Microwave Popcorn, Home Made

My love of popcorn goes way back to my earliest childhood when my mother would make great bowls full on a weekend night when we lived in a garage… We owe a debt of gratitude to native Americans for this marvelous technological advance they made. I believe popcorn is one of the wonder foods for the following reasons:

The Wonders of Popcorn

1. It is a whole grain, easily grown in substantial quantities.
2. It contains the roughage often removed from processed grains. It also contains the same rich protein (though low in lysine, see “complimentary protein”), B complex vitamins and vitamin E of all whole grains.
3. It is a live food, and sustains itself quite well for long storage periods.
4. It has a very long storage period which makes it perfect for those who want to have a long-term well stocked pantry, or who are survivalists, or are awaiting the collapse of civilization…
5. It is embarrassingly inexpensive, especially when bought in bulk (I typically buy a 40 pound bag at a time). I immediately house it in large air-tight containers such as gallon milk jugs, etc. Air-tight is extremely important so that the kernels do not lose moisture and therefore popping ability.
6. It is DELICIOUS as well as nutritious.
7. And now, it is SO easy to whip up a bowlful in five minute any or every evening you desire.

Problems with Commercial Microwave Popcorn
Commercial microwave popcorn may be convenient, but you probably know the problems with it:

1. It contains LARGE amounts of hydrogenated fats. You have noticed the thick grease after you eat a bag… (Look it up if you don’t know the problem with hydrogenated oils.)
2. It contains artificial flavoring (notably diacetyl: so-called “butter-flavor… This is associated with popcorn workers lung disease) and artificial colors.
3. It contains much more salt than one might desire (200-355 mg/bag), and you cannot control the quantity.
4. It costs three to four times what it would cost if you made your own as below. (How much more DOES it cost? I haven’t bought it for so long, I have no idea.)
5. It generates waste in the form of an oily heavy bag which remains after you have made it.

I am delighted to have devised the following “appropriate technology” for making microwave popcorn at home and believe that many will find it useful. What do you think?

Directions

Prepare a number 10 or 12 bag bag: Fold over the top about 1 inch wide folds twice, Place 4 inch piece of masking tap with the last 1/2 inch folded over on itself (for a handle) on the second fold (to serve as a closure). (I do not use staples because of possible sparks/fire, and the staples damage the bag, making it less re-useable.)

Measure out 1/3rd cup unpopped corn. It is convenient, if you store your unpopped corn in a Mason jar, to use the lid as a measurer which equals close to 1/3rd cup.

Pour the corn into the bag.

Fold over the double fold, and press down the masking tape to secure.

Lie the prepared bag in the microwave. Shake the bag to evenly distribute the corn in a monolayer to ensure even heating.

Set your microwave to the proper time at the highest setting. This will take a trial or two. Set tie time, for instance, for 5 minutes and start it. Listen for when the popping is less than one per second or so. Record the time and use that for your standard timing. NOTE: The higher the wattage, the more effective the popping efficiency. I far prefer a 1500 watt microwave, but they are VERY difficult to find…

Prepare your oil dispenser: Drill a tiny hole in the lid of a dry clean 16 ounce water bottle. Fill about half full with vegetable oil (we use canola, but some have criticized us for using canola…

After the popping has ceased to less than a pop per second, remove the filled bag from the microwave.

Pour the popped corn into a wide large (gallon-sized) bowl

Apply the oil by squirting as you turn the bowl and toss the corn to evenly coat the popped corn.

Apply your desired seasoning. (Someday, I will patent my seasoning which my students have loved for years…)

Serve up the corn in 12-16 ounce cups. The whole process takes less than five minutes. YUM!

Canning Tomatoes, Simplified

I have little patience with scalding and peeling tomatoes before canning. So I have developed this system in which the trimmed and salted tomatoes are brought to a boil before placing in the Mason jars. This allows for even, confident and thorough heating of the fruit.

If the near-boiling fruit is then immediately placed in Mason jars and transferred to a canner with boiling water, the amount of time necessary for canning can be reduced to 15 minutes as opposed to the hour that many protocols specify.

