Thursday, 30 September 2010
Signs of spring #2
The 2 young nectarine trees are flowering madly. These are self-sown trees that we dug up and put in the current location 2 years ago. We harvested a few handfuls of fruit last season. They were extremely delicious.
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
Signs of spring
The elder tree is developing tons of flower buds. The leaves are looking good, too.
Soon this tree will be covered in gorgeous flowers!
Soon this tree will be covered in gorgeous flowers!
Monday, 27 September 2010
Home-made chorizo
We sampled the first of our chorizo from our free-range Berkshire pig yesterday.
Sliced and fried. With a fried egg.
Delicious! Not as hot as I thought it would be, but still very tasty.
We are still alive - no botulism, etc. So we must have done it right. :)
As long as you get the amount of salt right, you should have no problems. 2-3% of salt. (We added 2% salt.) The sausage mixture was about 70% lean meat and 30% fat. Then you add spices of your choice. We added garlic, smoked paprika, black pepper, chilli, etc.
Then dry at a cool and slightly humid place until the chorizo feels firm.
The white spots on the chorizo are not mould, but salt residue from the brine we brushed them with.
Sliced and fried. With a fried egg.
Delicious! Not as hot as I thought it would be, but still very tasty.We are still alive - no botulism, etc. So we must have done it right. :)
As long as you get the amount of salt right, you should have no problems. 2-3% of salt. (We added 2% salt.) The sausage mixture was about 70% lean meat and 30% fat. Then you add spices of your choice. We added garlic, smoked paprika, black pepper, chilli, etc.
Then dry at a cool and slightly humid place until the chorizo feels firm.
The white spots on the chorizo are not mould, but salt residue from the brine we brushed them with.
Friday, 24 September 2010
Yellow Fields
On the way to Clare you will pass fields and fields of flowering canola. Great contrast with the other very lush, green fields.
Taken from the car on a pretty miserable day.
Friday, 17 September 2010
Watching asparagus grow...
...is not as tedious as it sounds. Once they start - they grow very quickly. You will have to harvest them every day. Can't wait!!
Monday, 13 September 2010
The BIG cheese
I was told to blog about my BIG cheese.
Here it is:
I used raw Jersey milk from a cow called Chocolate. We love Chocolate!
This is a Gouda and weighs 1.4kg.
Compared with the usual weight and size of my cheeses - this is BIG.
The Gruyere that I made a week earlier with raw Holstein/Frisian milk weighs 650g. This is about the usual weight of my cheeses made with Holstein/Frisian milk. Here they are, side by side.
Both cheeses were made with exactly the same amount of milk - 7.6l.
The Jersey milk is extremely creamy and absolutely delicious. We love to make yoghurt with it as it is very, very thick and creamy. We haven't tasted any of the cheeses yet, but I'm sure they'll be wonderful.
Here it is:
I used raw Jersey milk from a cow called Chocolate. We love Chocolate!
This is a Gouda and weighs 1.4kg.
Compared with the usual weight and size of my cheeses - this is BIG.
The Gruyere that I made a week earlier with raw Holstein/Frisian milk weighs 650g. This is about the usual weight of my cheeses made with Holstein/Frisian milk. Here they are, side by side.
Both cheeses were made with exactly the same amount of milk - 7.6l.The Jersey milk is extremely creamy and absolutely delicious. We love to make yoghurt with it as it is very, very thick and creamy. We haven't tasted any of the cheeses yet, but I'm sure they'll be wonderful.
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