Buttermilk, my underappreciated friend

  Growing up, I remember visiting my grandmother and on a hot day watching her take a big swig out of a glass of butter milk.  In typical child fashion, I was thoroughly disgusted that she not only willingly sipped but seemed to savor the sour, lumpy contents of her glass.  Bleh! While I’ve not followed her lead and slurped my butter milk, I have taken a shine to what it can do to recipes, for example, why have plain pancakes when you can have buttermilk pancakes, or just plain poundcake when you can enjoy the buttermilk lemon version? So what is it exactly? Even as a kid I knew it was not just milk + butter but some strange combination to give it its quirky texture and taste. Apparently the original version of buttermilk was more akin to what I had envisioned.  The tart version we “enjoy” today is deliberately soured.  Also, for the purposes of today’s buttermilk, any association with butter can be tossed out the window.  It is now a misnomer. The original version of buttermilk has been around, well ever since folks have made butter as its a byproduct of the process.  As you might imagine, [...]

A Flippin’ Brilliant Way to Use Your Noggin’ – Making Eggnog

I”ve always had a love/hate relationship with eggnog – love the taste, hate what it does to one’s waist.  But, focusing on the more appealing aspects, few things conjure up the holiday spirit faster than an eggnog.  So I got to wondering, how it all came about. Many believe that eggnog is a tradition that was brought to America from Europe. This is partially true. Eggnog is related to various milk and wine punches that were concocted in the “Old World”.  Specifically, it may have stemmed from one variety called a flip.  This milk based drink was so named as it was prepared by rapidly pouring the beverage between two pitchers, or “flipping” it. However, America put its own stamp on this beverage as rum replaced wine. In Colonial America, rum was commonly called “grog”, so the name eggnog is likely derived from the very descriptive term for this drink, “egg-and-grog”, which corrupted to egg’n'grog and soon to eggnog. Alternatively, others offer that the “nog” of eggnog comes from the word “noggin.” A small, wooden, carved mug used to serve drinks at table in taverns (note this differs from drinks served beside the fire which were brought to the patrons [...]

Special Ingredients Rosemary an Herb to Remember

I’ve been busy.  Among other activities, we bought a house and moved.  Consequently, I am now the proud custodian of a rosemary bush that is twice my size.  I never knew they could get that big.  Which got me thinking, what am I going to do with all this rosemary?  So of course, that meant a learning opportunity. The Basics Rosmarinus officinalis is a woody, perennial herb with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and flowers ranging from white, pink, purple or blue.  A native to the Mediterranean region, it is a member of the mint family Lamiaceae. The name “rosemary” derives from the Latin for ros  = dew + marinius = sea, or “dew of the sea” because it thrived in locations where the only water came from the humidity carried by the sea breeze. Rosemary is used as to liven up gardens and has many culinary and medical uses. The plant is said to improve the memory. The leaves are used to flavor various foods. Myths and Legends According to legend, the Greek goddess Aphrodite had it draped over her when she rose from the sea. The Virgin Mary is said to have spread her blue cloak over a white-blossomed rosemary [...]

Pears, a gift of the gods

According to that Greek poet, Homer, in The Odyssey, pears are “a gift of the gods”, and you’ll not find me disagreeing with him.  Pears are among the world’s oldest cultivated and beloved fruits. Roman farmers documented extensive pear growing and grafting techniques. The early Romans developed over 50 pear varieties and spread them far and wide throughout Europe. Since then, hundreds more varieties have been introduced, the most popular being the Bartlett. Thanks to their versatility and long storage life, pears were a valuable commodity in the ancient world. The Renaissance Masters, considered them pears elegant still-life muses. In the 17th century a great flourishing of modern pear variety cultivation took place in Europe. And lets not forget, the pear tree was immortalized alongside a partridge in the 18th-century Christmas carol, The Twelve Days of Christmas. Pears in the United States Early colonists brought the first pear trees to America’s eastern settlements where they thrived until crop blights proved too severe to sustain widespread cultivation. Fortunately, the pear trees brought by pioneers in the 1800′s thrived in the unique agricultural conditions found in the Pacific Northwest.  A similar journey was made to Northern California. Common, attractive geographic and atmospheric attributes include: [...]

Tibicos and Water Kefir: An Idea that Bubbled Up

If you were like me, having just read of tibicos + water kefir, your forehead would be furrowed in a confused frown and you would be mouthing a silent “huh” or maybe not so silent.  I don’t know where I’d been, but this was news to me.  Apparently its not like its some new fangled thing either, folks have been making water kefir for centuries.  Of course, immediately after reading the post by Tammy of Agrigirl, shortly thereafter my very tibicos arrived in the mail.  So what are tibicos, anyway? Tibicos have a number of aliases including tibi, water kefir grains, sugar kefir grains, Japanese water crystals and California bees.  Not as common, are the names bébées, African bees, ale nuts, Australian bees, balm of Gilead, beer seeds, beer plant, bees, ginger beer plant, ginger bees, Japanese beer seeds and vinegar bees. To get a bit technical, they are a culture of bacteria and yeasts held in a polysaccharide matrix created by the bacteria – that’s right, try remembering that definition the next time you’re asked. As with kefir grains, the microbes present in tibicos act symbiotically to maintain a stable culture. Tibicos do this in a variety of sugary liquids, [...]