Note that one must use tomatoes with normal acidity for this streamlined process. Low acid tomatoes will require longer processing.

The minimal heating time and the retention of the skin preserves more of the richness of the tomato flavor.

The one additional requirement is that you must blend the canned stewed tomatoes before using so that you do not get skins in your sauce which some might find offensive.

Equipment

• Sharp pairing knife
• dish tubs to recieve trimmed tomatoes and trimmings
• Balance to weight cut tomatoes
• non-aluminum pot in which to weigh trimmed tomatoes
• Stainless steel pot, at least 2.5 gallons with thick aluminum pad on the
• bottom to disperse the heat (reduce the risk of burning)
• 2 cup measure to dip stewed tomatoes
• gloves
• canning funnel
• glass baking dish
• seven clean flawless narrow mouthed Mason jars
• seven Pristine domes and rims for the jars
• Canner with canner rack and lid
• Good heat source (I often do this on a propane stove outdoors since
• Dish towel

Ingredients

At least 16 pounds of fresh fully ripe tomatoes. I only can Roma tomatoes because they have excellent flesh and flavor, and are more resistant to rot in the garden.

Tomatoes often come on during the most intense heat of the summer…

Directions

Set up your processing station as shown: a) washed fresh tomatoes b) a cutting board set so that the trimmed and cut tomatoes go forward, the trimmings (compost) to the right (these will go to our chickens…) c) the trimmed and cut tomatoes are weighed in a large non-aluminum pot d) 1 teaspoon of salt is added for every two pounds of tomatoes (1 tsp/quart) e) The salted trimmed tomatoes are brought to a boil in a large stainless steel pot.

Eight pounds of tomatoes gets four teaspoonfuls of salt.

The appropriately salted trimmed tomatoes are added to a large stainless steep pot.

The salted tomatoes are brought to a boil with much stirring to prevent burning.

The tomatoes are now boiling (100 C). They are softened and easily dipped out in the next step.

Dip out the boiling hot stewed tomatoes and fill one quart narrow mouthed jars. Note that I am wearing a glove, and the Mason jar is placed in a glass baking dish to catch any spills. Immediately cover the filled jar with pristine dome tops (any scratches will corrode from the acidity of the tomatoes.

Place the filled Mason jars in a canner rack with the lids snug but not tight.

Meanwhile, have a canner half filled with water, and bring to a boil.

CAREFULLY lower seven quart Mason jars filled with hot stewed tomatoes to the half way position. (The jar rack has bends which allow this). Continue heating the water in the canner until it is a rolling boil.

CAREFULLY lower the jars into the boiling water. The jar lids should be covered by boiling water. If you start with tomatoes that are near boiling, and lower into boiling water, you may process for 15 minutes in rolling boiling water. This shortened time is possible because tomatoes are acid, and you already brought them to a boil immediately before you filled the jars and immediately transferred them to the boiling water bath.

After 15 minutes, CAEREFULLY transfer the processed jars to a clean towel. Snug down the rims so they will seal as the jars cool. All the dome tops should indent to show that they have sealed. Remove the rims and wipe off any tomato residue that might have leaked out. Replace the rims. Any jars that do not indent should be used within a few weeks.

Because the skins were not removed from the tomatoes, they need to be dealt with before consuming. To do this, you must have a blender which has a screw fitting which will adapt to a narrow-mouthed Mason jar. As shown, remove the rim and dome top, and place the rubber gasket, the blades and the screw rim on the jar.

Tighten the rim so rubber gasket and blades form a tight seal.

Blend for 30 seconds to blend the skins and seeds.

The resulting blended tomato puree (more like thick tomato juice) can be used for drinking, tomato sauces, etc. I suspect that you will find that home grown tomatoes canned in this way have a much richer flavor that commercial tomatoes canned in metal cans.

How to Wax Cheese

Here are the steps used to wax a wheel of cheese.

I keep my wax in a dedicated deep pot with a lid. The cheese has been drying for two or three weeks, and the rind is dry and slightly yellowed.

