garden.

Let's see how the garden looked last week:

And now let's see how it looks today:

Three of my kitties decided to pose for me this morning.  They were so cooperative that I had to include them in my pics today.

Boots with broccoli and bok choi

Left to right: Aichi cabbage, spinach, bok choi and red leaf lettuce

Aichi cabbage and broccoli

Red leaf lettuce seedlings

Jalapeno peppers with aphids

Tomatoes and cukes on left and lettuce going to seed on right

Dreaming . . . Planning . . . Sometimes Scheming

Anyone who has ever grown a garden knows that while you're harvesting tomatoes in the summer you are already planning your fall garden, or if you don't plant a fall garden, what needs to be done, built, created, dug up, put away, or ordered is always right there at the edge of your consciousness.

Most home gardeners practice some type of intensive gardening.  For a home gardener to plant single rows of any crop means a lot of wasted space, lots of weeding, or mulching, and lots of wasted water and fertilizer.

And if you grow an organic intensive garden it is extremely important that you keep your soil healthy.  Unless you are very wealthy and can afford to buy organic fertilizers/soil amendments you will be a composter.

So as I watch my fall container garden grow I am planning the following projects:

1. Worm composting bin.  
2. Two-section large composting area.
3. Expanding my front and back yard garden space.
4. Removing trees at the perimeter of my yard.
5. Canning and dehydrating.

This is a lot to undertake so I am doing a little at a time as I do all projects these days.  As always, I call upon my big strong sons to do the majority of the heavy lifting, so to speak.  I miss being able to turn a garden bed, or double dig new garden space but I am realistic and preserve my strength for cooking, weeding, and the smaller tasks that require less energy.  My sons know that their reward for supporting my gardening is delicious, homemade food.  They like food!

I finally broke down and ordered some seed catalogs. I have received two so far and have been enjoying soaking them up, finding even more exciting heirloom varieties. You don't read or study a seed catalog; you soak it up. Pure delight!  The only problem is that I want to grow everything and I can't.  I love knowing that I can extend my summer garden with containers.  And that I can grow a fall garden in containers bringing them indoors on nights with a frost warning.

And while my fall garden is thriving on my deck (though it is at risk of drowning right now with the second day of heavy rains upon us), I am still harvesting Suyo Long cucumbers, lots and lots of cherry tomatoes, some plum tomatoes, a handful of slicing tomatoes, and my bell peppers are almost big enough to start harvesting with at least 10-15 more growing on this one plant growing on my deck.  Oh, my jalapeno peppers are almost ready to bloom.  I am determined to have peppers into the cold winter months this year.

So I am dreaming and planning and sometimes scheming right now.