CAUTION: Melt the wax over a low fire. Do not leave unattended. If the wax starts to smoke, it is flammable, and could cause a serious fire. As soon as the wax is completely melted, turn the fire way down or remove from the heat.

The wax is completely melted but no where near smoking.

Carefully lower the wheel into the wax and roll to cover all side surfaces. DO NOT DDROP THE WHEEL, OR YOU WILL BE CLEANING UP SPLASHED WAX, A DIFFICULT JOB. Rotate several times to ensure that all nooks and crannies are filled with wax. Do not allow it to sit on the bottom for any length of time or the wax will melt off in that spot.

The wheel has been completely covered on the sides.

CAREFULLY lower the cheese into the wax. Again: DO NOT DROP IT!

The bottom has been given its first coat of wax.

Now dip the top–same cautions as above.

Roll the wheel to give a second coat. Repeat on the ends. If you can still see cheese through the wax, give it another coat.

Label the cheese with the date you waxed it, and any other marks you will need to identify it in the future. Then transfer to a cool place (around 50 F) to age, best after 3 months, gets richer in flavor as it continues to age.

Pane Rustico: Italian Peasant Bread

The secret of crusty bread is high humidity. Here we bake it in a covered dutch oven.

The finished bread is crusty, chewy and delicious…

This recipe is a modification of a recipe by Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery, NYC, which appeared in the NYTimes in November 2006.

Anyone who has lived in or traveled to Italy or southern France has experienced the wonderful bread which is the staple of the people of the countryside.  It is crusty and crunchy on the surface, and the interior has large holes, is translucent and yellowish, and is chewy.  It is a bread that makes you know you are eating real food!  During a sabbatical in a rural neighborhood near Naples, Italy (on Via Romano), this bread was not only the staple in the local bakery, but also baked by our friend Louisa in the outdoor wood-fired brick oven of the extended family with which we lived.

This is our personal experience with “Peasant Bread:” Pane Rustico.  For us, the name is deceptively modest.  In fact, this bread is worthy of wonder and respect, for making it is a practical art evolved from many centuries by people who have lived close to the earth, and developed extraordinary culinary skills.
The following recipe comes as close to replicating this marvelous bread as any we have found (after a 15 year search!).  Try it first with while flour (as below), then try the Whole Wheat/White Flour version.  The whole wheat version is nearly as light and crunchy, but also bears some of the vitamins, quality protein, and roughage removed from while flour products.

Supplies:

3 cups white enriched flour
1 1/2 cups fresh water, warmed to 90 F
1 tsp Kosher or sea salt
1/4 teaspoon active yeast
cornflour or additional flour for dusting dough and cloth

Equipment:

1 gallon pot or mixing bowl with cover
measuring cups (one pint and one quart)
measuring spoons (1/4 and 1 teaspoons)
whisk
dish towel, non-terry cloth
heavy 1-2 gallon covered cast iron pot (Dutch oven)
cooling rack

Procedure:

1) The night before, assemble the ingredients: 3 cups flour 1 1/2 cups water, 90 F. 1 tsp salt 1/4 tsp yeast suspended in 3 Tbl of the above water.

2) a) Mix the suspended yeast with the rest of the water b) Whisk in the flour

3) The resulting dough is quite moist and sticky. It should come away from the bowl, but still be very sticky. You may add a little more flour, mixing with a wooden spoon, but do not lose the soft sticky/wettness.

4) Cover the raw dough, and let sit at room temperature (at least 68 F or 20 C) for 12-18 hours

5) The next morning: the dough should look moist and bubbly.

6) Turn the dough out on a well-floured surface Again: Note how soft and sticky.

7) Sprinkle a little flour on the surface.

8) a) With floured fingers, lightly fold the dough over on itself twice. (Resist the need to kneed). b) lightly dust its surface with flour. Cover with a large pan and let rest for 15 minutes.

9) Generously dust a non-terry dishcloth with cornmeal, lie the dough, seam side down, on the cloth. Lightly dust the top with cornmeal.

10) Fold the cloth over the dough to cover.

11) After 1 1/2 – 2 hours, the dough should have doubled in size, is soft, and will not rebound when you press the surface with a finger.

12) Place a heavy pot (here, a Dutch oven) and its lid in the oven to pre heat.

13) Turn on the oven, set to 450 F.

14) When the oven and pot are completely heated to 450 F: a) Remove the HOT pot from the oven (CAREFUL). b) Slip your hand under the cloth and lift the dough. c) Flip the dough into the HOT pot. If it is uneven, shake pot to even out. Don’t worry

15) Cover the HOT pot with the HOT lid.

16) Place covered pot in the 450 oven. b) Set timer for 30 minutes

17) After 30 minutes, remove the lid, and bake for 10-15 more minutes, until golden brown.

18) Remove the bread from the oven, place on a cooling rack to cool, and exhale a little more moisture. [We always cut off an end or two for fresh hot pane rustico with cold butter and a little more salt. It will never be more delicious and crunchy.]

19) This bread looks and tastes very similar to the Italian “peasant” bread I have been trying to replicate for a decade or more: a) Wonderfully crusty, because of the baking in the covered pot, which maintains high moisture in the baking environment. (Yes–for me, it is counter intuitive: higher moister makes for crustier bread. I hear that some French bakers throw water into the oven to achieve high moisture) b) Large bubbles in the bread, and the texture is chewy and yellowish-translucent. YUM

Yogurt Making, Illustrated

INTRODUCTION

Yogurt is a fermented milk product which was apparently brought to Turkey by the mongols millenia ago. It is produced by adding a “starter” of active yogurt containing a mixed culture of Lactobacillus bulgaricus (or occasionally L. acidophilus) and Streptococcus thermophilus. These produce lactic acid during fermentation of lactose. The lactic acid lowers the pH, makes it tart, causes the milk protein to thicken and acts as a preservative since pathogenic bacteria cannot grow in acid conditions. The partial digestion of the milk when these bacteria ferment milk makes yogurt easily digestible. In addition, these bacteria will help settle GI upset including that which follows oral antibiotic therapy by replenishing non-pathogenic flora of the gastrointestinal tract.

Several factors are crucial for successful yogurt making:

• Good sterile technique (i.e., proper sterilization and cooling of the milk, proper cleansing and heat treatment of glassware, and keeping out unwanted bacteria). Note that Pasteurized milk still retains some bacteria which can give an off flavor, or prevent the starter from proper acidification. Scalding and cooling the milk ensures good results.
• Proper incubation temperature. Lactobacilli and Streptococcus thermophilus are thermophilic bacteria, meaning they prefer elevated temperatures for growth. At such temperatures (50 C, in this case) pathogenic or putrifactive bacteria are inhibited. However, even these thermophilic bacteria are killed if exposed to temperatures over 55 C (130 F), and do not grow well below 37 C (98 F). We will incubate at 50 C, a temperature on the high side of its preferred growth temperature (122 F), a temperature which inhibits the growth of pathogenic bacteria. (Note that many recipes call for cooler temperatures than this. We find the results less dependable when incubation temperatures are lower.)
• Protection of the starter from contamination. Do not open the starter (either Dannon Plain yogurt, or 8 oz starter from the previous yogurt batch) until you are ready to make the next batch.

Yogurt is preserved by its acidity which inhibits the growth of putrefactive or pathogenic bacteria. With lids intact, this yogurt will keep at least a month or two in the refrigerator. After that time, especially if your refrigerator is on the “warm” side, a layer of non-pathogenic white mold may form on the top. Merely lift off the mold with a fork, discard, and use the yogurt for cooking.

Baked goods will rise well when yogurt is used, again due to its acidity. Use yogurt as part or all of the liquid in cakes, waffles, pancakes and muffins, and cut down on the amount of baking powder. The thickness of yogurt helps to hold up the baking batter.

Yogurt is an excellent dish by itself, but is valuable in its many other uses.

The following recipe makes four quarts of yogurt. If you would like to make 2 quarts, here is the recipe . The following instructions may seem overly detailed, but I believe that the detail increases your chance of successful yogurt.

Yogurt Recipe: 4 Quarts

Ingredients:

1 gallon fresh milk (either store bought, or your own home grown milk)

(whole milk makes richer flavored yogurt, skim milk makes it non-fat)

starter: 1 cup Dannon Plain yogurt, very fresh

I prefer Dannon Plain, made purely with milk and culture. (Get the freshest: check the expiration date.)

Dannon Plain WORKS for me.

Others brands may work. The sad story is that “organic” yogurt may have sat on the shelf too long…

Equipment:

Double boiler (or heavy pot) with lid, capacity 1+ gallon

Four quart jars with lids, sterilized in boiling water

One 8 oz jar with lid, sterilized in boiling water.

Candy thermometer, reading range = -10 to 110 C (0 to 225 F)

A gas oven with a pilot may work if monitored closely.

1 medium sized “cooler”

 

Cooler Type:

Such as a “Playmate” or styrofoam with close fitting lid

 

 

Procedure:

1. Sterilize jars and lids which will be used to make the yogurt.  Place in a 5 gallon pot (here we are using a canner) with an inch of water in the bottom.

 

2. Cover and bring to boil. Boil for ten minutes; then, turn off heat. Do not remove lid.

 

 

3. Use a pot with a thick bottom to scald the milk.  Note the thick pad on the bottom of this pot.  Alternatively, a double boiler may be used. It is not necessary to boil the milk. This gives the milk a “cooked” flavor, and increases the probability that it will burn on the bottom or boil over.

4.  Add one gallon of milk to the pot.  You may use whole, 2% or skimmed milk. Here I am using my home grown goat’s milk.

 

 

5. Heat the milk slowly over a medium fire (not so hot that it burns on the bottom).  I am using a medium hot fire here with my thick bottomed pot.

 

 

 

6. Scald until the temperature of the milk is 85-90 C (185-195 F).  It is not necessary to boil, and do not let boil over…what a mess!  (Many claim success leaving out this step.  But… results may work, but intermittently…)

 

7. Place the still covered pot in a pan of clean cold water to cool it down.

 

 

8. Cool the milk to 50 to 55 C (122-130 F).  Remove the pot of scalded and cooled milk from the cooling bath.

 

 

9. Place one cup of the scalded and cooled milk in a two cup measure.

 

 

10. Add enough fresh, uncontaminated yogurt to bring the level up to two cups.

 

 

11. Stir to blend the yogurt starter into the scalded and cooled milk until homogeneous.

 

 

12. INOCULATE:
Add the yogurt-milk slurry slowly to the  50 C scalded and cooled milk with stirring. (No hotter–you will kill the bacteria in the starter.) Stir very well to thoroughly distribute the yogurt starter.

 

13. Once thoroughly mixed, distribute the inoculated milk to the sterilized jars, filling to the neck.  Cover immediately with sterile tops.  Tighten well.

 

 

14. INCUBATE:
Warm a gallon of fresh clean water to 55 C, pour into a clean cooler.  Place in a warm location.  (It should cool to 50 C or below once the cooler is warmed up.)  Carefully set the jars of inoculated milk in the water so the bottom of the lids are above the water.

15. Check to see that the water in the cooler is close to 50 C (122 F). Above 55 C (130 F) kills the bacterial inoculum.)

 

16. Close the cooler, place in warm place and let sit undisturbed for three hours.  If the starter was active and the temperature correct, the yogurt will have gelled:
For more firm yogurt, try adding 4 Tbl powdered milk to the gallon of milk prior to heating (step 3). Frankly, I prefer delicate yogurt. Commercial yogurt in the States is often artifically gelled so that the yogurt can be shipped and still be solid when opened by the consumer at home. Fa schif…

Recently, I have switched to a two gallon stainless pot with a heavy pad of aluminum on the bottom. It considerably simplifies heating the milk. So long as you heat it to 85-90oC (185-195o F) without burning, that is what is required. Once the milk has been scalded and cooled, you can even add the starter directly to the pot, and make the yogurt in the pot. It is better aseptic technique.

YOGURT HAS MANY USES:

1. My favorites include:
   In place of sour cream. Add dollops:
   -to baked potatoes
   -on rice dishes
   -on bowls of soup (especially lamb stew, chili or borscht)
   with hot chili (works as an oral fire extinguisher too!)
2. In cucumber-yogurt soup, (khyar b’laban) a fabulous Middle Eastern summer dish, made with yogurt, garlic, sliced cucumbers, salt to taste and topped with crushed mint. It is served chilled.
3. As a liquid (or portion of the liquid) in baking soda-raised breads, waffles and pancakes
4. As labneh (sometimes also known as laban, although strictly speaking, laban is yogurt), a Middle Eastern soft cheese, (an easy yogurt cheese). It can be made by hanging lightly salted yogurt in a clean cloth, permitting the whey to drip into a bowl. It is delicious served with pulverized spearmint and olive oil as a dip with lightly toasted pita bread. For illustrated instructions: how to make labneh .
5. As ayran (pronounced I-Ron), a wonderfully refreshing cold summer drink commonly consumed in Turkey where I drank it with gusto. In the words of Tekin Topuzdag, a cheese making friend in Turkey who sent me this recipe by email:
6. “How to make is extremely simple: Mix yoghurt with (about quarter amount of yoghurt) water and pinch of salt. Mix them well in blender (good sign of mixing is: bubbles, lots of them). Serve with ice in hot summer days.”
7. As a starter for cheese
8. As a starter for yogurt (see above for how to do this)

Check any Middle Eastern cookbook for a variety of uses.

Making Tofu, Illustrated

Directions for Making Tofu from Soy Milk

Bring the soy milk (filtrate) back to a boil. Dissolve 1 tablespoonfull of Epsom salts (MgSO4.7H2O) in ½ cup warm water. [Traditional recipes call for CaSO4 or MgCl2. Since I had neither, but did have epsom salts which is the first cousin of each of these salts, I decided to try it as a coagulant. It worked great.] Remove boiling soy milk from heat, add in Epsom salts solution with much stirring.

Let coagulate for several minutes until curds congeal and whey separates out.

This is what the curds look like when they are ‘mature.’

Pour into sterile handkerchief-lined strainer

Pour into sterile handkerchief-lined strainer

Transfer drained curds into a cheese press, press for about 20 minutes.

Transfer block of tofu into cold water to soak. This will remove some of the Epsom salts. The amount of tofu shown was made from half of the processed soy milk from above.

Store in the fridge in fresh water for up to three days. Best if used fresh. One of our favorite ways to eat tofu is to “bread” it with brewer’s yeast, fry it till brown on both sides, and serve with soy sauce. Here it is served on sauted kale with ginger and garlic.

Related

Making Soy Milk

Making Soy Milk, Illustrated

Illustrated Instructions

Place 1 cup washed soybeans in a quart jar, fill with fresh water, soak overnight.

The soaked beans are twice the volume.

Drain and rinse the next morning.

Place rinsed beans in blender, cover with boiling water to make about total of two cups beans and liquid.

Here I am blendiing half of the batch of soaked beans.

Blend until liquefied.

Blended 2-3 minutes.

Here I have tried two blenders to test their blending capabilities. You can see the liquid nature of both batches.

Pour blended beans into gallon pot, add sufficient boiling water so that slurry is liquid (about 6 cups). JAPANESE TECHNIQUE: Bring to simmer with stirring to prevent burning or sticking. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring regularly to keep from sticking.

Filter through a sterile handkerchief suspended in a strainer, wring out fluid. Save the soy paste (okara) for bread, soups or other uses.

Again, I am experimenting with the two batches of blended soy beans. You can see the paste collecting in the cloth.

The liquid in the bottom picture is the soy milk. If you want soy milk as the finished product, refrigerate immediately.

Related

Making Tofu, Illustrated

 

Flying Squirrel Images

Flying Squirrel Head

Flying Squirrel

Flying Squirrel

Flying Squirrel

Flying Squirrel

Flying Squirrel

Flying Squirrel

Flying Squirrel

Flying Squirrel

Flying Squirrel

Flying Squirrel

Flying Squirrel

Flying Squirrel

Haloumi Cheese

I was privileged to stay with the Samara family in Bil’im, a village in occupied West Bank of Palestine. It is a village surrounded by olive orchards, vineyards, family gardens, and grazing lands on which goats and sheep are grazed.  I was fortunate to be able to see Mr. Samara’s daughter-in-law prepare Haloumi, a Palestinian White Cheese almost always served with breakfast.

If you need a primer course on how to make cheese, see in information in the “Related” section below.

Ingredients

• 1 gallon milk
• 1/4 cup fresh active yogurt
• 1/2 tablet rennet
• 2 oz. Kosher salt

Supplies

• 1.5 gallon stainless steel pot, thick bottom
• Large white handkerchief, boiled
• colander
• 3 quart plastic tub with lid

Procedure

1) Warm 1 gallon milk in stainless steel pot to 32 C.

2) Dissolve ½ tablet of rennet in ¼ c water. (You may use 1 tablet for more rapid setting.) Meanwhile, suspend 1/4th cup yogurt in ½ cup milk.

3) With continuous stirring, slowly add the dissolved rennet and the suspended yogurt to evenly distribute.

4) Cover the pot and let sit undisturbed at room temperature until you get a clean break (see the basic cheese page), about an hour.

5) Cut the curds as instructed on the basic cheese page, to produce curds about ½ inches in diameter.

 

6)  Cover again, let the curds sit to firm up for 10 min.

7) Pour the curds into a sterile cloth suspended in a colander. Hang the cloth, allow to drain for 6 hours in a cool place (in the fridge in the Summer). Save the whey for “cooking” and making brine.

8) Remove the ball of cheese and cut into 6 pieces. 9) “Cook” the cheese: bring the whey to 45 C, and add the 6 pieces. Keep at 45 C for an hour.

10) Remove the cheeses from the whey, salt the surface, and chill for several hours.

11) Bring ½ gallon of the whey to the boil, add 2 ounces Kosher salt (1/4 cup), stir to dissolve, cover and let cool. 12) Transfer the cheeses to the cooled whey in a plastic tub with a lid. Place in the fridge. You may eat it immediately, but the flavor improves after several weeks or a month.

It is often served at breakfast with hard boiled eggs, fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, pita and coffee. (The cut haloumi is in the lower right of the image.)

Related

Beginning Cheese Making

Cheese Making, Illustrated

Images taken around the Samara family’s home.

Yogurt Making, Illustrated

Khyar Bi Laban: Cucumber and Yogurt Soup

Khyar bi laban is a wonderfully delicious, refreshing, cold “soup” which I LOVE in the summer. The Arabs have really discovered something here. It is so simple, pure, fresh, nutritious, and did I mention, delicious. Make it in five minutes, and enjoy it for time immemorial…  “Yallah.”   (“Let’s go!” in Arabic)

Assemble the ingredients: three medium sized fresh cucumbers three medium sized fresh garlic cloves one quart fresh yogurt 1 tablespoonful dried mint (some use dill) 1 teaspoonful kosher salt

As with many other recipes, crush the fresh garlic under your heavy French knife.

Chop the garlic prior to grinding in the mortar and pestle.

Add the chopped garlic to the mortar and pestle.

Add one teaspoonful of salt (using Kosher salt here, as a gesture of brotherhood with the Israelis…) You may want 1 1/5 tsp. salt, depending on your tastes.

Using the salt as a grinding agent, grind the garlic well in the mortar and pestle until well blended.

Add 1 tablespoonful of dried mint to the mortar and pestle, grind well. (You may want to rub through a strainer first to remove stems.)

Add a small amount of yogurt to the mortar, and grind to suspend the garlic, etc.

Optional: Peel the cucumbers. (Usually I do not, since I do not mind the skins. In fact, I think they add both esthetic and possibly nutritional components.

Slice the cucumbers in a “mandolin” to produce thin slices. Alternatively, slice thinly with a French knife (etc.). (Be kind to your knuckles.)

Combine the macerated seasonings in a large bowl with the yogurt and mandolined cucumbers. Stir.

Chill. Serve in an attractive bowl, a cup into each individual bowl, and garnish with a sprig of fresh mint.